Episode 13

I try to smile, but I know it doesn’t reach my eyes. That seems to worry Victor.

As he sits down, I watch Desmond slide through the shadows to block the door. I give him a subtle nod.

Reaching into the filing drawer of my desk, I pull out a folder stuffed with papers. Redmon’s name is printed across the tab in large black letters. Lifting it just enough to keep the contents hidden from Victor, I “tsk” softly and shake my head while flipping through the empty pages.

The moment Victor starts squirming in his seat, I finally look up at him.

“I’m curious, Victor. Why would you hide important things from me? I thought we had an understanding about the conditions of employment.” I tilt my head slightly. “The security footage — which was naughty, by the way — the conversation with Redmon before he was killed, and now you’ve been acting stranger than usual. Like you’ve got other agendas on your mind.”

Closing the folder, I place it flat on the desk and steeple my hands over it, resting my chin against the tips of my fingers. My polite smile fades into something far less amused. Tiny sparks of ember begin to flicker in my eyes as I carefully warm the seat beneath Victor.

“I’m afraid, my dear and loyal friend, that you’ve placed yourself quite literally in the hot seat.”

“Blaze, please hear me out.” Victor shifts in the chair, panic creeping into his voice as the heat rises. “You don’t understand what it’s like. You’ve never truly been under their thumb. But power has shifted, and you’re in danger now. All I ever did was try to warn Redmon… and now you. The rest — I couldn’t help it. I didn’t have a choice.”

I keep the temperature exactly where it is and quirk an eyebrow.

“Who, Victor? Who is threatening us? Why would you be under their thumb?”

My thoughts drift to the impromptu appearance of the Council Clerk. I try to smother the paranoia curling through my head. The Council was one of the few groups I grew up around that would happily put the illegitimate child of a noble on a leash if given the opportunity. Leverage was leverage.

Of course, that wasn’t going to happen.

Especially now that I lived in “neutral” territory.

Still, I needed to know exactly who deserved my attention.

Frustration finally snaps through me. I slam my palm against the desk and rise to my feet.

“You should have come to me first, dammit! I can’t protect anyone if I don’t know what the threat is!”

“You don’t understand!” Victor chokes back a scream. “You and I aren’t strong enough to stand against them!”

Before I can respond, the phone on my desk rings.

I glance at it, pick up the receiver, then immediately slam it back down. Anger begins clawing its way through my control.

“Try me,” I snarl. “Who, Victor? I need to know who to look out for.”

The phone rings again.

I glare at it, and the plastic casing begins to warp beneath the heat.

This time, Desmond reaches it before I can do any real damage. He lifts the entire phone from the desk and steps safely back into the shadows to answer it. The temperature in the room continues to rise around us, and it becomes harder to tamp it down the angrier I get.

My eyes lock onto Victor again.

“I am getting tired of repeating myself. You know I don’t harm employees. In fact, I try to protect them.” My voice lowers dangerously. “But you are rapidly finding your way onto my shit list. Give me a name, Victor. You really don’t want to see me actually angry.”

A sound from Desmond pulls my attention toward him.

The shock on his face sends ice through my veins.

He hangs up, presses a button on the phone, and immediately starts barking orders, but I can’t focus on the words.

Then the chaos begins.

Somewhere beyond the office, shouting erupts. Victor panics, pleading with me to leave — to get to a safe house before it’s too late.

Alarms begin screaming through my mind alongside the protections woven throughout the bar. Every ward I set into the building suddenly presses against my senses at once.

Then I hear it.

A soft caw.

Desmond must have opened one of the windows to vent the heat. Turning toward the sound, I find a crow perched on the sill.

We make eye contact.