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“Now you no longer need to resort to whatever method you were intending to locate him.”

A pit opened in my stomach, and my defenses went immediately up. “I never said there was a method.”

“You said, ‘I have my ways,’ with a ferocious look on your face and refused to elaborate. I inferred you were going to do something dangerous.”

On cue, as if she knew we were talking about her, Dominique’s rasping voice returned to me.

Summon me.

I ignored both her and Yves and looked toward the window.

“Listen, I didn’t get intelligence on Hartley to undermine your plan. I did it because I don’t want you to overstretch your magick again. And because I want to feel like I’m holding up my end of the bargain. I don’t want to be the man who sits idly by on a balcony anymore.”

I nodded. “Well, good. Being proactive suits you.”

We both smiled at each other, and an expansive feeling settled in my chest. It was uncomfortable. Not painful, just unfamiliar. I rubbed at my breastbone and glanced back out the window.

“How long is the ride to the burying ground?”

“Another fifteen minutes or so.”

I let out a huff and muttered, “This would’ve been so much faster if I could’ve taken my broom.”

He chuckled. So did I. Then there was more silence. A silence so charged that sweat beaded inside my bodice.

“So,” he said, draping one arm across the empty seat beside him, “what should we talk about? Perhaps you can tell me more about yourself.”

I laughed again. Harder this time. “Voluntarily talk about myself? No. I don’t think so.”

“Cora…”

His voice was gentle, and there was an openness in his expression that made looking at him difficult.

I contemplated what I could do to push this man away that I hadn’t already tried. Didn’t he understand he was better off not knowing anything about me? Didn’t he understand I had nothing to offer him except my blood, my help with this investigation, and a warm bed?

“You already know everything there is to know about me,” I said flatly. “I’m a Kemp, I have a raven named Della, and I like handsome men who know how to fuck.”

The endearing look withered into something a little more exasperated. “You don’t have to do that, you know,” he said.

“Do what?”

“You know what.”

I threw my hands into the air. “No, I honestly don’t.”

“You push back every time I try to get closer to you.”

“That’s because I don’t want you to get any closer.”

“And why is that?”

“Because this arrangement is temporary and transactional.”

Temporary was all I could stand. Temporary things ended by design. They couldn’t be ripped away without warning. Transactional was the only label I could put on this and leave with my heart still intact. The relics began buzzing against my ribs, and Yves’s gaze dropped to the place where I had hidden them.

“This carriage is brimming with dark magick. I can taste it in the air. How many relics are you planning on using for your ritual?”

I twisted my fingers together. “Three.”