Page 26 of Silk and Sirens

Langdon silently chuckled beside me, no longer so impatient as he watched the scene like a lion would a gazelle moments before the hunt.

I couldn’t blame him. Aeris was …

Fucking hell.

“Fuck … fuck you!” Kent spat, which turned into a wince when she sliced along his jawline. “What … have yooou done to, to me?” he slurred.

Aeris shook her head, reaching for something between them before holding it up to the light. “You have five minutes before the toxin I put in your champagne kills you, give or take a minute.”

She was holding a vial of … Was that glittery water?

“So, unless you want to die a painful, pathetic death worthy of someone like you, I’d start talking. I already know you were there that night, so there’s no point in lying.”

Kent seemed to slump a little in his chair, his arms no longer fighting the bonds.

“Imagine my surprise when I discovered there was a market for boarding kidnapped children.” She sounded disgusted. “You were told to hold us until the ransom was paid. So, who hired you?”

Langdon signed frantically in my peripheral, but I only caught every other word. I couldn’t drag my eyes away from her.

“She’ll … she’ll kill you,” Kent garbled, as if his tongue was heavy in his mouth.

“Hmm, that’s four minutes.”

“O-okay, okay!”

Fingers on my arm, and Langdon tugged me slightly so I was forced to face him.

“Stop silencing me,” he signed quickly, angry. “Do you think she’s actually poisoned him? Because he’s not supposed to die.”

Shit.

But Kent was starting to spill, so I held up my arm for Lang to wait just a little longer. We needed to know what Aeris wanted, if only to use it against her later.

“I … I wasn’t hired by her,” he managed to say. “I was … it was …” His words became inaudible, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

Aeris slapped him across the face, which seemed to wake him a little. His head rolled loosely on his shoulders, and Aeris shifted to the side as she climbed off his lap. He caught my eye from across the room, his breathing laboured.

Aeris held the vial above his head, still facing away from us. “Give me the name, or I’ll smash the antidote.”

Kent’s eyes darted back to me, and Aeris finally turned, only to find me casually leaning against the doorjamb with my arms crossed.

Langdon whistled, nodding at Aeris with … Was that respect? He moved to stand to her left, while I remained where I was. Kent gasped, white foam appearing at his lips.

Aeris pressed the knife to his throat. “The name!”

Kent muttered something incoherent before his body began to convulse.

“Shit,” she whispered, withdrawing the blade just in time, preventing it from biting too deep.

“Fucking hell, that was hot,” Lang signed with a crooked smirk. “Five stars. No notes.”

“Caden,” Aeris said—half warning, half acknowledgment—as I stepped closer.

She stood her ground, arm steady, the knife held firm between us. Kent had gone slack behind her, head tipped back towards the ceiling.

I stopped when the blade hovered a mere centimetre from my chest.

“Check if he’s dead,” I said to Lang, switching to French.