Vikrant was more measured in his response, focusing less on how they could pin the deaths on Sylvia and more on the potential procedural violations that might have been made in the lead-up to and investigation of the attack. Silas dodged all of their questions, pushing back until eventually they had no choice but to drop it. If there wasone thing Silas could do well, it was waste someone’s time. He’d had a lifetime of practice.
He was going to figure out how Sylvia’s caster had wound up there himself. Once he found the reasonable explanation for all of this, he could find a way to make his takeover an easy transition. There was an increasing list of Aestas members who he’d really like to not hate him.
He knew he could start making steps toward that now—Sylvia was probably in her office, just a few feet away. But he had no idea how to broach the conversation, whether he should go in with accusations or apologies. There was a very real chance that Sylvia was guilty, and he had no clue how he would even begin to handle that.
His parents had given him something else that would get them off his back, for a while at least. Only that thing was worse.
“Are you ready to get into the exciting world of laundry spells?” Fiona asked, blessedly giving him an out to avoid thinking of his future for a little longer.
“Bring it.”
Except when Fiona went to flip the page, a door opened and out walked Katherine, looking like she’d just been caught in the act.
Fuck, she’d just been caught in the act.
Katherine’s body went hot, like everyone could spot the spell she’d just taken. She knew that wasn’t physically possible, but that was hard to remember when Silas was sitting here going through the spell library records. Records that would show that she had taken the altum tracking spell.
A thing she was allowed to do, she reminded herself. On paper, she had done nothing wrong. The only issue she had to contend with was her conscience.
She had hesitated, in the spell room, pacing as she decided if she could actually betray Sylvia like this, and before she knew it, an hour had passed. By the time she finally got the courage to press her bleedingpalm to the page, her knees and back were on fire, and all she wanted to do was slink back home and collapse on her couch.
Except her attempts to sneak out unseen had failed, and now Silas Khatri was staring at her.
Fiona and Tess were too. Fiona swept her eyes over Katherine. “You look… well,” she said.
“Your lies are noted but appreciated.” Katherine tried to act casual as she walked over and poured herself a glass of water. “Spell library investigation going well?”
“Swimmingly,” Fiona said. “Where have you been? You didn’t answer any of my texts yesterday.”
“Sorry,” Katherine said, really meaning it. Fiona was a better friend than she deserved, always checking in, never allowing Katherine to disappear, no matter how much she wanted to. “I just… had a busy day.”
Her eyes met Silas’ as she said it, then flicked away. Fiona, of course, caught the motion. She looked at Katherine.
“Can I talk to you for a moment?” she asked. “In private.”
“I’ll give you two a second,” Silas said. “Bathroom?”
Tess pointed Silas to one of the doors along the wall, then grabbed a box of newly cleaned dishes and took them into the kitchen. Fiona waited until they had the dining room to themselves, then leaned over to Katherine.
“Did something happen with you and Silas? You know you’re legally obligated to tell me.”
Katherine rolled her eyes. “No, nothing happened. We just ran into each other while I was checking up on the Hollywood and Highland attack for Sylvia.”
Fiona flinched. “Of course. I caught some of it on the news. It was awful. I’m sorry you had to see that.”
She had no idea. But Katherine didn’t want to get into this with Fiona—she didn’t trust herself not to crack and spill everything, and she couldn’t do that yet. Not until she had some sort of answer.
“I’ve seen worse” was all she said. Fiona gave her a sympathetic look, which Katherine purposely avoided, turning her eyes to the floor.Fiona’s gaze went to the piece of gauze wrapped around the fresh cut on Katherine’s hand.
“Were you grabbing spells? I thought you just loaded up the other day.”
“Just needed a couple more,” Katherine said, stress making her tone come out far snappier than she intended. Fiona’s jaw clenched, and Katherine sighed, frustrated with herself for taking out her anxiety on her friend. Fiona just wanted to make sure she was all right, but Katherine couldn’t get into it. Fiona might hate it when Katherine kept her at arm’s length, but Katherine would rather Fiona be mad at her than have to wade through the same sea of shit that Katherine was dealing with.
“I’m sorry,” Katherine said. “I’m just a bit on edge this morning.”
Fiona nodded, thankfully changing the subject. “So how was investigative duty with McDreamy?” she asked. “Is he as wonderful as he seems?”
“He’s incredibly annoying and deeply egotistical.”
