Patrick glanced at the Salem police officers and other SOA agents that were still within earshot. For all that he’d spilled his family’s secrets over the past few months, the public didn’t need to be privy to this conversation.
“Want me to shield?” Nadine asked from her sprawled position on the couch, looking a little better.
“I got this,” Patrick said.
She’d done enough. Having magical defenses broken by a god’s weapon would take a lot out of anyone. He wanted her to rest up, so Patrick waved his aunt and uncles closer so he could cast a silence ward without anyone else getting caught up in it. The furniture in the living area acted as a decent barrier to keep everyone else at bay.
“The SOA knows Eloise is missing. They’re putting out a BOLO that’s hitting every agency,” Patrick said.
“You just said Ethan had her,” Finley said.
“Yes, but we don’t know where Ethan is.”
“What about the man who took her place? You called him Loki.”
“He wasn’t a man. He was a god.”
Grant didn’t look as if he believed Patrick. “Gods are just stories.”
“You worship Persephone, unless your prayers are just lip service,” Jono retorted.
Grant scowled, a flush coloring his cheeks. “My belief in our coven’s chosen deity isn’t at issue here.”
“Pretty fucking sure it is.” Jono jerked his head in the direction of the backyard. “Loki’s been impersonating your mum since after our visit. That’s why we came back, because we got a warning and we needed to see if it was true.”
Uncertainty flickered in Grant’s eyes, but the irritated anger didn’t leave his expression. Patrick wasn’t in the mood for it.
“Do you want to know why I never let any of you know I was still alive?” Patrick asked, staring at his aunt and uncles and trying not to let the bitterness in the back of his throat turn into bile. “It wasn’t just because Setsuna wanted to keep me hidden and safe from Ethan. I’d be dead if it weren’t for Persephone, but the cost of her saving me from Ethan after he murdered my mom was a soul debt I still haven’t paid. Your chosen deity dictates my life, and there’s no way I’d ever join a coven that puts her on a pedestal like you do.”
Madelyn went white in the face, while Finley and Grant appeared just as stunned. Patrick drew in a breath, antsy with the need to leave but knowing he couldn’t until the job here was finished.
“Ethan’s planning to turn himself into a god. He already stole a godhead, but it got trapped in Hannah’s soul. That’s why he didn’t kill her,” Patrick continued.
Not back then he hadn’t, but she’d crept toward death for so long that she was just flesh these days—breathing but no longer alive. Patrick shoved that thought aside, staring at what remained of his family.
“That’s…” Finley’s voice trailed off, the horror in his tone recognizable.
“Can you save her?” Madelyn asked, choking on the words.
Patrick didn’t answer.
“Ethan wants a trade, and it’s not a trade the government can make,” Nadine said into the tense quiet.
Patrick grimaced. “The government doesn’t negotiate with terrorists. Ethan’s side gave their demand through Loki. There’s not going to be a ransom call for something like this, but I’ll do what I can to bring Eloise back to you.”
He couldn’t promise alive because he knew what Ethan was capable of. Patrick had borne the scars of that truth since he was eight years old. Neither could he pass on the demand because the government didn’t know the Morrígan’s staff had been broken and he had kept a piece of it. If Setsuna had still been alive—
Patrick cut that thought off, ignoring the stab of grief.
“If there was a ransom request, is it something the government would even pay?” Finley asked.
“No.”
“Then our coven will,” Grant said.
“Ethan doesn’t want money. You don’t have what he wants.”
“It seems he thinks you do. Or that god did, at least.”
