Page 67

We’d got through the day on a cocktail of adrenaline and desperation, and with neither still driving us, it left only deep fatigue. Thirty-something hours on the go. I was hardly aware of climbing into bed, asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

We woke with the sunrise, still both half-dressed in yesterday’s clothes. Proof, if it had been needed, that Kara had been just as exhausted as me.

She slipped an arm over my chest and snuggled into my shoulder.

“I wouldn’t do that,” I muttered. “I probably stink.”

“You do,” she said sleepily, “but as I stink too, I’m opting to ignore it in exchange for cuddles.”

“True love right there,” I quipped.

She just smiled, like I wasn’t wrong.

I brushed a curl of hair from her face, running the back of my fingers over her cheek.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

“That a lot has happened in a very short space of time.”

“Is this a precursor to one of your ‘I’m feeling trapped’ speeches?”

I twisted my lips in wry capitulation. “Am I that bad?”

“Not really. I think it’s been fully justified. I was just hoping that …” She chewed her lip, then settled back into my shoulder.

“I wasn’t about to mention the T-word,” I said. “For the record, I don’t feel tr … tra … tied down by you.” Not anymore, anyway.

“Good,” she said, and leaned up to give my jaw a kiss. “Be inconvenient if you did, given how you’ve trapped me.”

Fair. Also, accurate.

We lay in companiable silence for a while, while Kara drew small circles on my chest with one finger.

“So what were you thinking?” she asked. “When you stroked my cheek just now.”

“Are you fishing for compliments?”

“Do I need to?”

I chuckled. “No. You don’t need to. I was thinking that you’re gorgeous, strong, determined, loyal, and fierce.”

She propped her chin on my chest, smiling at me. “You think so?”

“I know so.”

“Smart. You forgot smart.”

“And smart,” I added with a grin. “You’re definitely smart.”

“And stinky.”

I sniffed a couple of times. “Actually, not that bad.”

“We should still take a shower.”

“We?”

“We,” she said firmly.

*

I got dressed while Kara spent some quality time with her hair dryer, then picked my phone up.

And froze. A message from an unknown number, sent at eleven the night before, when we were already asleep.

Just you and him. 9pm tomorrow. You’ll get the address at 8.30.

Which was now today. And neither of us would be going alone.

Moreau was being cautious. No location until a half-hour before to make it that much harder to turn his trap into ours. Whatever he said, he still didn’t trust me—or was just showing a reasonable degree of prudence.

I texted Dacien, letting him know. He messaged straight back.

Meet at the warehouse. 8pm.

That made sense. Time to gather and discuss the last-minute details while not being where Moreau might expect us to be. I wondered if Moreau knew where Dacien lived, and figured it was likely. His house was probably being watched.

I went for the door to the living room, then paused, turning instead for the jeans I’d worn the day before, and grabbing the belt with the dagger I’d found in Containment still looped onto it.

It might be of limited effectiveness, but with my improved strength and speed, it could make the difference in a pinch. Better than nothing.

Farron’s useless wand was in the pocket, but his barrier ring was there too.

I pulled it out and slipped it on. It activated with a simple press of the thumb, a buckler of aether appearing on my wrist, the size of a large pizza.

Enough to stop an attack, or act as a bludgeoning weapon as Farron had demonstrated.

I flicked it off, feeling better for having it, and went to find Iyoni.

She was drinking coffee and on her phone, already dressed, her blonde hair clasped up, still damp from a recent shower.

“Sleep well?” I asked.

“Totally zonked out,” she said, with a smile. “Yesterday … and the day before … was rough. How are my two favorite lovebirds?”

“Better for some rest.” I let my tone turn serious. “But Moreau has messaged. He wants to meet at nine tonight, and Dacien has suggested we rendezvous at eight.”

“Good,” she said. “I hate long waits.”

I shared the sentiment, though I couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable.

Yes, Moreau had agreed to my plan, but I wasn’t convinced he’d fully bought in.

To it, or me. His caution was understandable—I’d have done the same thing.

It was obvious he’d stack the deck heavily in his favor, and I had a bad feeling about taking on Moreau on his own turf.

He was powerful in his own right, and he’d be a fool not to bring an army. He wasn’t a fool.

“I wonder how much pushback Moreau will accept,” I mused out loud. “Meeting him where he can call the plays? It’s very dangerous. We need somewhere neutral, and we need him to agree.”

