‘More bloody biscuits,’ Elvira muttered. ‘I’m going to have to work out an extra day a week if this keeps up.’
‘You eat the biscuits,’ I said firmly. ‘Or you take them off-site and dispose of them somewhere she’ll never find.’
Elvira looked at the door Laura had just walked through. ‘I’ll eat the damn biscuits.’ She stood and looked around my meagre office. ‘You really drew the short straw,’ she commented. ‘Even Channing’s room is bigger than this.’
I shrugged, unbothered by the angular room with its beams and sloping ceiling. ‘Loki likes it.’
‘Nice,’ Loki agreed, trilling above us.
‘Well,’ Elvira snickered, ‘as long as the bird is happy, that’s fine. Leave you to it, boss.’
She walked out, leaving the door open since I’d made it clear I intended to implement an actual open-door policy here as opposed to the faux one at headquarters.
With thoughts of the Domini on my mind, I opened up SPEL and tapped out a request for access to Wraithmore. If I could get in to see Amber’s father, maybe he could answer some questions for me.
I hoped he’d answer them willingly, but if he didn’t, I had other options at my disposal. I’d worry about what that meant for my relationship with Amber when we crossed that bridge. After all, maybe he’d simply co-operate. Maybe he wouldn’t.
I licked my lips. I’d used my sub powers again. It felt like I was on a slippery slope; the more I used them, the easier it became. The easier it became, the harder it was to pretend it didn’t matter. Even convenience was starting to feel like justification, and that should have terrified me more than it did.
As long as I was careful.
As long as I didn’t leave loose ends.
As long as no one traced anything back to me.
Back to my mother and father and their decision not to register me.
They’d hidden me to keep me safe, not so I could become someone who bent minds because it made life smoother.
I told myself I’d stop or slow down. Using my powers like this would only lead to one ending.
One where I wasn’t sure who I’d be at the end. Did the end justify the means? It felt like it did, and that was the nightmare that had woken me today. Not the deaths of Beeks, Hunter or Kerr, but the invasion of Kerr’s mind. In the moment it had seemed necessary, but I’d woken to my father’s words of caution urgently ringing in my ears, his spectre damning me.
But it was for him that I already knew I’d cross that line again. I was on the scent of his killers. Finally. I wasn’t letting that go for anything, even at the cost of my soul.
Chapter Thirty-One
After a long day of typing reports and tidying and sorting my office, it was a total pleasure to be picked up in Robbie’s car and driven to my mum’s house. We wanted to tell my family our good news in person, so I’d summoned the tribe for the big reveal.
Robbie parked outside my mum’s house and reached into his pocket. ‘I got you this,’ he said casually as he thrust a ring box at me.
I blinked. ‘I didn’t expect a ring. I wasn’t sure if it was a thing in ogre culture.’
‘It isn’t, but it’s a thing in yours. I wanted to do this right, for you.’
‘You don’t need to buy my love,’ I began as I opened the box. ‘I love you for—Holy Mother of God! How freaking big is that rock?’ I gaped. ‘Robbie! I can’t wear that!’
The ring nestled in the box held a blue sapphire the size of my thumbnail and on either side of it were two not-insignificantdiamonds. I couldn’t stop staring at the ring. It wasbeautiful.And wildly impractical.
‘Not ring,’ Loki said, letting out an impressed whistle. ‘Weapon.’You could bludgeon someone to death with that rock,he snarked into my head.
‘I can’t chase down criminals with this on my finger,’ I said faintly.
‘I thought of that.’ Robbie reached into his pocket and pulled out a larger jewellery box.
I opened it with trepidation and was relieved to find a relatively plain-looking chain.
‘You can wear it on your finger when you want or around your neck if you’re working.’
