The whine in his voice was unmistakable, like their wife should be cossetinghiminstead of half-dead Casimir. Then again, itwas Zane, who, but for the grace of the Moon Mother and Cas and Ko’s influence, might have turned out as insane as Eluned.
There was a reason the three brothers worked so well as a unit. Cas provided the discipline, Ko the emotional anchor, and Zane… Well, Z brought the chaos. Without his brothers to temper him, though, I’d seen glimpses of what he could become, and it was something too close to unhinged for comfort.
“Focus, bro,” I said, redirecting the conversation. “We’ve got bigger problems. Arabesque sacrificed Austin Cho last night.”
A low whistle came through the phone.
“The new guy? What’d he do to piss her off?”
“Nothing.” I refused to look at the cooler. “Turns out he was running from the Korean mafia. His father’s some big shot in Seoul who put a bounty on his head. Arabesque is flying there today to collect.”
“Shit. Poor kid.”
“She had me rip his heart out after she fed his soul to a demon. I’m supposed to deliver it to you as a warning.”
A beat of silence.
“And what? You want me to act shocked?”
“I’ma burn it with his other remains today.” I rolled my eyes. “But Arabesque thinks I’m en route to Evermere now.”
“Consider us appropriately horrified by the fictional delivery. What’s she planning to do with the bounty money?”
“Not sure yet. Millions, from what I gathered. Has to be something big.”
“Did she mention anything about Eluned and Amabel?”
“She confirmed Eluned was dead with the demon who ate Austin’s soul. And she knows Amabel will be dead soon enough if not already.” I shifted in my seat, recalling the cold dismissal in Arabesque’s voice.
“And she doesn’t care?” Zane asked, not sounding surprised.
“Didn’t so much as flinch.”
“Dark is as Dark does, Fossykins. Arabesque sees her own children as tools, nothing more. Once a tool breaks or fails, you replace it.”
“Speaking of tools, Arabesque plans to start sending Seri what she calls ‘small torments.’ Rogues testing your perimeter, mailing things Seri doesn’t know she has—”
“Like what?” Zane’s voice sharpened.
“Something about the horns from a black goat?” I shrugged, remembering Arabesque’s gleeful expression as she’d described it. “Seemed to think it would especially upset your girl.”
That got Zane cursing up a blue storm, vicious enough that I had to hold the phone away from my ear for a moment.
“I’ll intercept what I can,” I said when he finally wound down, “and you and your brothers can handle anything that gets through before Seri sees it.”
“If that fang-rotted bitch thinks she can keep terrorizing Seri—”
“She also liked my suggestion about bribing one of Evermere’s staff,” I cut in, redirecting his rage toward something productive.
Sure enough, that pulled him back from the edge. His breathing slowed, and when he spoke again, he sounded almost impressed.
“Yousuggested that?”
“Cas did when we talked last week. Finally found an opportunity to introduce the idea. Figured we could use it to feed her misinformation.”
“Smart.” Zane’s tone shifted to something more calculating. He always made me think of a sly fox. “We know the perfect staff member who would do it. Our chef, Mrs. Wentzel.”
“Your chef? You sure about that?”
