“Why would she call an ambulance for Soleil and then inject her with something to kill her?”
“Touché.”
Grateful crowded up behind him with her sword, her pregnant belly bumping into his back.She murmured something, and a wave of purple wrapped around both of them.“Protection spell.Stay close to me.”
“What about Maggie?”
She called the dog, and Silas lifted the pooch into his arms.“She’s covered.”
“Okay, I’m going in.”He turned the knob and slowly opened the door with his free hand.What he saw inside made his chest feel heavy.A wave of exhaustion overcame him.The horizon had flipped upside down.Nothing made sense anymore.
“It’s not a bomb,” he said.
Grateful peered around him toward the bed.“Holy crow!That is the one thing I did not expect to see here.”
There, on top of his comforter, was Nickelova’s heart.
ChapterTwenty-Four
“If Meredith is helping Alex, why would she return the heart?”Silas lifted the fist-sized ruby from the bed, staring at the throbbing, internal glow with stark curiosity.
“If she’snothelping Alex, why would she kill Soleil?”
Silas glanced at Grateful.“I have no idea.”He turned the events over in his head, but none of it made sense.
“Maybe she was magically compelled to do what she did, but then when the spell wore off, she returned this to me.Or she returned this to me before she was compelled, but that would mean Meredith purposefully shot Soleil.”
Grateful snorted.“Alex isn’t stupid.If he had Meredith under his influence for five minutes, he’d be sure to get that heart in four.”
Silas sighed.What was he missing that he couldn’t draw a line from point A to point B?What did this mean?And how should he proceed with the case?
Grateful groaned and sheathed her sword.“I just thought of a reason.”
“Hit me.”
“She returned the heart to you because she wants you to use it.”
“Huh?”
“Nickelova will lead you to Alex.Alex probably needs Nickelova for the spell.She’s the dark fae sacrifice.It’s a trap.He needs her, and this is a way to make sure she’s delivered.”
Silas set the heart down and backed up a step.
“What’s wrong?You don’t look so hot.”Grateful placed a hand on his shoulder.
“How could I be so stupid?”He stared at Grateful in horror.“Soleil tried to warn me.She said the heart was a trap.She wanted the heart back so that I couldn’t use it to get to Alex.She was trying to protect me.Alex doesn’t only need the heart; he needs Nickelova too.Everything that’s happened has driven us to bring Nickelova and her heart here.We’ve done his dirty work for him.”
“And Meredith killed her.She must have known Soleil figured out the plan.”
The pit was back in Silas’s chest.Why, Meredith?Why?“So what do we do?We’ve got to do something to stop Alex.”Silas’s pulse pounded like a bass drum against his sternum.
“Simple.You won’t play into his hands.You won’t use Nickelova to find Alex.”
His back pocket vibrated.With a deep breath, he answered his phone.
“Silas?”Kyle’s voice sounded annoyed.
“Yeah?”
