“What do we do in the meantime?”Roque asked.“You can’t seriously expect us to sit on our asses and wait for you to do your job.”
Dimri arched a brow.“I don’t.I expect you to continue doing your job.”
Roque’s body went stiff.“Are you saying that I’m not doing my job?”
How had he gotten that from Dimri’s words?Dimri had no idea, and it felt odd to apologize for what was clearly a misunderstanding, but he opened his mouth to do just that.
He didn’t get the chance.
“I think Dimri is paranoid,” Roque said, looking around the room.“We don’t know that there’s a spy in the palace.Ramiel spent time here in the past.He probably found out how to sneak around then.There was no need for him to have a spy.”
Dimri narrowed his eyes.He didn’t like being told that he was paranoid, even though in some ways, he was.It was hard to trust anyone with his job.That didn’t mean he wasn’t right, though.It didn’t mean that there wasn’t someone in the palace plotting to betray Berith at this very moment.
* * * *
ROQUE WASN’T SURPRISEDto hear that Dimri thought there was a spy.He probably saw spies everywhere.It was kind of his job, and while Roque was glad that Dimri had Berith’s back, they couldn’t afford to waste time.He was sure that the spymaster could find stuff about anyone if he dug deep enough, but would it be important things?Would it be things they could use against Ramiel?Roque didn’t care about who disliked Berith and who thought the prince wasn’t doing a good job.He cared about who wanted Berith dead.
Right now, that was Ramiel.
“Do you have any idea who it could be?”Berith asked Dimri.
Roque wasn’t surprised that Berith was taking Dimri seriously, either.He would be a fool not to.Roque was confident that Dimri had saved the day more times than anyone but Berith knew.
That still didn’t make him right about Ramiel’s spy, but even if it did, they didn’t need to sneak around in the darkness to find the person working against Berith.They could face Ramiel and take him down, then deal with whoever was left behind.
“Not at the moment,” Dimri said.“But I’ve already started looking into it.I’ll have answers for you soon.”
“Not soon enough,” Roque pointed out.“If we want to use whatever information you find against Ramiel, we need it yesterday.”
Dimri looked calm, but Roque was sure he could see emotion lurking in the demon’s eyes.He wanted to continue poking at him to see more of it, even though it wouldn’t be professional.
“Do you think my job is easy?”Dimri asked in a cool tone that sent shivers down Roque’s spine.
Dimri was dangerous, but right now, he wished they were alone in the office.
“I never said that,” he answered.“But you have to see that waiting is the worst option we have right now.I’m not saying you’re wrong and that there’s no one in the palace spying on Berith, but is it really that important?Haven’t they been spying on Berith this entire time?”
“Probably, which is why we need to find out who it is before they can do more damage.”
“They didn’t do much until now.Both Berith and Lucifer are safe and healthy.A little girl managed to protect herself from the people sent to kill her.Honestly, I feel pretty good about where we’re at right now.”
“Only fools would feel that way,” Dimri said.
“Then maybe I’m a fool.”
“I think that you are, yes.”
Dimri turned back to Berith, who was watching them with a glint in his eyes.Roque didn’t like it, but there was nothing he could do about it.He could tell that Berith was plotting something, but the prince would only tell him what was on his mind if he wanted to.
“I’ll continue looking into it,” Dimri said as he got to his feet.“And I’ll let you know as soon as I find something.In the meantime, I believe it would be safer for everyone to focus on securing the palace and hiring new soldiers.We lost too many people when Jessamyn attacked.”
“We’re already working on it,” Berith said with a nod.“And don’t take too long to report to me.We can’t ignore Ramiel forever.He won’t let us.”
Dimri nodded curtly.“I’ll work as fast as I can.I’ll contact my people and see what they have to say about this.”
Roque wanted to ask about the spy Dimri had in Ramiel’s palace, but he didn’t have the time to do so.Dimri left the room in a hurry, not once looking back.What he thought of Roque was clear from his behavior, which should’ve been annoying, but instead, it made Roque want to tease him even harder to see what he’d do.
That definitely wasn’t a good idea.Even if Dimri couldn’t fight—and there was no doubt in Roque’s mind that he could—he could probably find a hundred ways to kill Roque if he annoyed him too badly.It wasn’t something Roque wanted to find out.
