“We confirmed it,” Rhyse added, slipping into the tent then, shadow magic clinging to him. “The one we tortured survived long enough to answer questions. They were here for you, specifically. Your blood and DNA. Somehow, they knew you’d be on this case.”
“And now, they’re not alive anymore.” Zuko grinned, but his jaw was tight.
“They wanted to take your DNA again,” Slater said quietly. “They lost your DNA with the humans who died trying to wield your power. They no longer have it.”
“Did they get anything?” I asked, heart hammering hard in my chest.
Jesper shook his head. “We got to you fast. They didn’t take blood, and they didn’t take you.”
My muscles unclenched a fraction.
The edges of the nightmare still clung to me. Darian’s hand on my chest and the ice in my lungs. The drude in the corner was making me relive stupid trauma I wanted to forget. The weight of all of it pressed down on me. Knowing we hadn’t found the killer on this mission, the humans trying to steal my DNA once again, and the drude lingering in my nightmares.
It was too much.
I buried my face in my hands, exhaling sharply.
Dimitri’s arm wrapped around my shoulders. Koa leaned his head against mine on the other side. Slater, Zuko, and Jesper moved closer.
We had no answers for anything happening around us, and we were no closer to figuring any of it out.
rune
. . .
Two days later,we were back at Shadowmere Abyss.
The moon was the sliver of a crescent. The lake looked the same, black, still, and reflective, but the air felt heavier somehow.
Three more bodies had washed up.
Two banshees and one phantom.
All our investigations had panned out the same way, and Dimitri, Cassie, Bradley, and I all took turns staking out the lake.
None of us saw a thing.
Our squad stood in silence as Morgan and Koa lifted the sheets.
“Same death pattern,” Koa said quietly. “Drowned but not with lake water.”
A shiver worked through me at the thought.
“But look at this.” Morgan pressed her palms to the banshee’s chest. Magic flickered, then streaked faintly blue. “Ice residue in the lungs,” Morgan murmured. “It’s less than the others had and diluted, but it’s clearly there. They were killed with ice magic and then dumped here.”
That nauseated me.
“Anyone else feel like we’re chasing a fae with a grudge?” Slater muttered under his breath.
“Considering the amount of emotion in the magical residue, yes,” Sylver answered.
We walked to the shore to question Baron again, but instead of being as cooperative and kind as before, he was furious.
The kelpie breached near the shore in a spray of water. He was in his white horse form, eyes blazing a too-bright green as he shifted to his normal form.
“It’s not me,” he snapped before Jesper could say a word. “I told you. I would know if I dragged three more bodies in here.”
“We believe you,” Jesper murmured.
