“How-how did you even find out about this? That any of this was possible? The-the… fixing people?”
He helped her up, which wasn’t part of the plan but wouldn’t ruin it. She kept her weight low and unsteady.
“We’ve known for a long time. And for just as long, we thought it was an impossible task. It took Gerald to show us that sacred cows bleed like anything else if you shoot them in the right place.”
She didn’t have to fake her shaky, cold-sweat reaction. He was talking about the shadow dragons. The people who’d been guarding the Soul-Eater.
Maggie’sparents.
Also, he was being grossly racist, but what was new?
“And—now you know where to find him. To fix people like me.”
“Something like that.” Fairchild’s voice was still gentle, but she got the sense that he was watching her more carefully. Had she laid it on too thick?
Oh, well.
“Is there a reason for all these questions?” he asked, a feline growl barely audible beneath the words. The hairs on the back of Carol’s neck rose. Lion shifters. Eloise had been like that sometimes, though she pretended to be embarrassed by her lioness showing itself so obviously.
Mathis’s lion didn’t make her react like this, though. Maybe it was because she knew him better?
Or maybe it was because he wasn’t a total psychopath.
She licked her lips. “The last few days have been… difficult.”
“Of course, of course.” He was back to soothing mode. Like the growl had never been there. The same way he told her to make herself at home in the library, as though he’d never thrown her in a cage. “Where are your guards, by the way?”
“That’s why I had to findyou! I didn’t want to hurt them!” She covered her face with a fake sob.
“Hurt them?”
Both bodyguards had holstered their guns.About time.
She swallowed wetly. “My shark c-can’t deal with feeling trapped. I didn’t want to risk it coming out…” She wiped her face, then dropped her hands as though she was going to wipe them on her robe.
The gun she’d taken from her guard was an inch away from her fingers, tucked into the pocket.
“I already thought of that, Miss Zhang. This collar prevents you from shifting. Nobody here is in danger from your shark, except yourself.”
He slid one thin finger beneath the metal collar and lifted her chin until their eyes met.
She held his gaze. “I’m—I’m at risk from my shark?”
“If it attempts to force you to shift, yes.” He gave his caring, gentle smile again. “It has already caused you enough pain.”
It took all of Carol’s self-control not to scream in his face.
He let her go. “Don’t be afraid. Before long, you’ll be free of it forever.”
“Free?” she echoed, blinking.
Fairchild smirked. He thought she sounded like an idiot—and his lion did, too.
“C-can you—please—” She hesitated, a stupid little girl too intimidated to even form full words.
“What is it? Ask away,” he offered, graciously.
“I d-don’t want to go back in there. Just waiting. If I could—could see where we are, if you h-have a map, or GPS, or…”