“He won’t,” Iyoni replied. “Not without a carrot, at least.”

“That’s the problem. And I can’t see a way to convince him.”

“What’s the problem? Convince who?” Kara asked as she walked in.

I brought her up to speed. “The issue is, if we propose a different venue, he’s going to get jumpy. But I don’t want him backing out. He’ll only have longer to consolidate with the new supes he’s just added to his arsenal.”

Kara crossed her arms and frowned. “What if we changed it at the last minute, but gave him options? That way, he still has control, and we all avoid a venue that could be primed against us.”

“Except Moreau wants a venue that’s primed against us. We know it’s a trap. We’re just going to have to be as prepared as we can.” I grimaced. “And make sure Dacien’s still willing to go.”

*

Kara drove her Aston Martin while Iyoni returned the van she’d hired, then we picked her up and got to Dacien’s warehouse for our eight o’clock rendezvous.

Two guards waited outside along with some black SUVs, but they just peered through the windows then waved us on, the warehouse shutters rolling up to allow us entrance, and closing behind us.

Dacien was sitting on a crate as we pulled in, Virelle standing nearby, with more of their men loitered around.

The bodies from earlier had disappeared. I wondered how Virelle had explained their disappearance, and whether her other guards were suspicious.

Kara killed the engine, and we stepped out into the heavy quiet.

“Are you up for this?” Dacien asked, breaking the silence.

“If by ‘up for this’, do you mean am I ready to kill him?” I glanced at Kara, reminding myself of what was at stake, and clenched my jaw. “Yes. I am.”

He gestured at Iyoni. “Is your pet celestial going to give us any problems?”

“First, she’s not my pet celestial.” Or, if she was, that wasn’t for Dacien to say. “Second, we’re all onboard with this.” I raised an eyebrow. “What of you, Dacien? Are you ready to kill?”

He smiled thinly. “I owe Moreau. Don’t worry, Xan my boy, I won’t hold back.”

“That’s good to hear, given that he’ll be ready for us.” If we weren’t outnumbered and outgunned, I’d be shocked. But knowing Dacien was prepared to take on Moreau wasn’t as comforting as I’d hoped.

“You’re the surprise,” Virelle said. “He won’t be expecting you to be on our side, or to be so powerful.” She still said the word like it gave her a thrill. “With any luck, he’ll be arrogant and overconfident, and we’ll catch him off guard.”

Moreau didn’t have a monopoly on arrogance, but I refrained from commenting.

I’d been expecting us to fill the half-hour wait with some kind of planning, but instead we spent it in uneasy silence while I tried not to check my phone every five minutes.

There wasn’t really anything we could do to prepare.

The plan was simple enough: rock up, kill Moreau, try not to get killed in the process.

The longer we waited, the more I wondered if that was enough. What could I be missing? What was Moreau planning?

The wait frayed at my nerves, and for lack of anything better to do, I finally asked a question. “Dacien, the fight last week, not far from here, the one that was recorded by a drone. Was that outside one of your facilities?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Because it was an ambush.”

“Are you complaining?” He seemed amused. “I wasn’t planning to leave it all to chance, Xan. That facility contained nothing of value, and I leaked it deliberately, to send a message.”

“And if you’d got Kara killed?”

“You’d only been in the role a day. I didn’t expect you to jump into the first fray you found.”

I watched him carefully. “So you weren’t trying to kill us.”

“You? No. A few SPAR agents? Yes.” He cocked his head to one side. “Does that bother you?”

Of course it did, but it didn’t surprise me.

I said nothing, lapsing back into silence. At least the quiet didn’t seem so bad when the alternative was talking to Dacien.

And this is where I’d ended up. Allying with someone like Dacien. I wasn’t sure what bothered me more: the fact that I’d let my morals slip so far, or that it had been my idea.

My phone vibrated in my hand, and I found myself grateful for the interruption.

“88 Boyd Avenue, East Providence,” I read out. “What’s there?”

Virelle made a gesture with her hand, and all but two of the guards went for the door.

Iyoni was typing it into her phone. “Commercial buildings. A warehouse or empty offices, probably.”

“How far?”

“Twenty-minute drive.”

“Half an hour from my house,” Dacien said. “Maybe he assumed we were there.”

“So we’ve bought ten minutes,” I said. “Is that time enough for your men to get in position?”

“About nine more than they need.” He grinned, baring his teeth. “Time to trap the trapper.”