I was dealing with him,she retorted.He moved, as I said. But none of this would have beena problem if your lot did their fucking job and tracked the bastard down.
You cannot expect the IIT to achieve what even the Myrkálfar cannot in this situation. Our connections pale in comparison to their network.
Inner alarms started to ring. That statement suggested we weren’t dealing with just one or two moles in the organization, but rather someone much higher up in the ranks.
Carla sniffed. It was an unimpressed sound.Have you placed a tracer on the witch and Mathi?
Mathi has pulled the tracers out of his vehicles, but our inside source remains on the witch.
Inside source indeed. Anger surged, and while it was mostly aimed at Eljin for the betrayal, I could not deny the fact that, had I trusted the Eye’s judgement rather than allowing my hormones to hold sway, I would not have gotten myself into this situation in the first place.
And she remains unaware?
He suspects not, given the manner of her sudden retreat at their last meeting.
Then perhaps he needs to play it cautiously for the next few days.
He could play it as cautiously as he wanted, because he wasnotgoing to get any further chances to drug me. The next time he saw me, it would be with the full backup of my brother and Mathi, and hewouldtell us who’d employed him, or hewouldpay the price.
I might not want to unleash the inner darkness, but I was willing to make an exception in his case.
Or we can just get rid of her. Easier by far.
We dare not. Not until we have located the Harpe.
She becomes more dangerous by the day. I think it best?—
You’re not paid to think, dearest Brídín, and you will?—
The rest of his statement was lost as the Eye pulsed sharply and ripped me from the vision. A heartbeat later, I realized why.
The building’s bright song had darkened. Eljin was in the building, making his way up the first set of stairs.
I had a couple of minutes, if that, to get the hell out of here. Because if I saw him, he would know I suspected him. I wasn’t a good liar—that had been proven time and again—and while I was more than capable of defending myself from him, I didn’t want to do so until I was ready.
After shoving everything but the Codex into my purse, I jumped up and ran down to the skylight at the far end of the room. With Eljin now on the second floor and making his way around to the stairs leading up to the living area, I really didn’t have time to retract the loft ladder—it was too damn slow and wasn’t exactly quiet. If I wanted to avoid him, I really only had one option.
Well, two if I used the Bruadar bracelet, but I wasn’t about to risk Cynwrig being busy and unable to accept the call.
The skylight’s lock had been broken for years now, and while I kept meaning to fix it, I hadn’t, so it remained held in place by a long but sturdy piece of wire. Once I’d tucked the Codex back into its hidey-hole, I undid the wire, then stepped onto the footstool and pushed the skylight all the way open. Cool air rushed in, thick with the warning to hurry—a warning the building’s song echoed. I quickly grabbed the sides of the skylight and half jumped, half wiggled my ass onto the roof.
He was in my living space, making his way toward the loft ladder.
I carefully shifted my position on the roof, trying not to make much in the way of sound, then dragged up the rest of the wire and closed the skylight. He’d reached the ladder....
“Bethany?” he called up. “You up there?”
Yes, I am, but you won’t fucking find me if I can at all help it.
I found a slightly raised copper slate nail, wound the wire around it a couple of times, then pulled it back across the window and found another raised nail. The wire barely reached it, but it only needed to hold for a few minutes. Eljin had never been into the loft, so in all likelihood he wouldn’t even question the wire’s presence. The other skylights were locked, and the key was on the keyring in my purse.
I cautiously slid back toward the ridgeline to ensure I was out of sight even if he did step onto the footstool, then pulled outmy phone. After turning the sound all the way down, I sent an urgent text to Mathi.
Can you get back here ASAP? Eljin is here, looking for me.
The building’s music warned he was now in the loft, but pausing under each skylight. Checking them, obviously. But why he’d do that when— I stopped. If he’d been mining my memories via the drug, he’d be aware that I’d climbed out on the rooftop more than once. And if he was checking them, it basically confirmed what Carla had said in the vision. The bit that confused me was the fact that, as a Tàileach pixie, he only had to connect to the building’s song, and it would tell him where I was. So why hadn’t he done that? It certainly would have been my first move had our positions been reversed.
A message flashed up onto the phone’s screen.Running down the lane now. Where are you?
