Pax grinned. “That’s why we need a Floromancer around.”
We fell silent as we approached a two-story building. Christian examined it with a critical eye. “It’s higher than most buildings, but I’m not sure how much advantage going up there will give us.”
“Try anyway,” Caelan said. “You never know if there’ll be a clear path to a window in your eyesight. If they left one open, we might be able to see what’s going on from a distance instead of going in blind. If not, we’ll keep moving and let Evie do her thing.”
Christian said nothing, taking hold of a drainpipe and shimmying to the top of the building. He gave us a thumbs up before disappearing up and over the side.
“The building isn’t that large, so it’s possible he’ll be able to see something,” Caelan said.
“Who are we potentially dealing with?” Pax asked.
“I’ll tell you when I know for sure,” Caelan said.
If it were Donovan and Nadia, which it had to be, I wondered how far they would go to get answers. The problem was, no one they took had any answers. But there was an even bigger problem. Donovan knew what happened to Gianna, so he was playing Nadia, allowing her to question the other Lords without divulging he knew where Gianna was buried.
Or used to be buried.
I’d discarded her bones to the elements and hidden her DNA so deep into the earth, no one would ever find it. Unfortunate, but I wasn’t the one who’d killed her. Finn and Rhona had done those honors, involving Donovan as well, in an effort to frame me.
While I felt for Nadia and thought her mission to find out what happened was honorable, if she found out, it could cause a war with the other Lords and potentially with the fae as well.
There was no way to return Gianna’s body, which might have appeased her, because it simply no longer existed.
My brow furrowed. Could we rebuild her a new body? Was there a fae who might be able to create something that might serve as Gianna’s body so they could hold a funeral for her?
Or was there another reason Nadia was searching so hard to find her cousin? Was it possible Gianna had something on her that Nadia needed? Something I’d missed when I sent her remains to the earth?
Paranoia was occasionally one of my specialties. While my theory seemed a little outlandish, I grew up with a fae mother and nothing about them surprised me anymore, except for their most recent revelation which I was still trying to process. They’d go to the ends of the earth for revenge and never let a slight go. But, at least in the case of my mother, they had an endless capacity for love and would go to extreme lengths to keep their loved ones safe.
Shifters also had some of the same mentality, especially if it had to do with Pack. I knew jack shit about swans, though. Everything I knew came from those funny video shows where swans would harass the shit out of someone. Maybe the swan shifters hated each other.
Or maybe I was making shit up just to try to make sense out of this mess.
A soft thump revealed Christian crouching. “Those idiots left the windows uncovered. We’re too far away for a facial I.D., but there’s two men and one woman.” His expression was grim. “One of them is in a chair and covered with blood.”
Caelan swore. “Let’s go. Evie, as soon as we get close enough, see if you can find anything else out.”
Christian gave us an odd look but shrugged.
We took off running, careful to avoid the icy spots, but hurrying as fast we could.
Ben’s life depended on our expedience.
Chapter
Eighteen
Hiding in winter was difficult as hell. Caelan and I hadn’t thought of our attire when we’d barreled into Michigan on a rescue mission. We stuck out like sore thumbs.
“We should shift,” Caelan murmured. He looked over at me. “How long will it take you?”
“A few minutes. The snow makes things a little more difficult, but not impossible.”
“We’re having odd weather this year,” Christian remarked. “It’s colder than usual and snowed far sooner than it normally does.”
I stripped off my gloves and sat onto the freezing ground, wiping snow away until I hit the frozen ground. Caelan moved closer. When Pax and Christian noticed what he was doing, they moved as well, trapping me in a protective circle.
I closed my eyes and centered myself, shifting the Chimera magic away to focus only on my Floromancy. Concentrating twice as hard to prevent any of that other magic coming to the forefront because of the mixed company, focusing took me twice as long.
