Page 92 of Dragon Unleashed

“My aether can help me tell when someone’s lying. I’ll find you the truth,” she says.

“I don’t want help from you, princess. I’m doing this to find the traitor. Not for you.”

“You might not want help from aroyal, but it’s the best option you’ve got,” Farrell says, wading in. “The Maveriks are rotten from the inside, you absolute chump. And now it’s affecting all of us, affecting Lorelei. Get it sorted. She goes with you.”

It doesn’t take long to track Felix down, even with Lorelei trailing me. I caved and brought her along using Silas’ portal pass. But only after Alarick added his voice to my allegiance’s. I want to know if Felix lies to me—when he lies to me—of course, I do. But I don’t need this throbbing in my pants every time I get a whiff of Lorelei’s damn scent. I rearrange myself for the twentieth time as I stride across the village green. She pads after me, virtually silent.

The old men play chess under the oaks in the square. There might be blankets across their knees, and the occasional steaming mug of coffee instead of beer, but they’re here. Despite it being winter, with a crisp layer of ice on the ground. Nothing puts the old guys off. The old guys, andTioFelix.

Felix’s hand hesitates over the board. He selects his queen. He lays her sideways then shakes his confused opponent’s hand. By the time we reach the table, he’s rising.

He doesn’t deserve a chance.

I jump him, grabbing him by the shirt collar and bowling him sideways. Tables and chess pieces scatter. Felix swings for me and I duck, avoiding him with ease.Is he drunk?My fist drives into his gut, sending him sprawling across the ground. Withinseconds he’s subdued, and I march him around the corner and into the Den. The old men mutter loudly behind us.

The door clicks shut, and he rolls his shoulders, shrugging off my grip.

“All right, Chano, that’s enough. You made your point.”

I blink, confused.

“Idiota.”He smacks my shoulder, recoiling only slightly when I snarl. “I’m on your side, or at least your mother’s side. You don’t think I’mthatbad a fighter, do you? I saw you coming. Knew you had something to prove. Better to have this chat in private, no,sobrino?”

I jerk my chin at a chair, and he sits. I slide in on the opposite side of the table, which takes up most of the Den, gesturing Lorelei to do the same.

“Lottie finally told you, huh?” He starts cleaning out his pipe, entirely unperturbed by the bruises coloring up on his skin. “She came sniffing and I sent her packing. I’ll explain to you. Not Lottie, not your mother. They’d both go off half-cocked. Can’t be having that. Not going after the Virrey. They’d get themselves killed.”

I swing on the back legs of my chair, arms folded.

“And if I do that, you don’t care?”

He glances up, rubbing the back of his neck.

“If you got yourself killed it’d leave me running the gang with your othertios.” He grins slyly. “Oryou get rid of the Virrey and you run the Maveriks with the respect that brings you. Either option is good.”

He shrugs and taps his pipe out on the table leg. Theputa’slack of fear is driving me nuts. I glance at Lorelei.

“He’s not lied yet, that I can tell,” she says.

TioFelix takes that as the go-ahead. He strides to the sideboard and drags out the ledgers. I’ve looked at these. Useless things are in code. Back at the table, he flips throughthe years. Suddenly he points to a page, but neither the words nor the numbers mean anything to me. Tucked into the page are a few spelled photos. He mutters a word, and the photos rearrange into scenes. I recognize the quarrymi mamiused to visit. The other photo of trucks and tankers is in some dimly lit, indistinguishable yard.

“I know that place,” Lorelei whispers, her face white. Her delicate finger stabs the photo. “I recognize that logo.”

She scrabbles with her phone, pulling up some shots, including one of a dirty, half-torn logo similar to the one in front of us. “With less than half of it, it took me ages to track it to the yard in Venez. And then I nearly got caught…”

I stiffen. She’s muttering now, taking snaps of the photos in the ledger. Nearly got caught? By who? She shouldn’t be putting herself in danger. Felix grins down at her, curiosity sparking in his eyes. Slowly he drags his gaze from her and levels it at me.

“We provided the security for that racket, Chano. Once the trucks hit the city we were the protection. Sure, it was for the Virrey. But he paid well, so we asked no questions. Believe me, I had no idea it was connected to yourmami’sdisability until Lorelei here started poking around.”

He pats her shoulder, looking almost proud. She’smyAeternum. He needs to take his stupid fat hands off her. Lorelei turns, smiles up at him, touches his hand once, and moves to my side.

My hand prickles, like hundreds of pins are stabbing into me. I glare down, grunting in frustration when I see it. My Aeternum mark. Our mark. It’s changed, again. In only a few days it’s solidified from a pencil sketch to a bad, faded tattoo, to looking like this. A tattoo that just needs a touch-up. I rub the thing in frustration.

As long as my mark was fading, I was right to be angry. I knew the Fates were on my side, knew that Lorelei was bad news.What the hell does this mean now? How can the Fates change their minds, again?

Lorelei slips her tiny hand into mine, peering up at me with those big eyes, and I cave for a second, lacing my fingers with hers.

She deceived me.I yank my hand back.

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