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By the time I teleport home, tired and no closer to finding the traitor, it’s almost dawn, and Val should be asleep, but she’s not in my bed. I go through the suite, noting the tidied rooms where the party had been chaos earlier and a hall where there wasn’t one when I left. Shadowvale must have stayedbusy while I followed leads that quickly went cold and dodged assassination attempts by my relatives.
“Val?” My voice echoes back to me.
My stomach twists, threatening to dredge up the nothing I’ve eaten in a flood of sour sick. How much space did the castle add? Is a sleepover an extension of her party, or was she so desperate to be out of my bed that she had Shadowvale conjure another bedroom as far from mine as possible?
Her refusal to address what happened between us had been frustrating as she’d tossed one distraction after another my way to avoid the manticore-level mating dilemma hanging over us.
Except the entire hallway stretches past a single door.
The small apartment she shared with Ava suggested Val doesn’t require much living space. In fact, I’ve noticed that she seems to shy away from open floor plans, commenting that they’re noisy or distracting. So did she ask the castle for a dorm? Barracks?
I knock. No answer. I almost leave, but what if something’s happened to her?
“Val?” I bang on the door. The scents of bleach and vinegar hit my nose. My mate likes cleanliness, but this is a stretch even for her. I twist the unlocked knob and push open the door.
“What the…” It’s a lab with rows of countertops filled with beeping equipment, beakers, petri dishes, and anything else a mad scientist might dream of owning. I slip into my human glamour before I break any of the glassware on the shelves next to the door. I thought Val had said she was a jinx in experiments and destined to blow things up, yet here she stands.
Dressed in a lab coat with headphones over her ears, she touches a long candle lighter to a bowl on the counter. Purple smoke billows upward, filling the air with a bitter taste and sulfur stench.
Brimstone.
She’ll burn down Shadowvale. Or worse, poison herself. I won’t let either happen.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Val
Rocking out to the demon version of K-pop, I’m working on an idea for a new acne treatment when Theo teleports next to me and snatches me into his arms as easily as I can scoop Monty up for a snuggle.
“What the—” I stop at the look of fear in his eyes, tugging my headphones off my ears.
“Brimstone’s toxic. I’m getting you out of here.”
“Wait.” I hold up my hands. Too late. Theo blinks us out of the room as if I hadn’t said anything.
“We can discuss this once I extinguish the fire.”
I throw my arms around his neck so he can’t put me down without prying me off. “It’s not fire.”
“Worse, it’s Brimstone.” He reaches for my wrists, and I tighten my hold.
“It’snot. Shadowvale, turn up the ventilation in the lab over Station Three please.”
“If you?—”
“Hey,” I snap. “Who’s the one distracted now? Stop being an alphahole and listen.” His jaw clenches, and with anyone else, I’d worry he might be dangerous, but Theo won’t hurt me. “It’s a simple chemical reaction—controlled and properly ventilated thanks to your magic castle.”
“What were you thinking, building a lab in our suite?”
I would be pissed at his insufferable, overbearing self except he called itoursuite. Instead, I toss his words back at him. “I wasthinkingyou said ask Shadowvale for anything I needed. I got inspired by the party, had ideas for some things to help your investigation, built a chem lab, and had even more ideas once I started.”
“The purple smoke came from a science experiment to catch a demon?”
“What? No.” I play back my words in my head except I can’t remember what all I said. “Can you repeat the question?”
“Did you work all night?”
“Judgy much? Didn’t you?”
