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“Yes.”

“And?”

“I’m not sure how to break the spell.”

Even though the only other personnel in the room were SBLE, Vadim spoke as quietly as she did.

“But you can do everything.”

“Not this time.” He removed his hand from Delia’s. “If she’s not better in the morning, I can try something more radical. I just hope that whatever our murderer did will eventually wear off. He has no motive for killing her.”

“As if that ever bothered the Fae.”

“True.” His smile was slight and looked painful. “Shall we go down to the ER?”

She nodded at the security team and shut the door behind them. It was quiet, as if the building held its breath, waiting to see who would win the nightly struggle over life and death the hospital waged. They walked back along the hallway toward the exit. She almost bumped into Vadim when he suddenly stopped in front of Brad’s old room. She frowned. Shouldn’t someone be guarding this space?

He put his hand on her arm and she cautiously opened her senses to the fractured magic around them.

“Is someone in there?”

“I don’t know.”

He pushed open the unlatched door and they both viewed the scene. Everything looked the same. The bed was still at a crazy angle, Brad’s ripped-off bandages lay on the floor and everywhere there was glass shining in the light coming through the broken window and the hallway.

She shivered. “Can’t they even board up the window?”

Vadim didn’t answer her. His attention seemed to be riveted on the floor by the window, where the glass was…

“Shit, it’s moving around!”

His fingers tightened on her arm. Shards of glass glittered and writhed on the floor. Tiny flashes of crimson—Vadim’s blood?—joined the mass of movement and formed into characters displayed against the floor. She didn’t understand the language. From the hitch in her partner’s breath, she reckoned he did.

“Is that Fae?”

He still didn’t answer her as the glass swirled and finally dispersed into a sea of dangerous shards.

“Morosov?”

He shook his head and walked out of the room, leaving her to chase after him. She poked him in the side.

“What was that all about?”

“Just a message from Adam.”

“Saying what?”

“To back off.”

“As if we would.”

He stopped moving and looked down at her, his gaze shadowed. “Maybe we should just let him be.”

“And stand back and watch his mutilate two more people on our watch? You’re nuts if you think I’d go along with that.” She practically stamped her foot. “What’s wrong with you?”

His smile was wry. “Perhaps I’m scared.”

“You? The big bad bird?”