Page 106 of Legacy of Temptation

Maja.

Quickly, she disconnected the line with Jennifer and opened the line with Maja as she retreated farther back, away from the Horsemen and their families.

“Maja,” she said in a hushed voice. “It’s good to hear from you.”

“Did you see the news?” Maja sounded as frazzled as she looked.

“Ah, okay…yes, I saw what happened at Temple Mount. The same thing happened at Limos’s place. That’s where I am right now.”

“Oh. It happened there too? Interesting.” Maja said the words, but her voice conveyed anything but interest. The Elder was rattled. She reached somewhere off to the right, and then there was a glass and a bottle of vodka in view of the screen. She splashed three fingers of alcohol into her glass with a trembling hand.

“Elder Maja? What’s going on?”

“Are you safe?”

“Of course, she’s safe. She’s with me.”

Eva nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of Logan’s voice behind her. Holy shit, how had he snuck up on her like that?

“Oh, hey. I was just talking to—”

“Maja. Yeah, I know. I can’t see her, but I can hear her.”

She stared at him for a second. He knew Maja well enough to know the sound of her voice?

Maja knocked back a gulp of vodka. “Turn on the public view and let me talk to him.”

Baffled, Eva turned the screen from private to public, and a 3D image of Maja in her office popped into the space in front of them.

“A Guardian was found dead,” she said, and Eva’s lungs seized.No, no, no. She didn’t want to hear any more… “Mutilated. The body impaled on a church spire in Brussels. It’s all kinds of public.”

“Draven.” Logan scrubbed his hand over his face. “Ah, damn.”

“Who…?” Eva croaked. Swallowed. Found her voice. Barely. “Who was it?”

Maja’s eyes glistened with unshed tears, and Eva’s chest caved in.Please, don’t say Keeley. “It was Keeley,” she said in a husky, two-pack-a-day rasp. “Dammit, it was Keeley.”

Eva wasn’t sure how she didn’t break down. She’d spent her entire life behind a professional mask, starting at age three while competing in beauty pageants. She’d been trained to maintain a neutral expression by parents who were experts at withholding emotion.

But right now, this was all too much. Her job was on the line. People she knew and cared about were dying. Her life was in danger.

And she was being babysat by the son of Death.

Who she had feelings for—way more than she cared to admit.

“Eva.”

Numbly, Eva jerked her gaze to the Elder.

“Eva, I have to go. We’ll talk later.”

Maja’s image blinked out, but Eva kept staring into the space where her boss had been.

“I’m sorry about your friend,” Logan said softly.

Behind him, Scotty snorted.

Eva didn’t know what came over her. Grief, anger, or the toll the last couple of days had taken on her, it didn’t matter. Rage bubbled up, hot and acidic, charring the edges of her control.

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