Disgusted, Tomin looked ahead of him, lines creasing his taut mouth as he held back whatever reply he wanted to say. I studied his profile, hating the way I saw Arwyn in some angles and yet pleased in the small moments when they looked nothing alike.
“Oops, have I hit a nerve?”
He pursed his lips. “I understand that anger can make a person speak from places they don’t necessarily want toacknowledge, but there is no need for such foul language, Hector.”
“Trust me.” I smiled, teeth flashing. “If I say something, best believe I meant it.”
“So when the time comes, will you be able to destroy Bahmet, knowing the risks?” Tomin reached for his phone, pulled it out his pocket and balanced it on his knee. “Knowing doing so could result in the death of Arwyn?”
That sounded like a trick question to me. “And how do you expect I do that, Tomin?”
“You’ll figure it out, I’m sure.”
The car took a sharp turn just as Tomin’s phone began to ring.
“One moment,” he said to me, before lifting the phone to his ear without greeting the person on the other end.
A shadow passed over the car, drawing my attention back out the window. We’d just driven off the main road into the worker’s entrance to the White Tower. Was this what he’d meant when he said ‘where it all began’? Because for a moment I thought we were going on a drive to Oxford, to the apartment where Tomin’s hate painted the walls of my flat with the blood of my family.
Shame, I would’ve enjoyed killing him there—poetic justice and all that.
“Fuck.” My ears pricked as Tomin’s raised voice cracked at the person on the other end of the call. “Verena, if I cannot rely on you to do the smallest of tasks, then what good are you to me?”
Although I couldn’t make out what was said back to Tomin, I recognised the muffled buzz of a voice speaking back to him. And whatever they said made the storm in his eyes turn into a hurricane. A thick vein throbbed on the side of his head as the whites of his eyes turned red.
“Hewill find his way back to us,” Tomin said. “Be sure you are all ready to greet him the moment he arrives. Am I clear?”
With a flare of the dramatics, Tomin swept the phone away from his ears, cut off the call, then practically crushed the device in the mass of his large hand.
“Problems at home?” I asked, delighting in seeing the man crack.
“You could say that,” Tomin replied. “Although it’ll be a problem for us all if my resolution does not bring forwards results. I’ve just received word this morning that my son broke out of his carrier and has since disappeared… much like you did after the attack on the White Tower. Poof. Gone in a smudge of smoke.”
“What did you just call me?”
Apparently my sarcasm was wasted because Tomin just faced forwards, furious gaze fixed to the dark tunnel outside of the car’s window.
“Arwyn won’t be gone for long. He never is.”
Every muscle in my body turned to lead, forcing my weight into the firm seat. “Arwyn… your little lapdog, running away from home?”
Hope and fear all mingled together into an emotion I couldn’t place.
“Yes, and from my understanding he did so to find you.” Tomin turned and fixed his gaze to me. I felt lightning spear through my veins at his clear-cut admission. “Hence the need for all of this.”
“Finally, you get to the nitty-gritty of why you need me. You’re using me as bait.” Even saying it aloud didn’t seem right.
“If that is what you would like to refer to it as, then yes. Bait. If Arwyn is searching for you, it will lead him back to me. And then I will have you both for what must come next,killingtwo birds with one stone and all that.”
My hand shot for the door handle, only to find that it was locked. That didn’t stop me from shaking it for good measure, all whilst Tomin silently watched in amusement. “Now, now, Hector. I was good with my promises, and it is your turn to do the same. We’re one phone call away from witches being rounded up and set to blaze. Don’t fuck it up for them now.”
Wounded wrist aching, I flopped back in my seat, eyes scanning the car for my way out of there. “If Arwyn left you, that means he is in control. He isn’t…”
“Controlled by Bahmet? No, Arwyn is certainly in control of him, to the displeasure of the demon no doubt. I have concluded that, unlike your mother who had to bury the demon with thistlebane, my son is stronger of will. Or at least that was the answer I initially hoped for, until the knowledge that you have a part of Bahmet in you. I think the splitting of the demon across two vessels has weakened his power, giving the host more control. Bit of a pain, but ultimately will help us in the end.”
Breathing laboured, heart thumping in my chest, I needed to get out of here. And yet, I was as stuck as a fly in a web. “Because I have the power to destroy Bahmet. That sounds like a lot of faith in just a theory.”
A theory which matched the one we already had.
