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I smiled and headed downstairs to make repairs. Once back up in my room, I lightly wove the door and frame together, just on the off chance someone got past Sgott and all his people, then tried to ring Lugh. He wasn’t answering, so I sent him a text, then stripped off and fell into bed.

And once again dreamed. Not just of that lake and its unholy treasure chest, but of a hand reaching into a storm and drawing forth the sword.

If the dreams were to be believed, we were running out of time.

Iwas running out of time.

And I wasn’t entirely sure whether that meant death had already fixed her hungry eyes on me, or it was just a warning that she lay in wait if I wasn’t very careful.

The sharp ringing of the phone woke me. I fumbled around for the thing on the bedside table, then pried open an eye to glare at the screen.

Lugh.

And it was barely six.

I hit the answer button and said, “You’d better have a fucking good reason for ringing at this ungodly hour, brother mine.”

“You’re usually awake at this hour, so don’t be getting all grouchy at me, especially if you’ve spent the better part of the evening sexing rather than sleeping.”

“I only spent half the night sexing. The tavern was broken into again last night, and Vincentia was murdered.”

“What?”

“Yeah, and the latter came with a warning to me.”

“I saw the text you sent, but you forgot to mention the warning was found on her body.”

“Sorry, but I figured that sort of news was better said in person.” Or at least over the phone.

He grunted. Whether that was in agreement or not, I couldn’t really say. He and Vincentia had never really been close, thanks to the age gap between them. “The threat was obviously aimed at me, but it isn’t the first time my life has been put on the line, and it won’t be the last. They’ll learn soon enough that we Aodhán pixies are rather hard to kill.”

Thatwas apparently the result of a godly blood infusion given to both the Aodhán and Tàileach lines when we’d been tasked with protecting the old gods’ relics. The same blood had also given both lines our height.

But it hadn’t saved Mom.

And it certainly hadn’t saved Vincentia.

“Killing her makes no sense, though,” Lugh was saying. “She’s the one decent link to us that they had.”

“From what I saw, it was more a murderous venting of fury than a planned death.”

“Which means we must be getting close to them, and they’re started to panic.”

“I think you’re reading too much into their actions.”

“Maybe. Did they take anything?”

“Yeah, the banner bag containing your hiking poles. But they were up in the loft looking for the Codex.”

“Why on earth did they think it was up there?”

“Because it was.”

“But how did they know that? And how did they even find—” He paused then answered his own question. “Vincentia.”

“She must have remained connected enough to the Codex after I performed the ceremony to feel its presence when she was close.”

“I take it from the lack of panic in your voice that they didn’t get it?”