“The leader of the Shepards?” Berga’s brow furrowed. “Does this have something to do with Grandma Idle?”
“Who the hell is that?” Rin asked.
“My grandmother,” Bay told him. “She’s dead.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“Haroon cheated her out of everything she owned,” Bay filled them in, mostly talking to his friend. “We also just discovered that he more than likely caused her death.”
“He might have poisoned her,” Sila elaborated. “Since you seem to be the expert on such things, any thoughts, Butcher?”
“Ah, right, yes,” Berga nodded. “Bay asked me to look into things.”
“What about noxious?” Rin suggested. “Any chance that could have been the culprit?”
“It wouldn’t have left traces in the blood,” Berga said. “And she died specifically of heart failure.”
“Tundra,” Sila murmured, thinking to himself. “If Haroon mixed the two, tundra would have broken down the noxious partials, making them virtually undetectable.”
“Noxious would have sped up her heartrate and given her a fever,” Berga agreed excitedly. “Mixed with tundra, a cold killer, that would have led to shock to the system, resulting in a heart attack. By the time the medical team arrived, her body would have been cooled and any signs of either poison would have already started to dissipate.” He snapped his fingers. “Oh, that’s good. That’s so clever. That’s evil genius at its finest.”
“Berga.” Bay glared.
“Apologies.” He dropped his gaze to his shoes.
Which Sila realized for the first time were covered in plastic.
Interesting.
“But,” it seemed to occur to him that Sila shouldn’t know this and Berga glanced back up at him, “how did you come to that conclusion?”
“I’m a medical student,” he said, only for Kelevra to snort.
“He’s a psychopath,” the Imperial Prince corrected. “He’s probably considered using that concoction on others before.”
“My brother would never,” Rin immediately came to his defense. “Killing through poison isn’t hands on enough for him.”
Or not.
“You’re a psychopath?” Berga asked. “Fascinating.”
“Who invited him again?” Rin clearly wasn’t pleased about their secrets getting out.
“You did, Flower,” Kelevra reminded, laughing when Rin turned the glare his way.
“Okay,” Rin waved him off, “so some bastard poisoned you,” he turned to his brother, “clearly with the intent to kill, and I found you in an unknown location with a man covered in bruises—” he motioned to Bay “—sorry—which means this is no longer something ‘you’re handling’. Tell me what’s going on. Now.”
“It’s not that big of a deal,” Sila began only to stop short when Rin obviously was about to blow his top. There were very few things he gave a shit about and not setting off his brother, when they weren’t in a controlled setting at least, was one of them. A pissed off Rin on the loose never did anyone any good, and with everything they already had going on, Sila didn’t have the time or the patience to have to reign him in. “I’m going to have murder the leader of the Shepards, that’s all.”
“Oh,” Rin drawled, “is that all?”
“Sarcasm.” He nodded in understanding. “I’m getting better detecting that.”
Rin went to move for Sila, but Bay stepped between them before he could take more than a few angry steps. He came up short, eyes narrowed, fists tightening at his sides, but all he did was stare the professor down wordlessly.
“That’s unnecessary.” Sila tugged on Bay’s shirt until he fell backwards, landing on the edge of the bed, then he sat up and wrapped his arms around him, one over his shoulders, the other around his narrow waist, and clung to him. “My brother poses no threat to me, Kitten.”
“Kit—” Rin blew out a breath and squeezed the bridge of his nose. “This is the pet. The one you said you were considering taking in.”
