“We’re here,” Emil announced. “Well, we’re at the first home.”
To our right, I spotted the tall figure of Naill La’Crox. Gods, when had I seen him last? The battle at the Bone Temple? I slowed Setti as the Elemental Atlantian broke away from the group and approached.
“I was surprised when Hisa said you were right behind her,” Naill said, glancing at Emil. “You two took him away from our Queen?”
One side of my lips quirked up as I drew Setti to a stop. I approved of where Naill’s thoughts had gone.
“Kieran and Hisa believed he needed to see this,” Emil answered, bringing his horse to a halt. “And I agreed.”
“She’s not alone,” I assured Naill as I swung a leg over the saddle, landing beside a large urn that appeared empty except for dirt. “Kieran and Delano are with her.”
As I turned to face the Atlantian, he jerked to a stop, his eyes widening. Since everyone who saw me had about the same reaction, I knew he’d noticed the brighter eather in my eyes. He glanced at Emil, who lifted a shoulder.
Stepping forward, I clapped a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Show me what has happened here.”
The grass crunched under our feet as Naill led us across the lawn and circular carriageway. Unease was etched into his rich-brown features. “What do you know so far?”
“That we have dead Ascended on our hands,” I answered, looking up at the large, two-story stucco home painted a pale cream. There weren’t many windows—only two on the first floor, framing the entryway, and the same above, set next to the door that led to the balcony. A soft, buttery light from either a candle or a gas lamp filled the panes. “Not how or why.”
“How they died willseemobvious,” Naill said as Sage brushed past him, her shoulders damn near reaching his hips. He gave her a brief smile that didn’t reach his golden eyes, then faced the house. “Hisa went inside this one.”
As we walked onto the veranda, I immediately noticed that something had blown the bulbs inside the wrought-iron sconces on either side of the double doors.
Glancing down the street once more, I saw verandas lit by the soft glow of entry lights. Except for the one right next door and another across the street.
Naill walked ahead of me, opening one side of the doors to a wide foyer. My gaze flickered around. A gas lantern had been placed on a nearby table by a settee. A rounded doorway to our left led to what I suspected was a sitting room. Halls were on either side of the two marble staircases.
“Careful, Sage,” Naill advised, striding toward another door in the middle of the staircase wall. “There’s glass.”
Lowering the hood of my cloak, I looked up. A golden chandelier hung from the pitched ceiling, each arm containing nothing but the edges of shattered glass globes.
“They’re downstairs,” Naill said. “You’d think having only four windows in the entire damn house, they wouldn’t go underground.”
“I suppose living so close to mortals has—orhad—them paranoid,” Emil remarked. “It’s a lot harder to pull their asses from their underground chambers and into the sun.”
Naill snorted as he opened the door. A sweet yet stale scent immediately hit me.
Sage halted just inside the foyer, her hackles rising and her upper lip peeling back.
“You okay?” I asked her, tasting her unease.
The wolven nodded but didn’t follow Naill. As I entered the dark stairwell, I looked back to see her pacing in front of the front doors, her ears pinned flat.
That was noticeably odd behavior for a wolven.
“So,” Naill said from in front of me, “the eyes.”
“Yeah?” Glass crunched under my boots as I descended the steps.
“I noticed Kieran’s are different, too.”
“We think it’s because of the Joining. Not sure what it means, though.” My gaze rose, finding another blown sconce in the darkness. “Is every light in the house like this?”
“Yes,” Emil said from behind me. “And it’s the same way in the other two homes.”
“They all look like they exploded,” Naill added, reaching the bottom of the stairs. “Which is only one of themanyodd things you will see.”
At the landing, Naill turned left. The hall was short, with heavy, reinforced doors opened to a chamber lit by candlelight at the end. Hisa appeared in the doorway, her long, dark braid lying over one side of her armored breastplate.
