Author: Kalayna Price

The door opened, but my father didn’t look up immediately.

He waited a full thirty seconds, as if he couldn’t rip his eyes off the page, and then slowly looked up.

Whoever was there, I couldn’t see yet. He must have stopped in the doorway.

“Come in,” my father said, but he made no gesture of greeting. He just went back to reading the file in front of him.

The door shut, and in walked Falin Andrews.

I gasped and clamped a hand over my mouth, trying to muffle the already escaped sound. Falin’s gaze flickered toward my hiding spot, and I backed farther into the darkness, trying to convince my heart to quiet down.

What is he doing here?

Falin sat, but didn’t say anything. My father kept reading the file.When he finally looked up, he closed the file cover, and the impression was very much that Falin’s visit was interrupting something far more important.

“I’d like a report on your progress,” Father said, leaning forward and steepling his fingers.

Falin nodded, one sharp movement of his head.

“I’ve been following some leads. There have been new developments.”

“Developments. Like my daughter?”

“Sir?”

I frowned in the darkness. What happened between Falin and Casey? Does Father know about the spellbook?

How could he?

“Your superiors spoke very highly of you.” My father opened the drawer and removed an envelope. “I must say I have not been impressed, particularly about the danger you put Alexis in.” He tossed the envelope onto the desk in front of Falin.

Me? He was talking about me?

“I must be dreaming,” I muttered, and Falin’s eyes flicked to the crack in the door again. Crap.

I waited for one of them to walk over and rip the door off the hinges, revealing me, but Falin just grabbed the envelope. I couldn’t see what was inside, but the lines in his face hardened. He looked up.

“I have certain expectations and—” A knock cut my father’s words short.

The door opened and Graham said, “Sir.”

My father stood. “Excuse me a moment.”

He walked out of the room, and the door closed behind him. Muted sounds of him talking to his aide reached my ears, but no words.

Falin leaned back in his chair, his gaze fixed on the door of my hiding spot. He glanced over his shoulder in the direction my father had gone. Then he stood. He headed straight for me.

Oh crap.

The door at the front of the room opened, and Falin froze.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to cut this meeting short,” my father said from the doorway.

Falin turned and walked away from my hiding spot.

Saved by my father? I couldn’t say that often.

As the door closed I heard my father say, “But Andrews, do not disappoint me.”Then the voices faded to a murmur and finally to silence.

I waited in the darkness. My calves and knees burned from crouching too long, and I stood, stretching my legs, but I didn’t venture out of the bathroom.

“They’re gone,” Roy said, sticking his head through my door.

Thank God. “Let’s get out of here.”

I didn’t even consider the fact I’d rushed out without checking Bartholomew’s office until I’d crossed the main lobby. Well, no turning back now. I’d just reached the front stairs of the statehouse when a hand landed on my shoulder.

“Alex Craft, what the hell were you thinking?”

Chapter 17

I whirled around. “Get your hand off me, Andrews.”

He didn’t. Instead, he leaned forward and whispered through his gritted teeth.“You broke into the governor’s office? Do you realize how stupid that was?”

“What are you going to do, arrest me? You’re not even a real cop, are you, Deceptive Andrews?”

He jerked back as if stunned. Then his hand fell from my shoulder, and he released a deep breath around his frown. “Come on, I’ll give you a ride home.”

I stepped back. “I’m not going anywhere with you. I don’t even know who the hell you are.”

“You really want to have this conversation here”—his hand jerked, pointing at our very public location—“on the statehouse steps?”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Yeah. Maybe I do. So you’re working for my father? What did he hire you for?”

Falin glared at me, the muscles along his jaw bunching.

Then he turned. His long legs took the stairs two at a time as he stormed away.

“Hey! Hey, I’m talking to you,” I yelled at his retreating back.

He didn’t stop.

Great. Now I had to either chase after him or let him go.

I was too pissed to let him leave.

I ran after him.

Protesters had rallied around the bottom of the stairs. They held aloft signs that proclaimed WITCHCRAFT IS THE WORK OF DAEMONS and COLEMAN MURDERED BY FAE! WHO WILL STOP THEM NOW?

Someone in the crowd recognized me.

