“I disagree.”
“Of course you do.”
He groaned. “Just admit it, you stubborn ass.”
“It’s not important right now.”
“Oh, it mattersmuchmore than you think it does.”
I glared at him.
“Do you?” he prodded.
My heart pounded faster and faster, as if trying to outrun the truth. But it couldn’t.Icouldn’t. It filled every inch of my skin, every drop of my blood, every breath in my body.
“Yes,” I said quietly. “I do.”
Maz gave me a sad smile. “Yes. You do. I need you to hold onto that—hold ontoher—for the battle to come. I need someone you love watching your back since I won’t be there to do it. Someone who loves you, too.”
I swallowed against the sharp knot in my throat. “Nikella will be watching my back.”
“You need Kiera too,” Maz insisted. “I feel it”—his fingers tapped his side near his stomach—“in here.”
I chuckled dryly. “And your gut’s never been wrong.”
“Never.” He smirked. “Except maybe about Lorel. I think she really did know that Bella was in my tent when she set it on fire.”
I laughed with my whole chest, and Maz joined me in a wheezing way.
“I appreciate your concern, brother,” I said, “but we need to talk about what happened. Tell me everything.”
Maz grimaced and closed his eyes. “There’s not much to tell. I went for a drink atThe Weary Traveler, but got jumped from behind before I reached it. I woke up strapped to a table with that bloody crow of a man,Renwell, standing over me.”
My jaw flexed. If I ever got a hold of that gods-damned murderer...
“He asked me where the gold was. Somehow, he knew it was me at the heist.”
“One of the servants must’ve talked.”
“I told him I knew nothing and that perhaps he could find it up his own ass?—”
“Maz,” I groaned.
“What? He just smiled at me like he knew something I didn’t. Then he asked about Nikella. I don’t know how he found out about her, but I told him demons from the Abyss didn’t have sisters.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Fucking Four, Maz, is that when Korvin started slicing you?”
Maz grew solemn. “No. That came later. He must’ve drugged me because the next thing I knew, that maniac was carving away my life. I thought I heard a woman screaming. But I didn’t see anyone else.”
I grimaced. Renwell might have more prisoners in his Den. Garyth was probably there, if he was still alive.
Maz groaned. I rose and squeezed a drop of dreamdew from one of his darts into his water cup. I tipped the cup into his mouth, making him drink the whole thing.
“Since you sent away my lovely, you’ll have to tell me the story of what I missed,” he said, slurring, his eyelids already drooping.
I told him of our escape with Garyth’s family. He was snoring before I even spoke ofThe Twisted Tail.
“Dream well, Maz,” I whispered.
