His horror was evident, and I couldn’t help smiling. “It’s closer to lunchtime than breakfast, so it’s totally appropriate. How long have I got before you arrive?”
“Traffic is terrible, so we’ll say twenty minutes, end of lane. I should have received calls from both by then.”
“And if you haven’t?”
“We will be forced to delay our adventure until another day.”
“Given the adventure might well involve rats, I can’t say I’d be sad about that.”
He chuckled again and hung up. I tossed the comforter off and padded, shivering all the way, into the bathroom for a quick shower. Once I was dressed, I tucked my phone into my jeans pocket then ran up the loft ladder to get the knives. I might be able to call them to me, but they tended to come sans sheaths, and it wasn’t exactly legal to carry bare blades about. Of course, it wasn’t exactly legal to carry them sheathed either, even if, like Mom, I now had some leeway in that I worked for the council and the knives were an essential part of my relic hunting. I reached around the back of the flue to get them, but the minute I touched the hilts, the Eye came to life.
There were visions to be had.
I cursed softly, sent a text to Mathi, then walked over to the sofa. Once I’d made myself comfortable, I placed one hand on the blades and wrapped the other around the Eye. The connection between me and the triune was strong enough now that my mind’s eye was swept away so damn fast it was briefly disorientating.
I found myself surrounded by darkness and stone that sped by at alarming speed, reminding me somewhat of a roller coaster in which all forms of lighting had been cut and there was only the rush of wind past face and hair. Gradually, though, a soft luminescence appeared, lending a cold glimmer to the stone walls. A few seconds later, I was swept over a lake that looked foul and whose surface moved unnaturally in the stillness, and then came to an island on which the altar I’d seen in the Codex library stood. Beside it was a harp, and though the strings seemed to be moving, the vision wasn’t allowing me to hear the music it made.
Was the harp the source of the distant, jarring music I’d heard in the wind yesterday? Aasym had said that if I found the altar, I would find the means of tracing the pectoral.
The vision pulled back, giving me a brief glimpse of two rivers and a stepping stone path that crossed one and led to the ruined castle I’d also seen in the library, then darkness swept in again and spun me into another location entirely. One that provided no images, only sound, meaning I was about to “see” Carla and whoever her damn boss was.
It was a damnably frustrating situation, but until I found some way of getting past whatever shield they were using and could force these visions into both soundandsight mode, there wasn’t much I could do.
Why have you called me here at this hour?Carla’s voice was sharp and annoyed.It is dangerous, given the council still meet. I cannot be absent for too long. You know this.
A statement that suggested Carla was not only the lover of one—or more—of the councilors but also worked there. Elves of either variety were generally not adverse to engaging in an office romance or two, and many of the shifters had high sex drives as well. Given Carla’s ability to basically take on any form she wished, it wouldn’t be hard for her to uncover a councilor’s preferences and subtly play to them.
You’ve heard of the robbery at Tylwyth Teg?
The man’s tinny tone was curt. Aside from the fact he was still using the voice modulator—though why he was bothering when he and Carla were lovers and she obviously knew his identity, I had no idea—he was obviously very annoyed at her. Which was interesting. What the hell had she done?
It was the talk of the council meeting for the first hour or so, she replied dryly.Why?
You kept a box there, did you not?
There was a long pause.Yes. How did you know? It was not under the name of my usual identities.
I have known you for a very long time, remember, and my memory is keen. That identity’s box was the target. He took everything within it, and nothing else.
If he had that information, it meant this man was either working for the bank or was a part of the IIT investigative team. Ruadhán was obviously right to lock the file down when he had, but maybe he needed to take a closer look at the people on this investigation.
What did you have in there?he added in a low growl.
Security,she replied. Though her voice was even, I had a vague sense that panic bubbled underneath that calmness.
What sort of security? Not names, I hope, because I will bury you so damn deep?—
A comment that wasveryinteresting, given that was a method favored by dark elves wanting to get rid of their foes. Up until this point, we’d suspected that those behind the theft of the hoard had come mainly from the light elf camp, as they were the ones responsible for protecting it. But perhaps we needed to look for suspects in the Myrkálfar camp, too.
And lose not only the best fuck you’ve had in decades, but also your best spy?Carla’s laugh was harsh.Come now, we both know that will not happen.
Do not ever overestimate your value to me. The cause is worth far more to me than you ever will be.
And your cause would have stalled multiple times if not for me,she snapped back. Who was it that gave you the information about the pixie witch? Without that, she might have succeeded in stopping the hoard’s theft.
Carla was the one who’d passed on the information about Mom? If that were true, then she was dead.Sodead. There would be no justice for her, no court appearance. In darkness and in lightning she would die, as Mom had died, in agony....
I shivered and tried to rein in the furious darkness that roiled through me. The vision hadn’t faded. There was more to be learned.
