Page 250 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘Fuck you.’

‘You’re welcome, baby.’

‘Fucking hell,’ Riley sighs in the mild tone of a man who looked out the window and noticed rain when he hoped for sun.

Lachlan ignores him entirely and instead runs the comms cable beneath Kade’s collar, secures it where nothing can snag and presses the earpiece into place, twisting it snugly.

His knuckles brush Kade’s throat.

Honeycomb and summer rain surround him, sweet and clean beneath the harsher smells of gun oil, nylon and steel.

‘I want to use your blade,’ he says.

‘I am.’

‘No, the one you made for me.’ Lachlan pulls something out. ‘This one.’

Kade recognises it instantly.

It’s the custom-built knife Lachlan had on him when he stormed the Tower five nights ago, among the other weapons he brought to kill everyone responsible for Julian and Mimi’s deaths.

‘I made this?’

‘You designed it for me.’

Lachlan offers it.

Kade takes it.

All dark metal and hard, textured grip, compact enough to conceal against the body, but he can tell right away it’s packed with little extras. Clever additions. Beneath the light, silver lettering shines along the spine.

Kestrel.

Kade’s thumb finds the release without needing to look.

The blade snaps out.

It’s not steel, but some kind of tungsten.

The point is serrated like a shark’s tooth.

Kade examines it with interest.

It’s… exactly how he himself would design a knife.

The balance, the grip, the reach of the blade.

He finds the tiny kinetic charging lever that powers a light. He narrows in on the insulated handle that protects the wielder from the electrical charge the blade can deliver.

It’s the first time he’s held something that Julian made.

That he made… and forgot.

‘You came to kill us with a knife I made for you.’

Something bruised passes through Lachlan’s expression.

‘I didn’t know you were here.’