Jesper nodded. “I’m not accusing you of killing them. If you were feeding off their deaths, I doubt you’d be standing here complaining to the council’s agents.”
Baron snorted. “Exactly.”
“But,” Jesper added, “someoneisusing your lake. They’re dumping their kills here and framing you by proximity.”
Baron’s mouth tightened. “Yep.”
His eyes flicked to the shore, where the members of our squad worked.
Lysa stood a foot away from the body, tablet in hand, with her hair pulled into a tight braid.
Kane used his magic while Sylver used magical instruments to look for any magical signatures of the real culprit.
“I can’t pinpoint any magical signature other than her own,” Kane muttered. “Rules out the kelpie, but…”
“Doesn’t get us any closer to finding out who did it…” Sylver paused, tilting her head. “I can’t get an exact reading of the signature, but there are traces of an ice-type of magical energy. It’s an ice fae, icedrake, or someone with a special power.”
Definitely not the kelpie, then.
“Sending you what the device caught,” Lysa told Corin and Slater through the comms.
They had set up a portable terminal further up the shore.
Corin’s gray hair fell over one eye as he hunched over the array, fingers ghosting over the interface. His phantom formflickered back and forth, making him look half-transparent in the moonlight.
Slater sat beside him, one knee up, red eyes glowing faintly as he watched the screen. His bond buzzed with focus.
“The ice residue in the magical energy is a closer match for fae than draconic,” Corin said after a beat. “But that’s an educated guess. Every time I try to isolate the pattern, it glitches.”
Slater frowned, tapping faster as his chaos magic sparked around him. Snakey formed around his neck, hissing.
Kane ran a hand through his dark purple hair. “I have a spell that can tell us for sure if it’s fae or not, but it’ll take a lot of magical energy.”
“I’ll join,” Lysa offered.
“I’ll help,” Sylver decided. “I can’t do as much as you and Lysa can since you are a warlock and a witch, but surely my intent of magical essence should help.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Kane told her as they formed a small triangle around the body before magic began to roll off them in subtle waves.
Kane muttered a spell, and they joined in as magic swelled around them, surrounding the body.
I felt it prickle my skin even from this far away.
“Definitely fae,” Kane said after a long moment. “It’s hidden, but there. Has to be an ice fae.”
Sylver’s expression pinched. “And the grief…whoever killed this woman was grieving, wait, no. Maybe they were obsessed? It’s hard to tell. The emotional imprint is deteriorating.”
Kane’s brows rose. “You can tell that?”
She nodded.
“That’s incredible for a siren to be able to do,” Lysa told her.
She smiled. “My sisters and I participated in quite a few spells with our best friend in Cursinia.”
“Another witch?” Kane asked.
She shook her head. “A siren like us, actually.”
