Roderick joined Peter at the window, looking livid.
The closer Lochlan and I got to the house, the worse it looked. Glass from the smashed windows covered the ground and the doorframe was cracked in the middle.
“It must’ve been kicked in,” Lochlan said, running his hand over it as he passed.
Inside, the cottage was in complete disarray. Chairs were broken and overturned, dishes had been smashed, cabinets hung open and the table was shoved against the wall.
“The pixie dust?” Lochlan asked, screwing up his face before the words were even out.
“They took it all,” Roderick growled, pointing to the corner.
His precious crate had been split open, the packing straw strewn about, and the large bag of pixie dust was gone. A faint golden shimmer shone up near the hearth. I stepped closer and crouched down to brush my fingers against the few sparse specks sprinkled into cracks in the floorboards. The last few bits of pixie dust glittered feebly, trapped in the crevices that not even my thin fingers could reach.
“Who?” I asked breathlessly, staring around. “Who did this? Did anyone see?”
“It was the Nightsworn,” Peter growled. He was leaning against the wall, arms folded, and his red hair was an absolute disaster. Roderick paced in tight circles and anytime he paused, he would punch whatever unfortunate item was closest.
“I saw them,” Peter went on. “They came and took all of it. There were too many for me to take on by myself. I’m sorry.”
Roderick viciously kicked one of the crates, sending it skidding across the floor. “That was the entire first shipment!Those—” He swore fluidly for several minutes, barely pausing for breath.
“We still have the second shipment on the way,” Lochlan calmly reminded him. “The blood’s more valuable than the dust was, anyway. We’ll manage. At least we didn’t have to pay for it.”
“Someone’s going to pay.” Roderick exchanged a dark look with Lochlan. “And I’m going to make them suffer. The question now becomes…how did they find out?”
My stomach spasmed. Had Elvin followed me back here when he suspected I had access to pixie dust then reported me to the Nightsworn? The little sneak! He was probably trying to get back for me framing him for going through the Employer’s office.
Lochlan turned to Peter. “Have you been hustling fights again?”
Peter frowned. “Not very often. If you’re suggesting that I told the Nightsworn about the dust…I’m not a fool. I’d never?—”
“I’m not accusing you. I’m merely suggesting you might’ve been followed. I trust that you didn’t tell them.”
“Gil?” Roderick growled. “What about you? What do you have to say for yourself?”
“I didn’t do anything!” I squeaked, making sure my voice cracked. “Besides, I got hurt. It’s hard enough to follow Lochlan to the market.”
“Then you would’ve been easy to follow,” Roderick snarled. He took an aggressive step toward me, but Lochlan placed himself between me and his father.
“We weren’t followed,” he insisted. “Today was the first time we’ve been to town since Gil was injured, and this happened before we got back.”
“He might’ve snuck off at night,” Roderick said, trying to edge around Lochlan to get a clear path to me.
Lochlan kept himself planted firmly in front of Roderick. “I would’ve noticed. It wasn’t Gil. Nor could he have tipped anyone off today. He was with me the whole time at the market, and all he did was sell socks and scarves like I told him to. He dislikes the Nightsworn just as much as the rest of us.”
“It was someone!” Roderick slapped a bowl off the table. It went flying into the wall and shattered in a glorious explosion of pottery, but Lochlan didn’t flinch. Peter stayed quiet and tense, like he was ready to either run or fight but hadn’t decided which yet.
Lochlan and Roderick glared at each other. Lochlan was a few inches shorter than his father and had softer, kinder features, but now that I knew they were related, I could see the resemblance between them. They had similar eyebrows and likely had similar jawlines, but it was difficult to tell through Roderick’s beard.
“We’ll just have to move locations since they know where we are now,” Lochlan said calmly. “There are other places we can stay.”
“We’re not going anywhere until I have some answers!” Roderick thundered. He whipped his hand through the air and it caught Lochlan before he had time to duck. There was an ugly smacking sound and Lochlan put his hand up to his cheek, which immediately turned bright red.
Both Peter and I started forward, but Lochlan held out his hands to stop us. An instant defensiveness on Lochlan’s behalf was roaring in my ears. Lochlan had stood between me and his father, and now he’d been hit.
“It was an accident,” Lochlan said, then raised his eyebrows expectantly at Roderick. “Right?”
Roderick slowly looked between all three of us, as if analyzing how much pain it would cause if we all jumped him at once.
