Page 72 of The Hive Queen

“The Joker card was definitely for me. It’s from a game we used to play when she was still a kid.” Flint makes a wide circle around the pool of honey. “But I doubt we were her initial target for this booby trap.”

“There was honey at all the crime scenes.” I study the spot where Amalia was hiding, but no trace remains of her presence here. “Do you think she was trying it as a lure for the Hive Queen?”

“Maybe?” Uncertainty fills Flint’s voice. “But why would honey attract the Hive Queen? It feels more like something she would have left at the crime scene herself, not something that attracted her to the victims.”

“Right.” His words only confirm my gut instinct. “But then why the honey?”

“We can ask Amalia once we track her down—” He cuts off, his head turning toward the stairwell.

At the same time, I catch the scuff of shoes on cement coming toward us. Is there a possibility that Amalia reconsidered and returned?

When I look at Flint in question, he shakes his head.

A frown forms on his lips, and he stares toward the door as if he can see right through the air conditioning unit.

I lean in close, my voice low so the new arrival won’t hear. “Is it a security guard?”

It would be just our luck to be caught trespassing, and me without my badge.

“No, I don’t think so.” As the scuff of shoes nears, Flint’s frown deepens. “Something’s not right. I can’t get a handle on this person’s soul.”

Fear tightens my gut. As far as I know, Flint only has trouble with those whose energy type comes from a place outside of the human or demon planes. “The same as with the Fox god?”

Flint hesitates for a moment. “Kind of, but different.”

A buzz fills the air, blending at first with the whir of the machine we stand next to before it grows louder, invading my mind and scattering my thoughts.

I shake my head and rub one ear with a knuckle, but it doesn’t help. When I stuff my finger inside, not even plugging my ear blocks out the noise. A sense of vertigo sweeps over me, and I stumble forward to lean against the metal wall in front of me as my legs threaten to give out.

Flint grabs my arm, giving me a rough shake before he drags me around the side of the machine farthest from the sound.

My feet tangle together, and I stumble as the bottoms of my shoes slide through a thick patch of honey.

Flint’s hand on my arm keeps me upright, and he drags me farther around the machine.

We come out on the side closer to the stairwell, the empty expanse of the rooftop in front of us. The closed door to the stairs feels a mile away as Flint drags me toward it in lurches and stumbles.

The more distance we put between us and the air conditioner, the more the noise in my head fades until the buzz becomes more of an irritation that I can ignore.

As the dizziness vanishes, my legs regain function, and I pat Flint’s hand to let him know I’m coherent once more and peer back over my shoulder.

A shadowed figure hunches on the ground next to the air conditioning unit, scraping at the ground with their fingers before bringing them to their mouth.

The honey. They’re eating the honey.

Is that why Amalia spread it all over the place? Was she trying to draw the Hive Queen to her? But honey as a lure still doesn’t make sense, and the figure doesn’t resemble the disproportionate woman from the books Flint found.

But they’re definitely linked to the Hive Queen. The buzz feels like what Josephine described, and the honey drew them here.

Flint’s tug on my arm makes me realize I stopped walking, and I shift into motion once more. He’s right. We need to get out of here. He can’t use his magic on this person, and I left the cabin without my weapon.

I hate retreating. Outside of what we stole from Amalia, this is the first solid lead we’ve had in our case.

There are weapons in the van, though. We can stake out the street and wait for the person to leave, then follow them to their next location and hope they lead us to the Hive Queen.

That was likely Amalia’s plan, and I’m happy to piggyback off of it.

I release Flint and step ahead to open the door, then flinch back from the man who stands on the other side. “Shit, there’s more than one!”

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