A female higherling stood in the doorway. She wore a white dress with three rectangular cuts at the waist, the top cut revealing the bottom of her ample breasts. Black hair fell to her hips, which were as wide as her chest.
Kinzer recognized her as Neeva, nearly identical to her sister, Shaywren, a fallen who in the beginnings Kinzer had pursued a love affair with. Neeva was as beautiful as he’d remembered her sister being, but as pleasing as her appearance was to his gaze, he knew her presence couldn’t be good. She, like her sister, was the embodiment of justice without reason or compassion, which was why she’d been chosen to handle the Council’s affairs.
Neeva stared Kinzer down. Though she was well under three quarters his size, her stature and stern glare suggested this didn’t intimidate her. Behind her, her two guards, higherling women, stood erect. They were shorter than her, one with straight strands locked in a ponytail, the other with a pixie-do and hips nearly as wide as Neeva’s. Kinzer assumed these higherlings were her private guard, but figured that, as per the early days, they were also her playthings.
We’re really fucked now.
“How’d you find me?” Kinzer asked.
“We actually weren’t trying to find you. We picked up this flit’s scent on a higherling it appears he assaulted and murdered.”
Shit.
He remembered when Hayde had spit on Fehrin.
“But it doesn’t surprise me we’ve run into you, as we’ve been hunting you for the past few months. I have some questions to ask you about the Raze…”
He was caught. He couldn’t deny it. The Leader had assigned him to the Raze. Just as a spy, yet that was against the Council’s regulations, and his admission to such would only lead to him being questioned further.
Neeva gazed at him for a moment. Though she had no psychic gifts, she appeared to be trying to read his mind. “… like what happened to Dedrus.”
It pained him to hear that name.
“Dedrus?”
“Several months ago your name was reported in conjunction with his body, discovered outside an abandoned Russian hospital.”
Of course. He’d wanted to ask if she discovered the bodies of Craetis, Mika, and Deter, but that would just prove that he’d been there and that his presence could have also been connected to Dedrus’s death. Even worse, it would rouse suspicion about the Leader’s Allies.
“There’s no reason my name should come up more than anyone else’s.”
“Really?” Neeva asked, her gaze shifting between him and Hayde. “And I assume you’re just cruising the mortal realm, for what? Fun? And you just happened to kill a higherling with clearance to work in the mortal realms?”
He could see how the evidence was against him, but what was he going to do?
“Kinzer,” she continued. “I suggest you surrender or we’ll be forced to detain you.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“That’s for the Council to decide. And judging by your suspicious behavior, I imagine there are a lot of secrets you’re harboring that threaten the Council and the fate of all the realms.”
“Neeva, you know—”
“I’m not my sister, Kinzer. As far as I’m concerned, you’re in league with the Leader to conspire against the Council and the Almighty, and if we find evidence to show that this is the case, you will be punished.” She eyed Hayde.
“This flit will have to be detained as well for questioning.”
“Neeva, you can’t detain us,” Kinzer said. “We have to—”
“The more you speak, the more suspicious I become. What is this business that you think you have in the mortal realms?”
Kinzer wouldn’t fight her, because she wasn’t going to listen. She had already determined he was guilty of Dedrus’s death, surely because Veylo or Janka had orchestrated evidence to make it appear that way.
“Well, just take us in, then.”
“Kinzer,” Hayde said, eyeing him worriedly. Considering his involvement with the Raze, Kinzer understood his concern.
“Hayde, it’ll be worse if we fight them. Let’s just go.”
