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“I can take you to her.”

“We’ll see what we can do,” Lavinia says softly.

Sy’s jaw tightens. “We’re not babysitters.”

“No,” she says, glancing at Sy. “But I’m not losing another North Side sister if I can help it.”

The look they share is a full conversation, complex, and frankly something I don’t think I’ll ever experience with another person myself. Gert chooses that moment to return, placing plates in front of me and DK and pouring a fresh cup of coffee for Sy.

The moment she walks off, he sighs, pushing his hand into his curly dark hair.

“Fine,” he relents, “but I want something in return.”

“Sure,” DK says, cutting into his pancakes. “Name it.”

An uneasy feeling stirs in my gut at the casual way he sips his coffee before stating, “The Baroness.”

“What the fuck?” DK growls. “Are you insane?”

“He doesn’twant, want her,” Lavinia cuts in, shaking her head. “Jesus.”

“Then what?” I ask, feeling the rage vibrate off of DK.

“I want to talk to her about what she went through.”

“Good luck,” I tell him. “She doesn’t remember much.”

DK snorts. “And what she does remember sounds like it’s been scrambled with these eggs.”

“Yeah, well that’s where I come in,” he continues. “I can talk to her, or I can do something that may be even more effective, if I have your approval.”

“If you think you can figure out what’s going on in that crazy little head, be my guest.”

Sy doesn’t look at me. Doesn’t look at anyone, really. Just stares down into his coffee.

“I want to try hypnotism,” he says, quiet but sharp enough to slice through the air.

The table goes dead still.

DK stops chewing. I just blink at him.

“Hypnotism?” I repeat, like maybe I misheard.

Sy lifts his eyes, steady, unreadable. “I’ve been studying it in my graduate program. It’s not like the crazy mumbo-jumbo you think. It’s just about getting a person to a relaxed, safe state where they’re able to process things easier. If there’s something buried in her head–something she saw, something sheknows–we need it. I can get it.”

DK shoves his chair back, the legs screeching against the tile. “You’re not screwing with her brain.”

“I wouldn’t hurt her,” Sy says, voice firm. “But if you want to catch whoever took her, then we need answers. Fast.”

My pulse kicks. DK told me what happened when he took her to the riverbank. Arianette’s mind is as fragile as an antique clock. One wrong twist and the whole thing malfunctions. And now this guy wants to open her up and poke around?

DK looks like he wants to throw his plate at the wall, but he doesn’t. He just breathes hard through his nose and mutters something that sounds a lot likefuck all of this.

“The King will say no,” he says definitively.

Sy shrugs. “Then we don’t tell him.”

An airless beat covers the table.