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Going back to Boston. Talking to Cassandra. Sticking my nose into the covens’ business.

This assignment is feeling more and more like a mistake.

But Cleo has an approving gleam in her eye, Blair nods his satisfaction, and I’m left with nothing more than all my gathering dread and a brave face.

“Good. And on that note, we’ve got another contract operative in Boston I would like you to partner with on this. He should be arriving any—” Blair’s words cut off with a knock on his office door, and he stands from his seat. “Come in.”

“What an unexpected delight.”

That dread turns to ice, off like a shot through my veins.

It’s been seven years, but I still know the teasing lilt of that voice.

And when I turn, body rigid, I already know what I’m going to find.

A lithe, powerful build. A head of ice-blond hair styled to careless perfection. A pair of crimson eyes focused solely on me.

“It’s been far, far too long, Ophelia,” Casimir says. “It’s good to see you again.”

My practiced facade cracks straight down the middle, and it’s like no time has passed at all. I’m right back on that rooftop, feeling about an inch tall under this vampire’s gaze.

“You want me to work withhim?” The words don’t come out right, my panic and shame twisting them into an accusation I hurl toward my sister.

Cleo knows everything. I told her all of it right after it happened, worried that pissing off one of the most powerful vampires in the city might have blown back on her. It never did, and as far as I’m aware, she’s the only other soul who knows what happened. I certainly never told anyone, and it doesn’t seem that Casimir did, either.

But who knows? I was out of that life completely and in Philly the following year, so if there were ever any rumors, they didn’t reach me.

When I turn my eyes back to Casimir, his gaze is harder now. His smile is sharper, humorless, and I quickly look away.

Blair awkwardly clears his throat. “The two of you know each other already?”

Casimir’s chuckle is rich and deep as he recovers and crosses the room with more of that easy, charming command of his firmly back in place. “We’re acquainted.”

To her credit, Cleo doesn’t seem to have any idea what’s going on, either, as she glares at Blair. “Thanks for the heads-up on that.”

“We only spoke last night,” Casimir interjects before Blair can reply.

With no spare seats for him to take, he chooses instead to perch himself on the corner of Blair’s desk.

It puts him right in front of me.

He crosses one ankle over the other, folds his arms across his chest, and the slow smile on his face is complemented by the glint of a challenge in his eyes.

“What do you say, Ophelia? It could be fun, the two of us partnering up to take down the bastards who are orchestrating all of this chaos.”

I don’t know what to make of this Casimir.

I don’t know what to make of his challenge and the hard set of his features, don’t know what to make of the way his eyes rake over me and the way my heart rate ticks up in response.

I need to get out of here.

I’m twenty-three again, standing on that rooftop at the edge of a life that was never going to be mine, with a vampire handsome as sin and all too able to see through my bullshit. Small. Exposed. Shaky with nerves and the deep-brain instinct to run as far and as fast as I can.

I swallow hard, trying to get a handle on myself.

“Sure, maybe we’ll be able to keep in touch while I’m out there, but I work best alone.” He opens his mouth to reply, but I press on. “Cleo? Should I speak with the payroll department like usual to get them my info?”

Cleo shoots one last look at Blair before she replies. “Yeah, let me walk you down there.”