Page 87 of Adversary to the Villain

“I need him to examine this.” Maverine slipped a dagger from his belt and tossed it atop his desk—the one that had been shoved through him. Evie’s dagger. “And I need him to tell me why the wound healed the moment the dagger was removed.”

Gideon had been wondering the same. And why the dagger seemed duller than before. Lifeless. But Gideon couldn’t bring himself to care about Evie’s abandoned dagger. Only Evie.

“And then what? The book has given us nothing, and we are down a villain for the prophecy. What’s your plan for that, yourhighness?”

“I’ll give you a few seconds to leave through the door before I make you leave by the window,” Maverine warned, hitting the table so hard that the book flipped open. And then it went berserk.

“There are words,” Keeley murmured, pointing toward the text slowly forming on the page.

It was Maverine who read them aloud:

Once lost Once found

What’s put together will be bound

Where sunlight shines unvarnished and pure love forms

One touch to fix all and unlock the door

“Must the book speak in absurd nursery rhymes?” Keeley rubbed her temples. “It’s very unsettling.”

Blade poked his head in, wearing a wide-eyed expression that had them all standing at attention. “Are you guys readingMy Love My Sunin here?”

“No,” Maverine said, shutting the book and tucking it away in a locked cabinet. He paused, then turned, disgruntled. “Were you eavesdropping?”

Blade chuckled nervously, pushing the door open to reveal a crouched Rebecka, Tatianna, and Clare. The other door swung open, and Kingsley smiled guiltily.

Blade spoke for them: “We were calling it surveillance so Rebecka doesn’t have a nervous breakdown.”

“That’s what it is,” Rebecka grumbled defensively.

“What’s that?” Gideon asked, his mind hooking on the title. “My Love My Sun?”

Blade appeared startled. “Oh, it’s a children’s picture book. The boss was just reading a passage from it, wasn’t he? ‘Sunlight shines unvarnished.’ It’s why it sounded familiar to me when I heard the prophecy the first time. It was my father’s favorite story to read to me.”

“Keeley?” Maverine said, not needing to finish his sentence before she was alert and ready. “Find it.”

“I know just the place,” she replied.

“I’ll go with you,” Gideon offered.

Keeley stiffened but gave her assent, already charging for the door. They were halfway down the stairs before she asked him, “Why are you coming with me, Gideon?”

He stopped on the stairs above her, struck by a direct view of her face, her eyes fixed on him, searching for ulterior motives.

He had none. So, he told the truth.

“I just want, um—to be with you, if that’s…all right?”

She rolled her lips, but not before Gideon saw her fighting back a smile. “I suppose that’s fine.”

He followed her like a hound on a scent. “Try to contain your enthusiasm.”

“I’ll do my best.” But he could hear the smile in her voice. “Are you going to tell him about Evie?” she asked carefully.

Gideon swallowed.

Knowing his sister was out there. Suffering worse than anyone could imagine.