Page 77 of Higher Demon

“He’s just drained, then.” Relief stains Connor’s voice.

Kieran ends his call. “Daniel says Carter says Norval is drained and resting but otherwise fine.” He looks at me. “Wist is watching television.”

“Please thank Daniel and Skye for me tomorrow.” I say it more out of reflex than anything else. My gaze is trained on Ian. His brow is furrowed with concentration as he turns a page, and I burn the image into my memory.

A minute passes, then another. Kieran collects mugs and returns them to the kitchen. Tom moves to stand behind the couch, leaning forward to read over his boyfriend’s shoulder. And Connor’s watching me.

I don’t look away from Ian, but I can feel his gaze boring into the side of my head. It doesn’t matter. I’m not doing anything wrong. And if this goes poorly, he’ll never have to know about me and Ian.

“There!” Gabe points, then reads aloud. “‘Today I took the baby to meet with our patron. It was hard to get away, to convince Margie to let me take the baby out in the snow, but my father insisted it had to be now. Vestia needs to meet the babies when they’re young.’ That’s pretty clear.”

“And horrific,” Tom adds.

Ian’s gaze locks with mine. “What are you going to do?”

“I might be a while.” All the things I long to say burn my throat. “If you haven’t heard from me in a day?—”

“No!”

I look at Connor. “One day,” I repeat as Ian shoves the diary at Gabe and scrambles to his feet.

“Do what you need to. We’ve got things here.” There’s a hard-edged awareness in Connor’s eyes.

One more glance at Ian as he strides toward me, and I’m gone.

Dyp’s reaction to my appearance is far outside the norm. Their energy cycles faster, and they move to intercept me. “Go.”

It’s meant for my ears only, and I check for half a second. Not “stop”?

“Go,” they repeat. “Not now.”

Well. It seems I may have an unexpected ally.

“I can’t,” I whisper. “This ends today.” I dodge around them, only half noticing that they beeline for the exit, and throw open the door to the office. Vestia visibly startles, flowing to her feet in a quick, lithe movement. “Vestia, my dear. It seems you’ve been rather naughty.”

If I hadn’t been watching for it, I never would have seen the flicker of thought. The split second where she decided to play the game instead of immediately attacking. “It’s you,” she says with feigned relief, sitting again. “Where’s Dyp? It’s not like them not to announce visitors.”

“Dyp is unable to protect you from visitors any longer.” I wait to see how she’ll respond to the implication that I killed them.

“How wasteful of you,” she says idly. “Good staff is so hard to find.”

“And yet you didn’t hesitate to slaughter Titus’s.” The words hang between us, and again, I see that flicker.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Interesting. Does this mean she’s not ready for a full-out confrontation?

“Really? You didn’t know that Titus’s home burned to the ground? I would have thought that’s the kind of thing you’d be told. How fascinating that I learned it before you, even a world away.”

“I… Well, of course I knew that. But there’s no evidence as yet that anyone died.” She scrambles for a lie, again trying to avoid conflict. “I have people searching—Titus will no doubt pop up any time now.” She forces a laugh. “Is that why you’re here? You heard a story and are worried for your friend? Don’t worry, I’m sure he’s just lost track of time in some library.”

I stare at her.

She lasts five full seconds before the façade cracks and she leaps over the desk, hands reaching for my throat.

Chapter29

Ian

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