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“They did,” he cut in, “but if such attacks were a primer for revenge-seeking, I’d waste my entire life doing it.”

The exception being attacks on his direct family and especially his twin sister. Someone had foolishly done just that the night he’d landed unconscious in the river—which had resulted in my fishing him out and the bloom of our relationship—and to say he intended to visit hell on them was not an understatement. Dark elves could control stone, and a prison buried so deeply in the earth none would ever find them had been mentioned for the perpetrators.

And he hadn’t been kidding.

I studied him for a second, seeing the amusement dancing lightly through his lovely eyes and the deeper, more serious intent behind it.

Not seeking revenge, my ass.

“You’d need the approval of the pixie council first.”

“Easy enough to arrange.”

Probably was for him, being heir to the throne and all. Personally, I was keeping well out of their way. While I doubted they’d forgotten about the whole punishment thing, I wasn’t about to make an appearance and jog their collective memories.

I swished another strawberry through the chocolate and bit into it. But as I did, my phone rang, the sound sharp and somehow urgent.

It wasn’t a phone call.

It was a warning.

Someone had just broken into my living quarters at the tavern.

ChapterFour

I chokeddown my strawberry and scrambled upright. Cynwrig was already on his feet. “That was the tavern alarm, wasn’t it?”

“You’ve a damn good memory considering you only heard it the once.”

“That once almost resulted in a fabulous ambush going astray. You’d better call Sgott. I’ll head upstairs and call the car.”

I nodded and walked over to my overnight bag. Once I’d dressed and strapped on my knives, I grabbed my phone and rang Sgott.

“Heard it,” he said, the Scottish brogue in his voice sharper than usual. “On my way. Where are you?”

“At Cynwrig’s.”

“Good. Stay there while I deal with this.”

I snorted. “How long have you known me? Besides, I can’t. They’ll be looking for the sword, and while it’s not there, the Codex is.”

“Why in the gods’ names would you leave something likethatthere after all the recent break-ins?”

His voice held a resigned sort of disappointment rather than anger, and I always thought that was far worse. Not that he’d ever reacted angrily at anything we’d ever said or done over the years, but Ihadseen him unleash at those who dared threaten us. He was a fearsome sight in full flight, but then, hewasa bear shifter. It came with the territory.

“I couldn’t risk carrying the triune. Not when someone was keeping tabs on us in Scotland, and we were more than likely followed home.”

He swore. “I take it you do have the knives, then?”

“And the Eye. Trust me, no matter how good the thief, if he is looking for the Codex, it’ll take him a good while to find the damn thing.”

“Unless it’s a spellcaster or a sniffer. Those bastards could find the merest whiff of magic at fifty feet.”

Sniffers were canine shifters and were called in on crimes where cause of death wasn’t obvious. There weren’t all that many of them in Deva and, from what Sgott had said over the years, the few that did live and work here were kept busy with legal jobs.

Which didn’t mean they wouldn’t take a shadier deal if the money was good enough, of course.

I glanced around as Cynwrig rattled down the stairs, fully dressed and phone in hand. “We’ll be there in five.”