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Tilting his head, he scratches his beard. “Nothing that made sense, really. That someone was in his head and controlling his body.”

Like a puppet on strings.

“And he kept complaining about his head being frozen. Poor kid, the drugs must have really done a number on him.”

I know what that cold feels like.

Having gone far beyond the capacity of my body to feel dread, I’ve simply gone numb. I hand the man as much money as I can spare.

He takes it without hesitation. “Thanks, kid. Good luck with your friend, eh?”

“Yeah,” I reply as I try to steer Mav up the road. “I think I need it.”

18. SMILE, SUNSHINE, SMILE!

Celeste’s voice is relieved when I pick up eventually. “Deni? Oh, I’m so glad you’re alright. Listen–”

“No,” I interrupt her. “I don’t want to hear it.”

Celeste sighs on the other side of the line. “Look, I’m sorry about–”

“Shut up, Celeste. I said I don’t want to hear your apology.”

I can hear how hard she tries to rein in her irritation. “Then why pick up the phone at all?”

“Because I found my friend. Remember the one youdealt with?”

“Okay?”

Mav is curled up on my bare mattress. Both of our stuff is gone but Pavel has rented out only Mav’s side of the room so far, so he agreed to let us back in. When I asked him where the money went that I hid in my mattress, he shrugged and told me I should’ve hidden it better.

I grind my teeth. “I also readThe Forgotten Art of Blood Magic.”

“Deni–”

“Just tell me what you did to him.”

“I did exactly what I told you I did, kitten. I gathered some intel and let him go.”

With a groan, I suppress the urge to yell in frustration. “How,Celeste? How did you gather intel?”

There is a long pause before she says, “I fed him some of my blood and used it to listened in on one of their meetings.”

“So it’s true? You can control someone when they’ve drank your blood?”

“It’s…” Something scrapes the microphone. “It’s a little more complicated than that.”

Mav stirs in his sleep. I squat down and rub his arm, trying to calm him down. It’s been a week in which he hasn’t gotten better and has refused to drink any blood unless I force it down his throat. “It didn’t sound complicated in your book. Actually, I’m sure it pretty much said that exactly.”

“Look, I’m sorry I spied on your friend. After what Alastor did to you I needed to know who was behind this because I wanted to make sure I could keep you safe. Which is why I need you to come home to me.”

“Bullshit! You’re honestly trying to tell me you didn’t influence his actions?”

“I mean, I had to make sure he didn’t tell anyone about drinking my blood and that he actually went and met the people he was working for. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

“The point is that you wouldn’t have broken his brain! Right now, he has no idea who he is or who I am – he was sleeping in the street somewhere when I found him!”

There’s another pause. “Are you sure? That’s never happened before.”