“Altered how?” Jake this time. He sat next to Max, close enough that their shoulders brushed. It was the first time I’d seen him work on this particular case, and I wondered what they’d been doing when they’d got Lady Sarhin’s call.
“We don’t know yet. The magic used wasadvanced. It will take time to unravel all the threads.”
I sensed an edge to her tone. “But you think you can find out what was altered?” I asked, leaning closer.
“We hope so.”
In other words, they had no fucking idea.
My knee bounced under the table again until Dathal’s hand clamped down on it.
He cocked his head to the side, and I recognised histhinkingface when I saw it. Dathal’s magic made him more intuitive that most. If he had a hunch about something, nine times out of ten it was correct. “Was his the only record that was altered?”
Lady Sarhin shot him a proud look. “No. We believe there are others. Not all to the extent to which Melhak’s seems to have been altered, but there are traces of foreign magic dotted throughout the whole of the guard files.”
My mouth fell open. “All of them?”
“We believe the majority of them are false trails to divert our attention.” Her gaze landed on Dathal again. “Even yours has some of the same residual magic, and I like to think I know you well enough to rule you out.”
Dathal huffed but said nothing.
“It’ll take time to sort through what is false and what has actually been changed. In the meantime, our hope is that your witches can at least tell us what human magic Melhak had managed to acquire.”
Max tapped the end of his pen on the whiteboard again. “Can’t you ask Melhak? He seemed pretty accommodating the last time you interviewed him.”
Because I’d read his mind. Not that I could admit that to the rest of the room.
Lady Sarhin fixed Max with a look. “The methods we used last time to interrogate Melhak can’t be used again without the risk of permanent damage. The high court will not sanction that despite the circumstances.”
I’d told Max my story, and it only took a few moments for him to connect all the dots.
“I see,” he said finally. “Could you use conventional methods? Offer him a lesser sentence?”
She shook her head. “We’ve already spoken to him, and he declined to answer any of our questions.”
Of course he had.
I wondered for the hundredth time if Melhak had known Zh’alek at the same time I had. Had they been working together even then? I hadn’t been looking for signs of Zh’alek when I’d read Melhak’s mind. Hadn’t known they were connected.
My hand curled into fists under the table. “So what happens now? You can’t put the whole of the fae guard under surveillance.”
“No, we can’t. So for now we’ll carry on as normal while we investigate.” Lady Sarhin glanced at Dathal, expression hard. “I know you have friends in the guard, Dathal, but nothing leaves this room.”
Dathal bristled beside me. “I’m offended that you feel the need to say that to me.” His voice was cold, but I knew him well enough to hear the hurt in it. He and Lady Sarhin had grown close over the last couple of months. She’d performed his and Nick’s joining pact, for fuck’s sake.
She stared at him for a long drawn-out moment, the room deathly quiet, then rubbed a hand over her eyes. “Chlah’al.”
Dathal’s mouth dropped open and I nearly fell off my chair.
Never, in all the years I’d known her, had I heard Lady Sarhin swear. Or speak fae this side of the gateway.
I’d never seen her look so uncertain either.
She dropped her hand and sighed. “Forgive me, Dathal. This whole…messis…” She sighed again, gaze seeking out Nathan. Whatever she found there was enough to draw her confidence back around her. “Not knowing who to trust isn’t something we’ve ever had to deal with before. Not on this scale, anyway.” She reached over and clasped Dathal’s forearm. “But my trust in you is absolute.”
Dathal nodded.
“If the fae guard are all under suspicion while their records are checked,” Gabriel asked, looking like he’d rather be doing anything other than questioning Lady Sarhin, “who is doing the checking?”
