Wicked Ties (The Tether Trilogy Book 2)

There’s a knock at my office door just as I spark a bloom. Killian walks in with a sheet of paper in hand and closes the door behind him.

“Got the information on Danica,” he announces, sitting on the opposite side of the desk.

“Go on, then.” I release a cloud of smoke. “Read it.”

Killian clears his throat. “Danica Harmon. One hundred and thirty-four years old and orphaned at the age of fifteen. It says here that her mother was slaughtered in her own home by burglars. Apparently, the mother had been drugged so she couldn’t use her powers, and then killed.”

“If she was killed so suddenly, how would Danica have received her energy?”

“I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s something that happens by ritual or is simply connected by bloodline. I don’t know.”

“Right.” I flicker off some of the ash onto the ashtray. “Continue.”

“She was sent to live in an orphanage in a cathedral in Vanora called Pupils of Sky, stayed there for three years before running away. From here, the details on her get a little slim, up until she turns one hundred and two. At that age, she’d murdered a man named Tuttle Lament and stole something from him when she fled.”

Tuttle Lament? Why does that name sound familiar? “What did she steal?”

“That Katana she’s carrying.”

I frown. “So she lied. The katana never belonged to her.”

Killian places the paper on the table. “I don’t know, but I tell you what, Caz. I don’t trust her. We’ve been through enough shit with your and Willow’s Tether alone. We don’t need another to come in and drown us more.”

“I know, brother, I know. But what can I do? I can’t kick them out right away. It’s Willow’s brother we’re talking about. She’d never stand for it. She’d go right along with them if I removed them from castle grounds.”

Killian is quiet a moment, mulling it over as I take another pull from my bloom.

“I need more intel on this woman,” I mutter. “Who is the Mythic she sought in Vanora that gave her the capsule? Who did she hang out with? Where was she working? Who was she involved with? What happened to her bloody eye? Who the hell is Tuttle Lament? That paper does not give me enough, and if I have to kill her, it’ll kill Warren. There has to be something that proves she can be trusted.”

“I’ll keep digging.” He gestures to my transmitter on the desk. “Have The Council contacted you yet?”

My eyes flash to his. “No and I’m finding it a bit suspicious. They were in such a hurry to get us to Inferno Isle and now they aren’t responding to any of our messages.”

“Yeah. They’re too quiet for my liking. Means they’re planning something.”

“Or waiting things out. After that run-in with the Regals, I have even more questions about this quest The Council want me to take to awake Selah. They claim it will limit violence in Vakeeli, but Hassha and Korah seem to think otherwise and have purposely closed themselves off to the world because of such violence. If that were the case, wouldn’t they be waking Selah themselves to restore the peace? Hassha and Korah seem to be completely against this plan The Council has, though they won’t admit it to me.”

“It’s literal suicide, that’s why.” Killian rumbles.

“All of them are lying. I know it.”

“And we’re stuck in the middle of it.” Killian pushes out of his chair with an exasperated sigh. “In the morning, I’ll be off to the Vanorian coast like you asked. Find out more about this Kimina woman and the threat she made.”

“Thanks, Kill.”

“Always, brother.”

“Oi,” I call before he can leave the office. He stops to look back at me. “Have Rowan check in with Willow and Jun. Tell them to take shifts if they have to.”

“Got it.” Killian thumps down the foyer, and when his steps disappear, I pick up the sheet of paper with Danica’s information, rest an elbow on the desk, and rub my forehead as I read it again.

I frown a bit and stab out my bloom when I spot something familiar—a detail Killian forgot to read off next to Tuttle Lament. No wonder his name was so familiar.

“Shit,” I hiss. I push out of my chair, grab my gun, and flee the office.