“I saw you,” he murmured.
“What?” She sat down, crossing her legs and patting the seat beside her.
“I saw you last night. With Ryker.”
Soleil’s face fell, her eyebrows sinking in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“I followed you to the club and watched what you did from the observation area. I saw you with Ryker.”
“Wh… why? Why would you do that? Why did you follow me?” She pressed her hands to her heart.
“They found a substance in Laina’s wound—one only a demon could obtain. I’d heard you were dating a demon. I knew he couldn’t use the substance on you, but I wanted to make sure he wasn’t manipulating you in another way.”
“Ryker didn’t use any substance on me.” She tucked her chin and looked up at him with an expression of betrayal. “I went of my own free will. I wasn’t manipulated. Is that what you want to know?”
“You don’t owe me an explanation. You can do what you want. But after all the times you complained about Ryker, I wondered why. Does he have something over you?”
“He isn’t holding anything over me.” Soleil’s voice wavered with her words. Tears like liquid fire carved bright paths down her cheeks. “You stupid bastard. You have no idea what you saw.”
“Enlighten me then.” Silas sat down beside her.
“Ever since you told me Alex was back, I’ve been working to find him for you. I’ve sent you every scrap of information that comes through these walls.”
“Thank you,” he said. “But I have to be honest. The names haven’t panned out. It’s always like Alex is two steps ahead of me. Do you share the names with anyone other than me?”
“No,” she said firmly. “It became clear to me that we were missing a key factor. The type of help Alex is getting isn’t only from one healer or one vampire. There’s something else going on here. Something much bigger.”
“I have the same sense. Alex is acting strangely, running when he could fight. And now Laina and the sulfralite—”
“Sulfralite?”
“That’s what they found in her body. That’s why I suspected the demon.”
“Ryker had nothing to do with the sulfralite.”
“So he says.”
She brushed back a blond tress from her face. “Listen to me, Silas. I wanted to help you, but it became clear to me that there’s only one person who has the power to find Alex before he’s completely healed and it’s too late.”
“Who?”
Soleil sighed and strode to a particular square in the marble floor. “The one person who knew Alex best. The one who planned and schemed with him. The one creature strong enough to fight him and knowledgeable enough about his power to make a difference for us.”
She waved a hand over the tile and the heavy marble popped from the floor. She slid it aside. Her delicate, long-fingered hands dipped into the opening and retrieved a purple velvet sack.
“No,” Silas muttered.
“It’s been perfectly safe here. The floor is impenetrable as long as I’m alive.”
“Is that what I think it is?”
“I cannot help you find Alex. He’s too careful. The only one who can track him is the one from whom his power comes. Nickelova.” She reached into the bag and pulled out a giant ruby the size of a large fist. It throbbed with an inner light from the cradle of her palm.
“Ryker gave that to you? I thought you said that a demon wouldn’t give up a dragon’s heart for anything?”
She snorted. “No, Ryker did notgiveit to me.” Her face grew quite serious. “An incubus feeds on sex and sexual energy. I traded him what you saw last night for a few weeks with the heart. It’s a loan, not a gift. He thinks I’m using it to bolster the energy here. He thinks it will remain locked in my floor.”
Silas wrapped his hands around the dragon’s heart. “You had public sex with Ryker to get this for me?”
