“Did you know Ms. Robbins was fae?” I ask. “Please don’t lie.”
“I had no idea.”
The glint in his eyes tells me he’s being honest, though given everything that happened between us, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to trust what he says entirely. “I can’t believe she’s dead. I was bringing her groceries. I was supposed to do that this morning, but I spent all day at Sam’s.” I shake my head in disbelief. “I’ve never seen anything like that before. It was fucking crazy. Souldrakes threw voidstalkers through the balcony door. They cornered me until the souldrakes could snatch me through the gaping hole in the wall. If I had just come home first and waited until the next day to bring her the groceries, they would have attacked me in my apartment. I had all my weapons here—”
“Stop blaming yourself, Iris. It’s not your fault.”
I suck in a serrated breath. “Don’t say that. Those demons were there for me.”
“They couldn’t have attacked you in your apartment. That’s why they came for you there.”
My eyebrows furrow. “What? Why?”
“I asked Malik to put the same wards I have on my building on your place. He finished the night you and Sam were at Sin. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do every apartment in the building because it takes a lot of time, and he would have needed access to all of them. It took him over a year to finish placing the wards on my building.”
The fact that he didn’t share this information before, when I told him I wanted to go home while he searched Hell for Adramelech doesn’t escape me. However, he was right, it was safer for me there. Of course, I would never admit that. “So, um, why are you here? How did you know I was in danger again?”
He tilts his head. “Seriously? Carter was patrolling the perimeter; it’s hard not to notice demons flying out of your neighbor’s window. I’m sorry it took me so long to get to you.”
“It’s okay. It all happened in under ten minutes…I think. I kind of blacked out, and I don’t remember what happened until I woke up with um,” I sniff, “Ms. Robbi—Adrianna in, um, in my arms. Her real name was Adrianna.”
He takes my shaky hands in his warm ones. I don’t pull away. In fact, I’m barely restraining myself from crawling into his lap. Nibbling on my lower lip, I deliberate if I should tell him the rest, too.
“So, um, I guess I can also rot demons, now. Too bad I don’t remember how I did it. Was I going ballistic when you popped into the room?”
“No, you were already on the floor, but you were out of it.”
Pulling back, I make my decision. Maybe he can help me find Rhett. And when we know what the prophecy says, we’ll finally part ways because every time he swoops in to save or take care of me, I feel my resolve chipping away as though it’s nothing more than cheap paint. As hard as I try to be the granite rock that stops the crashing waves, I’m afraid I’m nothing more than soapstone. And I don’t know if I can ever forgive myself if I sweep all Kaiden has done under a rug. There will surely come a time when, eventually, I’ll trip over it. And the fall will break more than my bones.
“Right before she…died, Adrianna told me my mother saved her life. She has been watching over me and searching for an oracle at my mother’s request. She said she found one. She also mentioned a place—the Drunken Owl—and a guy named Rhett. I think it’s a bar.” I don’t tell him about the flashback, though.
Kaiden runs a hand on the back of his neck. “Okay. I’ll see what I can find about the Drunken Owl—” The sound of his phone ringing interrupts him. “Sorry,” he murmurs as he takes it out ofhis front pocket to respond. Even though I don’t want to listen in, I can’t help my enhanced hearing.
“We’re done. I used magic to restore everything as it was. I also had Carter transport the fae woman’s body to our guy at the morgue. But what do I tell him to do with it?” Malik inquires.
“Wait a second.” He turns to me. “They transported Adrianna’s body—”
“I heard. Um, well…I don’t…” Something hard lodges in my throat. A fresh wave of sadness hits me because I don’t know what she would have wanted…if there are fae customs to honor her. Everything I knew about her—which wasn’t much anyway—was a lie. It’s starting to feel like a recurring theme in my life.
Kaiden must sense my conundrum because he doesn’t wait for me to finish. “Just tell him to keep her body in the morgue for a few days, and we’ll let him know what we decide.”
“Can they stitch her up?” I whisper.
He nods.
31
Iris
“The usual, sir?” the flight attendant asks Kaiden.
“Yes, Natalie. Thank you,” he responds from his seat across mine. Well, to be honest, the word seat doesn’t do it justice because it resembles an armchair, the leather so soft I could very well be sitting on a cloud. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that Kaiden owns a freakin’ plane.
Natalie smiles warmly at me. “And for you, ma’am?” I have to give it to her, for someone who has been woken up in the dead of night and had less than an hour to get ready, the woman doesn’t have a hair out of place—unlike me. I look as though death punched me in the face. Not only are my eyes swollenand bloodshot from all the crying, but I’m so ghastly white I’m questioning whether I’ll become translucent any second now.
It didn’t take long for Kaiden to find the Drunken Owl, a bar located in New Orleans. He insisted I should at least try to rest before leaving, but I couldn’t stay there anymore, so close to where she died. Sleep was definitely out of the question. Every time I close my eyes, I get a repeat of tonight’s events. So, I told Kaiden we should leave as soon as possible. Still, I didn’t expect him to have a private jet ready at the snap of his fingers.
I don’t want to be rude, but no matter how much I try to force my muscles to reciprocate the smile, they won’t listen. “Can I have a water, please?”
