‘I didn’t like him that much. And I want Jingo dead.’
‘If you kill Jingo while he’s in Troy, then you’ll be his next host, and we’ll be fucked all over again. Calm down, get your shit together, and let’s work out a motherfucking plan. We need to get rid of Jingo once and for all.’
Robbie huffed and dragged a hand through his hair, carefully running it over one side of his tusks and then the other. Jaw working, he shook his head at himself and looked at me, resigned. ‘I can get us into Wraithmore. I’ve done it before.’
Ofcoursehe could get me into a top-secret high-security paranormal prison without issue.
‘Don’t tell me,’ I said in an attempt at levity. ‘You know of a secret tunnel?’
‘The dwarves did build it, so that’s a possibility,’ he said. ‘But no. My methods are far more prosaic.’
I sighed. ‘Bribes?’ In the Other realm, that felt like the answer half the time, and Ihatedthat.
Loki shifted on my shoulder, feathers brushing my jaw, and his weight steadied me again.
Robbie nodded darkly. ‘Bribes and calling in favours with the right people. Leave it with me. One way or another, if you need to look Broadlake in the eye for closure, I’ll get it for you. I’ll get you into Wraithmore.’
‘Thank you.’
‘Don’t thank me. You haven’t been there. It’s a vile place.’
‘Yes, but it’s a place that holds my kidnapper, but it also holds Amber’s father.’
Robbie grimaced. ‘Stacy, you’re dealing with enough without adding the Domini into the mix.’
‘That’s the thing. I’m not adding the Domini into the mix – Jingo is. He’s the one who gave me the “evidence” on my father’s case. The necklace in his hand …’
‘Jingo is trying to muddythe waters and distract you,’ Robbie argued.
‘Maybe, but I’m not letting this case make me lose my focus. The Domini are lurking, and they need to be dealt with too.’
‘Can we focus on one impossibility at a time?’ Robbie asked.
‘No. Get me in to see Broadlake, and then I want to see Shaun Bolton. Two birds, one horrifying prison.’
‘You don’t ask for much, do you?’ my fiancé groused.
‘Shoot for the moon,’ I said, ‘and land in the stars. Robbie, get me in to see those arseholes.’
‘Your wish is my command.’
Chapter Fourteen
Robbie headed off to grease palms and pull in favours, leaving me alone with a still visibly upset Ji-ho and a shaken Channing. The room felt different without Robbie in it, like the removal of his powerful presence had left a vacuum in his place.
God, I was pathetic, missing him the instant he left.
Channing was still crushing the notebook he held, and Ji-ho sat too still, staring into the computer screen, frozen like a gargoyle caught in the sun. Neither of them looked at me.
‘All right,’ I said. ‘Let’s do this fast, because we’re only doing it once.’ My stomach rolled. I hated this part. Hated the way saying it out loud made it more real, more immediate.
I’d have nightmares again tonight.
I cleared my throat. ‘The fact that I got kidnapped when I was a teenager does not define me. I am still the same person you knew yesterday, when you didn’t have that knowledge.’ I looked at Ji-ho. ‘Or the images of that knowledge.’
‘You weren’t just kidnapped,’ Channing said, his voice twisted with horror. ‘Stacy, you were tortured.’
The word hit the room with a sickening weight. Tortured. Not a word ever used lightly.
