“While I’m here, do you mind doing a quick search for me? I know I don’t work here anymore…”
Mella shot me a grin. “Of course. Who are you looking for?”
“Riona Walsh. Anything you have on her would be great.”
She turned to her computer and hummed, typing the name into the system. The printer hummed, and she collected a few papers, handing them to me.
“No trouble with the law,” she said. “Nothing on her that says she would be on the Mage Council’s radar.”
“Okay. Thanks anyway. Look after yourself, Mella.”
“You too.”
I had a text waiting for me as I got into the elevator. Kyla was done chatting to Riona’s friends and waiting in her car. Perfect.
She was making a few notes in her notebook, but she opened her door as I approached.
“Hey. Any luck with the ex?”
I shrugged. “I doubt Riona would even call him her ex. The moment she made noises about no longer sneaking around, one of his fellow mages— and one of the banes of my existence— got involved. Ben threatened to out him to Albert, and boom, Jerry and Riona were done. Let’s take my car so we can talk on the way.”
Kyla slid out and followed me to my car. “Poor Riona.”
I shrugged. “No loss, believe me. Jerry’s a dick.” I reached for my phone, sending a quick text to Steve before starting the car.
I angled out of the park. “We also need to stop by what’s left of the coven’s house at some point and talk to witnesses.”
“Question,” Kyla said.
“Answer.”
“How come your sister is such a huge part of the coven and you’re not? It wasn’t your choice to leave Durham, right?”
“No. When my mom took me from the coven that day, the witches who were present helped her. They used spells to hold Evie in place while Mom dragged me into the car with her magic. I never really forgave the witches for that, but Evie was just a kid. She was entering that pre-teen stage where nothing makes sense and you hate everybody. But at the same time, she desperately needed some normalcy. She lived with twenty or so witches, some of whom stepped into maternal roles.”
“So she was able to move on.”
“Yeah. I didn’t visit. I was a teenager myself, and Mom had told me that if I saw Evie, she’d be in danger. I believed her at first, but eventually, I’d half decided my mom was crazy.” I smiled. “I’d been training every day since we arrived in Austin, and with a seventeen-year-old’s ego, I was certain I could protect both of us from anything.”
“Of course,” Kyla grinned.
“Then Mom died. I still don’t know why she came back here. Maybe I’ll never know. But I know she wouldn’t have returned without a good reason. I was her next of kin, so I was notified first. They said it had been an accident. A hit-and-run. I wanted to tell Evie myself, so I came back.”
“I’m guessing it wasn’t the reunion you were hoping for.”
“No. She didn’t quite slam the door in my face, but it felt like it.” I sighed. “The thing you have to remember is that, in Evie’s mind, she was abandoned by the two people she loved the most.
“Anyway, I went back to Austin, figuring our relationship was done. Then I was sent photos of the crime scene. It wasn’t a hit-and-run. I guess I kind of… snapped. I came back, spent two and a half years looking for any kind of leads, and then I heard about the dagger.”
Kyla’s gaze went to my hip. “So you decided to steal it.”
I sighed. “At that point, I thought I had nothing to lose. Stupid, I know. You fucking always have something to lose.”
“Ain’t that the truth.”
“The dagger helped, and after so long without any hope, I had a couple of leads. But both were killed in front of me. One of them was in Samael’s club, which I’d snuck into. That’s how the whole bond thing happened. The demon waspissed.”
“But you’re…withSamael now?”