“Leave our dead alone,” she yelled, and someone else took up the cry. Soon they were chanting.

They surged forward, and I found myself swallowed by the yelling crowd. I ran, keeping my head down. A hand wrapped around my arm, jerked me back. The red face of an unfamiliar man filled the space in front of me.

“Police. Get your hands off her.” Falin.

The protester growled at me, a savage sound that wasn’t the least bit human, but he let go. Falin’s arm slid around my shoulder. He steered me clear of the crowd and around the side of the building. I shrugged away from him as soon as we reached the parking garage.

He let me go and tucked his thumbs in his belt. “I’m not working for Caine.”

“Oh, yeah, then what was that about?” I pointed back at the statehouse, but I was still breathless from my brush with the protesters, so my words carried a lot less sting than they would have on the stairs.

Falin frowned at me. “Caine signed off on the paperwork to put me in the department as lead investigator in Coleman’s death. I’m FIB, Alex.”

Fae Investigation Bureau? “And why should I believe that? The FIB have the authority to walk in and take over any case involving fae. John’s bitched about it before.”

He pointed back the way we’d just come. “You saw those protesters, Alex. Those people are scared. The governor was assassinated. What would have happened if it had become common knowledge the FIB had taken over the case? There are still people who remember the Magical Awakening. There are people who survived or lost friends in the riots afterward. Nekros has one of the largest fae and witch populations in the country, yet we haven’t had an openly fae or witch governor in decades, and the Humans First Party are currently holding most of the important seats in the government.”

And the Humans First Party probably had gained hundreds of supporters since the video of me declaring Coleman’s body to be spelled hit the Internet. His supposed assassination was probably one of the best things to happen for his party. But … “But you aren’t looking for the killer?”

Falin shook his head.

“Then the FIB knew what Coleman was—is?”

He just studied my face.

A white van turned into the parking garage.The gloves, the truth-seeking spell, his knowledge about Coleman …

“You’re fae, aren’t you?”

Falin frowned, not denying it, but not confirming either.

His gaze flickered to the van rumbling toward us, and without warning he pushed me back.

“Get down,” he yelled as the van door slid open and a dark gun muzzle appeared.

His body crashed into me, shoved me to the ground.

Gravel bit into my palms, my cheek. His weight on top of me pinned me to the ground as the bangs of gunshots filled the air around me. One. Two. Three shots. A car window shattered, and glass tumbled down over my exposed hand.

Then Falin jumped up, his gun already in his hand. I looked back, between the tires of the car next to me, and saw the rear bumper of the retreating van. Falin fired.

His shots pinged off the metal. The van’s tire blew out.

It didn’t stop but sped up, sparks flying. It turned the corner and jetted out the side entrance.

“You all right, Alexis?” Falin called back to me without turning around.

I pushed to my knees. My hands shook, adrenaline still flooding my system, but I said, “Yeah, yeah, I’m okay.”

Something cylindrical rolled against my leg. Something that tingled with magic. I ripped my scarf off my head and scooped it up.

Without holstering his gun, Falin reached his free hand back toward me. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Yeah.” I grabbed his hand and we ran for the car.

———

“Were they after you or me?” I asked, staring at the dart on the counter between us.

“You.”

I frowned, holding PC tight enough to my chest that he squirmed. I didn’t let go. “How can you be so sure? You’re the one who shot one of them.”

He removed one of his gloves and picked up the dart.

He stared at the liquid inside and let the tube roll across his palm.“The draught in here includes a knockout spell and a complacency spell.They weren’t after me.” He slid his glove back on.

But how did they find me? I shivered, cold now that my adrenaline had dropped. Feeling a little dazed, I walked across the room and sank onto the corner of my bed.

Falin frowned at me.“You should probably eat something.”

I nodded blankly, though I couldn’t have said whether I was hungry. I glanced back at the clock. It was after six.

So yes, it was dinnertime. I stopped.

After six?

I shot to my feet. “Crap, I have a client.”

“You what? Are you crazy? Cancel.”

I wish I could. It was six seventeen, and my clients were probably already en route to the cemetery. I couldn’t just not show up.

I set PC down on the bed and grabbed my purse.

“Uh.” I stopped, looking at Falin. “Come with me?”