Page 116 of Terror at the Gates

Once Liam had been discharged, I brought them home from the hospital and stayed to help Gabriel get settled.

“Yeah,” I said. “Just trying to keep tabs on Lilith.”

It wasn’t unlike her to go looking for a thrill, but this seemed reckless even for her.

“You talked to her?” Gabriel asked.

“Barely. She’s in avoidance mode,” I said.

Gabriel dropped his gaze, twisting his fingers one way and then the other.

“It’s my fault,” he said. A second later, he was sniffing and dragging his hands over his face. “I should have been the one to find Esther. She’ll spend her whole life running from that nightmare.”

The thing was, I didn’t think Lilith was running at all.

And maybe that was the problem.

She was diving headfirst into danger.

Chapter Fourteen

Leaving the port had almost been too easy, though I assumed that was because Zahariev had made a few calls after our chat. I half expected him to be waiting outside the gate, eager to reprimand me in person, but he wasn’t.

I pulled up my hood and kept my head down, doing my best to go unnoticed as I took a maze of darkened side streets to the Trenches. The area was busier than before, and there were a few shops open, though 213 was not one of them. In fact, when I made it to Saira’s door, I found she had covered her windows with paper so that no one could see in, a move I assumed she made shortly after I left, which felt justified but also kind of rude considering I was bringing her the drug she’d asked for.

I knocked, glancing up and down the street to gauge who was watching, though no one seemed to pay me any mind. I realized I was paranoid, expecting Zahariev to show up at any moment and ruin everything the same way he’d ruined my reputation in Gomorrah.

He would think he was protecting me, but really, hewould just keep me from the information I really needed—the informationheneeded, though he didn’t realize that yet, which was my fault. I hadn’t told him my plans, though to be real, I’d just played all this by ear, which was evident by the throbbing burn on my wrist.

I pulled my gaze away from the street and knocked again. It was another minute before the door opened. All I could see was a sliver of Saira’s face, her eyes widening a fraction before she spoke.

“You’re back,” she said. “I hoped you’d come.”

I was both surprised and a little suspicious. Was she hopeful because of what I’d brought or another reason entirely?

Then she added, “I was talking to the cat, by the way. Come in.”

She stepped aside to let me enter.

Of course. The cat.

The woman’s shop was as I remembered it, only darker now that the windows were covered. I pointed at them with my thumb. “Is this because of me?” I asked.

“You, spies, enforcers,” she said as she locked the door.

“One of those things is not like the others,” I said.

“We’ll see,” she replied, giving me a hard look. “Do you have it?”

“Really?” I asked.

“I gave you a task,” she said. “I assume you would not return if you didn’t have it.”

I stared at her, trying to read her expression, but really, she just looked mean. Maybe the jade would take the edge off.

I pulled the bag out of my pocket. She snatched it from my hands and moved farther into her shop. Bypassing thecounter she’d put between us last time, she went instead to a small table at the back of the shop. It was low to the ground and seemed almost intended for a child.

She took a seat, pulling a rectangular box toward herself.