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“You keep yourself so busy being good, proving that you’re worthy of a dead man’s approval, but are you ever going to deal with this?” she asked, waving her hands between them. “Are you ever going to address what there is between you and me?”

Panic froze his tongue.

Cela let out a tired-sounding sigh. “I can practically see that brain of yours churning through all the reasons there shouldn’t be a you and me. But while you’re thinking, consider this, too.”

She rose onto her toes and pressed her mouth against his. Soft and sweet. He closed his eyes, unable to resist her, and suddenly he could no longer feel the cold.

But the kiss was over before it began. She looked up at him, smug satisfaction shining in her expression.

“That’s what I thought.” And with a small smile, she turned on her heel and left him standing there in the bright cold of a winter’s day.

Jianyu didn’t even hear Darrigan approach until the Magician let out a long, amused whistle. “You’re going to need to breathe there, sport. And just a suggestion, but maybe next time? Kiss her back.”

VAGUE PROMISES

From his usual table at the back of the Bella Strega, James Lorcan watched over the crowd. They were quieter than usual and had been since Torrio and Sai Wing Mock’s boys made matchsticks of the furniture and tore the barroom apart. But in the days since then, he’d put things back together—his alliances, his saloon, and his control over the Devil’s Own.

And if there were those who had disappeared into the Bowery despite wearing the mark? He would not let that concern him. There were others who would replace them, others who already had.

It was nearly midnight when Logan entered the saloon and looked around warily. The boy was always nervous, jittery, and unsure of himself, but for the last few days, he’d been different. Every time he entered James’ presence, the Aether shifted and bunched. Unlike the others in the Devil’s Own, Logan had no loyalty to the Strega or to James other than what was inspired by desperation and fear. But desperation pushed people to do things they otherwise wouldn’t, and fear had the nasty habit of making them stupid.

In the days since Esta had slipped away from them, James had been allowing Logan some freedom—enough rope to either help him catch a thief or to hang himself. But tonight the vibrations had grown more insistent about Logan’s possible duplicity.

It was time to ensure he wasn’t a risk.

He called out and waved the boy over. When he saw the summons, Logan hesitated. He looked suddenly ill, and when he finally started to move, he came slowly, with his eyes shifting around the barroom the entire time.

“Well?” James asked, rubbing his thumb across the Medusa’s coiling hair. “What have you discovered for me?”

“I found her,” Logan told him. “I tracked Ishtar’s Key to a building north of Washington Square. But she doesn’t have the Book. Or if she does, she’s not keeping it there,” Logan told him, unable to meet his eyes.

It was no more and no less than what he’d suspected. The Aether had been whispering of missed opportunities for days, but now it seemed to whisper of deception as well. Logan, it seemed, had made a choice. A rather unfortunate one.

“That certainly is terrible news,” he said. “For you especially.”

Logan looked up then, fear in his expression. “For me?”

“Yes,” James agreed. “You have no connections to this city, no talents other than to find magical objects, and you’ve failed to do that. You’ve refused my offer of the mark again and again. Because you believe that you’re destined for other places… or because you aren’t truly loyal?”

“No, James,” Logan said, his eyes growing wider. “That isn’t it at all.”

“Isn’t it?” James pretended to consider the situation.

“No,” Logan said. “I wouldn’t do anything against you, James. You have to know that.”

“Do I?” He nodded to Murphy, indicating that he should come over as well. “Maybe you’re right. You haven’t given me any real reason to doubt your intentions—not yet, at least. But I can’t help but wonder… What use are you to me if you can’t accomplish the task I’ve kept you around for?”

By now Logan had noticed Murphy’s approach and understood he wasn’t safe. Fear shivered through him, coward that he was.

“Unless you do know something more?” James asked, glancing over his spectacles. “Something you wish to share?”

Logan looked distinctly uncomfortable, and James watched as the war played out within him.

“She’s never going to take you back, Logan. Whatever Esta might promise you, whatever she might have told you, she’s lying.” James shrugged. “It’s what she does. She was trained to deceive. But she will not win. When everything is settled and when the dust clears, Esta Filosik will meet the fate intended for her. If you trust her, if you take her side against me, then you’ll share her fate as well.”

“She doesn’t have the Book,” Logan said again. He glanced up at Murphy. “I wasn’t lying about that. I wouldn’t lie to you, James.”

“If she doesn’t have the Book, then where is it?”