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“Youwouldbe afraid of that name; you’ve always been a little punk.” Gloria’s goading voice sounded over my heavy breath, and I hoped for a quick repose.

I needed to pull myself together, and quickly.

“Even now, the threat of him still makes you check yourself,” she continued.

“Fuck Kieran.” Jameson shook his head, snapping himself out of his stupor. He inched closer, and the fury seemed to encompass the room. But he didn’t reach for me again.

This was a pivotal clue. Jameson was someone who clearly knew Kieran, and even my biological family. Which made sense, considering that earlier, Gloria had mentioned that he was in the same quintet as my birth father.

But it didn’t seem like the connection was entirely positive.

However, it would be better to focus on that later. Right now, I couldn’t even pretend to be holding it together, let alone think clearly.

“I…” Jameson began, then stopped. I peeked up at him through the shelter of my arms. His dark expression hardened into annoyance as he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. His attention remained on the device for one long moment, and then he scowled, turning off the screen and shoving it back into his jacket.

“I have another matter to attend to,” he was speaking to the guards now, moving back to the mirror and placing his palm on the surface. “Leave her alone for now.”

“But…” The second lacky glanced at me, disappointment causing his heavy shoulders to slump.

Jameson glared at him. “I said don’t touch her.”

Instead of feeling reassured at his command, the uneasy feeling in my stomach intensified. Something was wrong—and it had nothing to do with the fear he’d shown at the mention of Kieran.

My senses, which had been fading more and more before, were now growing sharper. The echo of footsteps pounded under my ears from somewhere distant outside of this room, and a nausea began to coat the back of my throat.

Gloria and Ada had also snapped to alert as they focused on the basement door. It was impossible to read the hyena’s expression, but Gloria was obviously tethering on the edge of panic and fury.

Considering that they—unlike me—could hear far past the confines of this prison, and were now reacting in this way… My sense of unease grew.

What was this ‘other matter’ that was now so important?

“Then what are we supposed to do?” the werewolf asked.

“Guard them, obviously.” He rolled his eyes, his voice chipped. Then, his haughty expression dropped and his attention returned to his hand—and the dark surface slightly shimmering under it. “Or better yet…”

“Jameson?” the other man tentatively ventured.

“Later, maybe,” he said. “First and foremost, we have to focus on subduing this dragon.”

“You hope to overpower him?” Gloria laughed. “There is no chance you’ll succeed. What in the world are you trying to accomplish?”

“Subduing him is only a short-term solution, and there’ll be no need to worry after we kill him.” Jameson shrugged, unperturbed by Gloria’s warning.

The men with the onmyoji froze and stared at the man, and the air in the room itself stilled.

“Kill him?” Gloria’s pale face shone white. She was looking at the man as if he was a stranger. “No matter what nonsense you’re involved with in the background, you’re still an officer first and foremost.”

“Or maybe there’s a better way,” Jameson replied. “Maybe we shouldn’t keep following this ridiculous tradition where we live at the whims of ancient fools and a handful of shadowed overseers.”

Gloria narrowed her eyes, and Ada suddenly shifted from hyena back to a woman but remained on all fours as she stared at the onmyoji in shock.

“You’ve joined the Gens Humana guild,” Gloria said, no question in her voice. “So they’re recruiting from within now? How could you be so stupid? They want tokill us.”

“That’s just the thing.” Jameson backed up a step and snapped his fingers. While a moment before, his men had been frozen at the revelation that their boss planned on killing Titus, the onmyoji’s unspoken order was enough to pull them from their stupor. “Would that really be so bad?”

“You’ve lost your mind.” Ada’s face was pressed close to the bars as she stared at Jameson. “That’s why you’re targeting Titus? Are you the one who’s infiltrated Jinshu?”

Jameson shrugged. “He’s the general.” His tone was light, but there was a tremor of apprehension in his voice. “Their first line of defense. If he’s gone, they’re weaker.”