Islumped back against the couch, leaning into the stillness, my body beyond drained, my fingers needling my temple, trying to beat back a throbbing headache. Everyone had left or retired to their rooms.
Karson slipped his whiskey glass onto the coffee table, his hair damp from the shower. He straightened, looming above me, and raised one eyebrow. “Now, perhaps you can tell me how you know Janetta.”
Shit.
I rubbed my sweaty palms down my pants. “I don’t know her.”
He raised a second eyebrow and folded his arms.
“I don’t,” I insisted.
Silence and those perched eyebrows. If I refused to tell him, would he think I was somehow in on all this? No, I shut that thought off immediately. He knew my loyalty lay with him, he knew he could trust me. But if I held back, I’d show him that I didn’t trust him.
I sighed. “Promise me you won’t hurt her?”
“I never make promises I cannot keep.” His mouth tightened when I merely stared at him. After a long stand-off, he finally said, “But I will take your feelings into consideration.”
It was as good an offering as I was going to get, so I told him.
He sucked in a sharp breath. “She had a hand in Sarah’s debauchery and you protected her.”
“She doesn’t deserve to die, any more than Leon did.”
A flicker of hurt, of guilt, crossed his features. He stepped back and dropped his gaze to the floor, his shoulders slumping as he rubbed the back of his neck. All Leon wanted to do was protect his family. His death churned uncomfortably in my chest, as it did in Karson’s.
“There was no intent to hurt by either of them,” I added softly.
He met my eyes, a line between his brows. “She played a hand in murdering an innocent girl.”
“I know.”
“And there was betrayal. I cannot allow those who willingly betray me to live.” He refilled his whiskey glass. “It sets a precedent for mayhem and disorder. One gets away with it, another will follow behind, and pretty soon you have war. One life taken can save countless others.”
“There was some attempt to hurt.” Michael ran a hand through his damp hair as he walked in. He had showered and changed, but he looked paler than usual. “The nightmare potion was not exactly pleasant.”
“How’s Monique?” I asked.
“She is fine, Kenneth is …” He paused as if seeking the right words. “They are consoling each other.”
I’d checked on Georgie; she said she was alright and just wanted to shower and go to sleep. “Georgie, is she okay?”
Michael took a whiskey Karson handed him and sat down. “Josh sat with her until she fell asleep. She’s currently snoring.”
I was glad they had each other. They had become close these last few weeks.
“What if Leon wasn’t involved, what if he was being truthful?” My voice weakened. “What if it was coincidence that I saw Janetta at the bar? How would they even have known that I’d left the house?”
Karson slumped onto the couch opposite me. “Someone must have been watching, they told him you left, and she followed you to the bar and called it in.”
“One of your other guards?”
Pain pinched through his irises at the thought of someone he cared about having betrayed him.
“I fear she is right. It’s time to accept we may very well have a traitor in our midst,” Michael said gravely.
Karson shook his head. “Michael, we’ve known them all for years.” Desperation mixed with distress clipped his tone.
Maybe it was someone whose hatred of witches ran deeper than their bond. Someone like Challis. I wouldn’t voice that, of course. A vampire hating a witch wasn’t exactly uncommon. It didn’t make them a traitor. Karson looked at me like he read my mind, and maybe he did; my powers were far from replenished.
