Page 51 of Guardians of the Pack

‘A griffin,’ I confirmed.

‘And you suspect me.’ His voice was bare of any inflection.

‘Not at all. But if there’s anyone who knows where all of the griffins in the UK are, it’s you.’

‘Perhaps. But what makes you think that I will tell you?’

‘Because for all you are an assassin, you have lines you will not cross. Jess told me once that she looked into your kill history – what is known about it – and not once had you harmed a minor. Whatever you’ve done in your life, hurting children isn’t part of it. You would never have taken the kids, and I don’t think you’d condone another griffin doing so.’

‘No,’ he said finally. ‘I don’t. There’s only a handful of griffins in the UK at the moment. Obviously, we can fly relatively undetected up and down the country, but we still need to account for our flight time. Griffin would not welcome an outsider questioning them – ifyoutry to question the others, you’ll end up dead. I will make discreet enquiries and let you know what I find out.’ There was a meaningful pause. ‘If you trust me to make them.’

It was probably the best I could hope for so I nodded. ‘Of course I trust you. Thanks, Bastion. Can you put this to the top of your to-do pile?’

‘It will be my sole priority,’ he promised. ‘I also made enquiries about the ogres – discreetly, of course. I’ve heard that Krieg was approached to agree to a contract with regard to minors, which he refused.’

‘For fuck’s sake! If that’s true, he knows whoever is behind this. He never said a thing!’

‘He refused that contract, but he may accept the next one. Confidentiality is everything to an ogre.’

‘Can I kick his ass?’ I asked plaintively. ‘I really want to kick his ass.’

A smile almost touched Bastion’s lips as he shook his head. ‘You don’t want the ogres as your enemy. If you entered their den with malicious aforethought, you’d be dead. They don’t let threats live.’

‘Wonderful. So I’m supposed to let it go that Krieg knew whoever is behind this the whole time and he didn’t help us?’

‘Krieg is under no obligation to help us. We’re not the Connection – we’re not even the parents of the minors who have been taken. We barely count as an interested party.’

‘The Other realm is so frustratingly backward.’

‘At times it’s hardly different from the Common realm. This is one of those times. You can’t expect Krieg to give you confidential information.’

‘I can, and I do. If anyone in the Common realm had information about a kidnapping, they’d share it with the police.’

Bastion’s smile was condescending. ‘Most good upstanding citizens would, but the world is full of people who are not good upstanding citizens.’

‘Your world must be a dark place,’ I commented.

‘I’m an assassin. I know all the reasons why someone might kill and, let me tell you, some of those reasons are piss poor.’ It was hard to argue with that. Bastiondidlive in a dark world. ‘Enough chitchat. If I’m to interrogate all the griffins, I’d better get cracking. I’ll let you know when the matter progresses. Greg, you really need to secure your skies.’

‘I’m on it,’ Greg muttered, looking surly. He was still pissed off at the hole he’d left in our security. Bastion gave an abrupt nod, turned on his heel and left as quickly as he’d arrived.

‘Amber isn’t free to check the runes today, and I don’t want to entrust it to anyone else,’ Greg commented. ‘She’ll come when she can. In the meantime, we shouldn’t have any conversations that we need to keep secret by open windows. I’ve got the security company coming out later today to review the roof.’

I studied him. ‘No problem. I don’t blame you, you know.’

‘You don’t blame me as head of your security for failing to secure a huge portion of the property?’

‘It’s not a huge portion,’ I protested weakly.

He gave me a dark look. ‘I own my failings. This is one of them, and I’m not happy about it.’

‘To err is human.’

‘To forgive is divine. So I’m grateful you forgive me.’

I grinned. ‘Are you going to call me “Goddess” now?’

‘I’ll call you whatever you want,’ he promised.

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