“But?” Torin pressed, being as perceptive as always. I released a sigh before admitting,
“I am not yet certain. Regardless, I want everything you can find. Where she lives. Who she speaks to. Every pattern, every habit.”
Torin nodded, already cataloguing the task.
“And her job?” he asked as he already guessed that I knew this.
“She works for an agency in the city, Total Point Media.”
He raised a brow, knowing what that meant, seeing as he knew my schedule just as all my council did.
“Fuck of a coincidence,” he commented, and I gritted out a single,
“Indeed.”
“I can have a full profile within the hour,” he assured me, and I wasn’t surprised by the speed. Not when he knew how this would take precedence over everything else.
“Yes, but I want it done quietly,” I informed him, stern enough for him to understand that I wasn’t fucking around with this.
“Of course.”
“When is Iridessa due back?” I asked, aware that my second in command would need to be informed, just as Vor would, the three of them standing at the highest tier of my authority.
“As far as I am aware, she is still gathering information at King Street station after the shoot-out, as it seems as though Ryker Greed has been in Seattle for a while now, chasing down his own Siren.” Yes, that was what I had heard as well.
“Have her come to me at once the second she is back.”
He bowed his head at this, acknowledging the order, before his gaze shifted back toward where we had just come from.
“And now?” I knew what he truly asked, no doubt wanting to know what the fuck I was doing wasting time out here when my Siren was locked away in my private space. I nearly wondered the same thing when I remembered why I left in the first place.
“I have someone to hunt,” I informed him, making him smirk, as this was definitely more his style. Hell, but it was more mine as well. Dealing with a rogue or someone to punish was far more familiar territory to navigate than capturing my Siren and trying to make her fall in love with me.
Fuck… but was that what this would turn into…Love?
I wasn’t a creature capable of such things.
The Gods surely knew that she deserved better… but if that was the case, then why was she fated to a devil like me?
I resumed walking, purpose crystallizing as the path ahead narrowed. There were still questions unanswered, still threats to identify and remove, but one truth now sat immovable at the center of it all. Regardless of what came next. Regardless of what personal obstacles I would face… Regardless of it all…
I had found her.
And the weight of that knowledge pressed down on me with a force I had not yet decided how to bear.
“Bring me the footage of the girl.” The order was given without anger, but Torin stiffened all the same. He knew that tone. It was the sound of a decision already made, one that did not require discussion or delay.
“From where?” he asked, already reaching for the tablet clipped to his side.
“From the moment she reached the front door,” I replied.
“I want everything.”
We stopped in a small observation alcove overlooking the lower level, the vantage point shielded from sight by layered wards. Torin activated the feed, and the screen bloomed to life in his hand, casting pale light across the stone.
There she was.
She seemed smaller than she had been when she stood before my throne. More vulnerable standing alone at the threshold of my domain with nothing but stubborn resolve holding her upright. I watched her speak to Torin, saw the way she gestured, the way her hands clenched and unclenched as frustration bled through whatever composure she tried to maintain.
