Page 57 of Dead End

Kami bristled. “They aren’t my cavalry. I renounced them the moment I stepped foot outside Paradise without authorization.”

“Okay, semantics aside, how long?”

Kami closed her eyes. “They’ll need time to recover and regroup. A couple days, I would guess.”

West looked at me. “How did this happen? Sending a god assassin… That doesn’t sound like your kind of play.”

“Which is why I ruled it out.”

“Then who ruled it in?”

My hands tightened into balls. There was only one person who could explain the carnage in Paradise, and it wasn’t Unas.

It was Gun.

CHAPTER NINE

Goran was kind enoughto give up his bed for Libitina. The Slavic prince decamped to an empty bedroom with a sleeping bag and without complaint. Kami claimed the red leather sofa in the parlor room as her sleeping quarters. It was clear neither goddess would be returning to Paradise, but it wasn’t worth discussing next steps until Libby’s condition improved.

I knew I had to deal with Gun’s betrayal at some point. For now, I put a pin in it. I wasn’t emotionally equipped to handle that particular situation; I had to keep my focus on the immediate threat.

I sat at the kitchen table with Kami and Goran while Claude helped Nana Pratt slice potatoes for the evening meal. We had a full house to feed; the ghost was in her glory.

“I’m sorry,” I said to no one in particular. I felt like I needed to apologize to everyone I’d ever befriended. “I should have stayed in London and lived a life of anonymity like I planned.”

Nana Pratt lowered her voice to the level of gentlemother. “It’s too late for that, Lorelei. You don’t live on an island anymore, no matter what that moat says.”

Ray shot her a silencing look. “Seriously, Ingrid. You don’t kick the girl while she’s down.” He squeezed my shoulder. “Relationships come with drawbacks, sure, but the benefits far outweigh those.”

I hunched over the table. “Don’t you see? I’m the drawback.”

Goran looked at me. “Drawback? Lorelei, if it weren’t for you, I’d still be a vodyanoy. You went out of your way to help me when there was absolutely nothing in it for you. And you’re still helping me.” He waved a hand at the ceiling. “You put a roof over my head and food on my table.”

From the countertop, Claude nodded in agreement.

“Technically,Iput food on your table,” Nana Pratt said.

I wrapped my hands around a warm mug of tea. “I appreciate you saying that, Goran, but it doesn’t change the fact that my presence puts a lot of you in danger. It’s no good putting a roof over your head if The Corporation is about to blow it off.”

Ray glanced up. “I sure hope not. That’d be a big job for one ghost.”

My brain was spinning with options. “You’re our insider, Kami. What do you think will happen if they come for me and I’m not here?”

“They’re relentless,” she said.

I pasted on a wry smile. “I’ve noticed.”

“They’ll continue to search until they find you,” Kami said. “They’ll hunt you wherever you go.”

Goran eyed me closely. “What are you thinking?”

“That I should let them hunt me.”

He blinked. “You want to be hunted?”

“I want Fairhaven to be spared. If they’re hyper focusedon tracking me down, they’ll move on the second they realize I’ve left town.”

Kami nodded. “I think they would. The Corporation tends to attack with surgical precision. It’s how they’ve managed to amass as much unchecked power as they have over the years.”

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