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“Mind mixing a little business with dinner?” Des asks eventually.

I shrug. Now that we’re back in Somnia, it’s back to work for Des and back to finding things to occupy myself with. There’s pretty much nothing worse than boredom, so I’ll take a little business with dinner if it gives me something to do.

I wipe my mouth with my napkin. “What’s up?”

Des snaps his fingers, and a sheet of parchment appears in midair before fluttering down in front of me. I don’t reach it before it lands on the plate of chicken tikka masala, the food’s oily orange sauce bleeding onto the paper.

Leaning forward, I grab the sheet of parchment and use my napkin to dab the sauce off it.

“Was that really necessary?” I ask, frowning when my efforts to clean the paper only end up further smearing sauce all over it.

On the parchment is a chart of sorts, one column containing a list of names, another containing gender, another containing dates and times, another containing locations, and then, finally, a column containing what looks to be notes.

The Bargainer nods to the paper. “That’s a list of all the fae who’ve disappeared within the past three months,” he says, taking a sip of his chai.

I raise my eyebrows, looking at the chart all over again. The sight of so many names is staggering, and this list includes not just missing women, but missing men as well.

So far, Des and I haven’t talked much about them, mostly because, unlike the women, the men who vanished have not reappeared, giving us no clues as to what happened to them.

“Notice anything unusual?” Des asks, watching me from over the rim of his cup.

I continue to skim the chart. “You know, if there’s something you want me to notice, you could just come out and say…” My words dry up when I get to the dates.

Since Des killed Karnon, no women have disappeared…but five men have.

I glance up at the Bargainer. “The men are still vanishing.”

Des looks out the window at the twinkling city below. “Many men disappear in the Night Kingdom,” he says conversationally. “It could be nothing.”

I can practically hear thebutthat follows his statement.

“What is it?” I ask, lowering the parchment.

He takes another sip of his tea. “Four of the last five men who’ve gone missing are soldiers.”

Too many disappearances to be a coincidence, which means…

It’s not over.

The paper rustles a little as my hand begins to tremble.

“But you killed him,” I say softly.

Des’s eyes soften as he gazes at me. “I killedKarnon.”

It takes me a few more seconds to put together what Des isn’t saying. When I do, my eyes widen. “Someone else is taking the men.”

Chapter 15

Karnon only ever took the women. Now that Des killed him, those disappearances have stopped. The paper in my hand says as much.

But the men…

“So you think there’s more than one person behind this.” I stare at Des across the table, dumbfounded. “But…why? And how?”

Des runs a hand through his white-blond hair, his arm muscles rippling. “I’m working on that.”

Just then, Malaki comes into the room, his strides long and powerful, looking every inch the pirate with his eye patch and scruffy cheeks.