I incline my head once. "For the time being."
Her jaw tightens. "Shebetrayedyou. Betrayed us all after everything we gave her. I told you, it started back with that vampire case a year ago. The cleaners found no ash. His nightstone bracelet was missing, never logged in the inventory. It was in her hands last."
She doesn't speak Sage's name. Not since the day she left. Months we searched, thinking at first she'd been taken. Hope turned to truth, and truth was hard to swallow.
I let her spill her venom.
"And not only did she spare this bastard's life, she married him. Both of them. Vampires. She's beyond saving, Darius. And she's already squandered our resources, kept us from our actual mission too long—"
I narrow my eyes a fraction. I look at her, long and unblinking. Silence pours into the room like water filling a grave.
She folds first, leaning back, her words withering in her throat. Even Ruaidhrí shifts uneasily, his fingers pausing over the keys.
They are immortal, yes, but not ancient. They fear silence. Especially mine.
Only when enough weight has settled do I answer. "Sage will return willingly when every other path is gone."
"How about the wedding plans? Spring Equinox?" Ruaidhrí asks.
"There will be another one next year. Just like every year," I tell them. "Nature is cyclical, and all you need to achieve any goal is patience."
Darlene's lips part as if to argue, but she swallows it.
A knock comes. Predictable. "Enter," I command.
Konstantin bends beneath the low doorframe, the great leshy forced small by architecture meant for mere mortal men.
"Report," I prompt. He is not one to waste words uninvited.
"A car. Found in the river. Three towns south." His voice is flat stone.
Ruaidhrí is already typing, keys clicking like insects.
"Any trace of your brothers?" I press.
"None." The word lands heavy. To the untrained ear, emotionless. But I know his kind. Leshy bind to kin as deeply asroot to soil. Piotr and Miroslav's absence is a wound. Konstantin has scoured every bend of Maine's rivers for them.
Ruaidhrí doesn't look up. "No mention of bridge collapses. No repairs reported. Radius clear. Can't be sure without the drop point, but odds are low this was an accident."
Konstantin cuts him a glance, unimpressed. "I knew without the laptop."
"You suspected," Ruaidhrí retorts, his voice sharp. "Now you know. That's the difference. I hunt evidence, not ghosts."
"What more proof do you need?" Darlene snaps. "It's the vampires. I'm sure they killed the leshy brothers."
She may be right. But the story is jagged, its edges unaligned. A gap remains between Sage's flight and her fall into the arms of vampires. One of them she had tricked, yet would not allow to die.
I will close that gap. I will know why.
"Continue the search," I tell Konstantin. "Sweep the woods. Especially around their estate."
He bows his head once and withdraws.
"If we strike quickly, we keep them off balance—" Darlene tries, her tone feigning patience, her fury bleeding through.
"No." The word cuts her short. "There will be no attacks. No killing, unless in defense. Not yet. I want to watch. To learn. Then take this strange little kingdom apart, piece by piece."
My gaze settles on Ruaidhrí. "Arrange a meeting with the mayor." He nods, already calculating vectors.
