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“You okay?”
I glanced at him, not realizing I had placed my hand above my eyes, rubbing at the dull ache. “Yes, just headaches.”
“More frequent?”
I nodded. “I am becoming more frustrated. We have no leads. No one is talking, and nothing is stirring. The Otherworld is quiet, as if something is waiting for the precise moment to strike. It is wearing on me.” And the dreams. But I did not want to burden him with the harrowing premonitions that bit at my heels like ravenous beasts.
He glanced at me as if he could read my thoughts. “You’re closing yourself off again. Even if you haven’t returned to the remains of our home and locked yourself away, you’re leaving us again. No matter how much you try to hide it, I can feel it.”
I stopped, and he stopped with me, turning to face me. My finger tapped against the lip of my cup. “You sound like Vincent now.”
“What? Worried about you?”
“There is nothing to worry about,” I lied. “We must concentrate on stopping whatever nefarious plan Kaden is concocting with that book.”
He didn’t believe me, nor did I have time to try to be more convincing. Luckily enough, his phone rang, interrupting our conversation. He answered the phone, listening but never looking away from me.
“Got it,” he said and hung up, his words short and clipped. “Edgar is awake.”
* * *
Edgar, the crime lord, stared at Vincent, Logan, and me as we entered the intensive care room. He wore a thick white gown, a tangle of tubes and wires protruding from him in all directions. The machines whirled and beeped, working to keep the mortal alive.
“You guys are some big motherfuckers.” The monitor near him sped up as his heart rate increased. Fear? Maybe, but something told me it was not us being here that made his heart beat so erratically.
Vincent shifted on his feet, and I folded my arms. Logan leaned against the wall, parking himself near the door.
“Tell me what happened.”
He glanced at me, the bruises on his face still apparent. The cuts and his bandaged arms told me Dianna had tossed him through something.
“We had a meeting. Waiting for Webster.” The name was acid in my veins. I couldn’t forget that she’d let him touch her. “He showed alright, except it wasn’t him. It was her.”
The monitor beeped a tad faster. “She was quick, faster than before. Kaden always spoke of what a perfect killing machine she would be if she just let go of her mortality. I guess her sister was just that—her mortality.”
That I already knew. Gabby was Dianna’s heart, her moral compass. The one part of her that kept her balanced and grounded. Gabby could reach her far better than I could. Without her, Dianna’s world shattered, dragging mine with it.
“Go on,” I pressed, growing restless.
“She slaughtered all of us, asking about the ships that Santiago had. She wanted to know about the iron Kaden wanted to move, too.”
“And you told her about it? That is why you are alive?”
“Alive is questionable.” Edgar coughed, and I heard the fluid still present in his lungs, along with an ominous crackle. If the blood in them did not kill him, the cancer beneath his breast would.
“How did you survive?”
He lowered his head, nodding toward his phone. I looked at Vincent. He grabbed it and handed it to me. I pressed a button, and the screen lit up, showing me a picture of Edgar and a woman, both smiling. They were in a garden, surrounded by flowers, a strange and innocent image for a man known for trafficking mortal flesh.
“She saw the picture and stopped. Of course, I was good and well impaled against a wall at the time.”
I handed the phone back to Vincent, who pocketed it. This had to be before she showed up at the ship. I had smelled blood on her, and now I knew where it came from.
“What else did you two talk about? I need names and dates. What were you to do after the meeting? How much more iron does he need?” I didn’t tell him I had shut down all the water traffic from here to the Naimer Sea. I had celestials at every port, harbor, and dock. Nothing left unless I allowed it, and no iron had shipped anywhere since the explosion.
Edgar shrugged, causing the line of fluids on his arm to pull tight. “I don’t know. We only get a message and follow orders. If we don’t, Tobias shows up. Tobias is the only one who speaks to Kaden now. He would know, but I have a feeling you won’t find him until Kaden is ready.”
I had no doubt that was true. I rubbed my jaw, mulling over the information Edgar had given me. It was nowhere near what I needed.
