Marlow shot her a puzzled look. “Why?”
“What do you mean, why? You said people are going missing, right?”
“Wieldersare going missing,” Marlow corrected her.
“That’s the same thing.”
The answer, coming from the mouth of a royal took Felix by surprise, and Marlow stared at the girl like she’d just cut off her own finger and waved it around like a flag.
“What can we do?” Lottie asked. “Where do we start?”
Felix glanced up at August, who was still planted stubbornly by the door, pretending not to listen.
How different these two siblings were.
“I know where they’re buying it,” he said. “If we can get inside, we can figure out where it’s being made.”
“Where’s that?” Marlow asked.
“The Gilded Mortar on 5th Street.”
She tensed. “Now that can’t be right.”
“Why? You know it?”
Marlow traced her thumb over the rim of her glass, then nodded once. “It’s one of Ciaran’s. I run deliveries for them sometimes. It’s shady enough, no doubt. Definitely a front for crooked dealings. But Ciaran? He wouldn’t be mixed up in something like that. Not him. And he wouldn’t hurt wielders.”
“Perhaps he doesn’t know,” Felix offered, though he doubted that was true. Ciaran Ashcroft ran his businesses with precision. A man like that didn’t allow secrets to slip through his fingers. He knew. But Felix didn’t have the heart to tell Marlow as much. “Can you get us inside?”
“Ciaran has a handful of Watch in his pockets. Keeps some posted there. No way they’ll let me stroll in and poke through his business without his say-so. Just let me talk to him.”
“I can’t have you turning up missing.”
She shook her head. “It’s Ciaran. He’s family.”
Ashcroft was a criminal who clearly had a hand in all of this. He was dangerous, and Felix refused to let Marlow put herself in danger.
“If you talk to him, he’ll know we’re poking around, and we’ll never get answers.”
Marlow scrubbed a hand over her mouth. She knew he was right. “Fine. What do we do then?”
That was an excellent question. One that Felix had no answer for.
“Just let me think.” He shoved up from the booth and paced the length of the pub. They needed a way into the apothecary. A way to get past the guards.
A way to move without being seen.
He stopped abruptly, and turned to August, who must have guessed his train of thought, because he glowered and shook his head.
Traveling blocks of the city had left Felix drained, but maybe a shorter distance wouldn’t have such a drastic effect. It could work. Itwouldwork.
Felix crossed to him and leaned casually against the bar. He had to word this just right. August wouldn’t be easy to convince.
“I have—”
“No.” The harsh word cut him off. “Do you not remember what happened last time? I thought I had killed you. I’m not doing that again.”
“We’ll only stay on the other side for a minute. Two tops. I’ll be fine.”
