“Yes.”
I closed my eyes. I’d known Samael hadn’t killed them all after they’d attempted to harness his power. I’d watched some of them flee, and Samael’s people had been tracking them down one by one so far.
“We will find her,” Samael said. He took my hand in his and brought my knuckles to his lips. We stood there, staring at each other in the cell for a long moment. Then I sighed.
“We need to talk to the kids.”
“I know.”
“Let’s go.”
We were both silent as Samael flew me back to the tower. He’d arranged for everyone else involved to be interrogated, and then custody of them would be handed over to Albert.
Cil and Zip were still awake when we got up to their floor. The nanny made herself scarce.
I eyed the kids. Both of them sat on the sofa, their faces the picture of innocence. I wasn’t buying it. It all made sense now— the attack on Samael’s tower had been too risky to shut up a couple of kids.
“I know you guys have the amulet,” I said. “I need you to hand it over.”.
Zip’s eyes widened. Cil just looked resigned.
I waited them out. Within a few moments, Zip’s lower lip trembled. “We were just meant to keep it safe for Merrill. We were going to bring it back. And then dad was hurt.”
“Tell me what he said when he gave it to you.”
Cil sniffed. “He saidtake this and keep it safe, boys. I’ll need it in a few days. And if anything happens to me, you give it to your dad.”
He clapped his hand over his mouth. That had been Merrill’s voice. Gloria’s spell hadn’t entirely worn off yet.
“Okay. Then what happened?”
“I said we would keep it safe, and he saidgood, I knew I could trust you. Remember, don’t tell anyone that you have it. Promise me.”
I ground my teeth. Something had tipped Merrill off. Likely, one of the humans had been following him, or maybe he got spooked when James offered to buy the amulet. Either way, his decision to use the kids had gotten him killed, Gary hurt, and put the Cil and Zip in danger.
I forced myself to keep my rage from my voice. As pissed as I was at Merrill, the kids hadn’t done anything wrong.
“So you promised him.”
“You’re not supposed to break promises.” A tear rolled down Cil’s gray cheek and I reached out my hand and wiped it away.
“In this case, it’s a good thing that you told me. Now, I need you to tell me where it is.”
He shook his head in instant denial and I gave him a stern look. “Cil. This is important. Merrill died for the amulet, and your dad almost did too.”
“I thought you got the bad guys.”
“We did. But we know there were other people who didn’t attend the meeting tonight. Besides, where there is one group, there are usually more. When your dad wakes up, he’ll take you home, and we need to make sure you guys are safe.”
“Because they could try and hurt us again?”
“Anyone who wants that amulet will do whatever it takes to steal it. You know I’ll keep it safe, right?”
It would be going straight back to the light fae, who had hopefully learned a lesson about complacency.
Cil glanced at Samael. He nodded. The kids gazed silently at each other, deep in some wordless conversation.
Then Cil buried his hand in their bag of treasures and pulled out the amulet. I scowled.
