Page 83 of Villains Never Die

There were no counted breaths, no trying to quiet my brain. There was only him lulling me to sleep, and one dangerous word hanging between us like a wreck waiting to happen.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“Carter.” His name shattered the dreamlike state between sleeping and waking.

“Mm?”

“We should get up.”

He shifted against me, his stubble brushing my forehead where I still lay close to his chest. “Ten more minutes.”

“I don’t even know what time it is,” I mumbled.

“Time doesn’t matter today.”

He groaned when I untangled myself from him and sat up. “I need to figure out what happened at the warehouse.” I leaned over the side of the bed and found my phone in the pocket of my pants. Early afternoon and no messages from Owen or anyone else. I wondered if they’d found clues and what they had done with Gray’s body.

The air I breathed in stuck halfway to filling my lungs. Rook’s hand fell on my back and rubbed circles there.

“It’s not your fault. Do you need help with planning a funeral or anything? Does he have a family? Girlfriend?”

But no one would show up for Gray’s funeral. His parents were dead. His ex-wife was a long-discarded pain. I didn’t even think Gray had friends besides the women he slept with. Mostly, all he did was work.

There was only me.

“I need to find out what happened,” I said, reaching for my clothes. My chest tightened. “I need to—need to find out how the fire started and what happened to him.”

And punish whoever was responsible.

Rook kissed the back of my neck, then rested his forehead on my shoulder. “Whatever you need, just ask.”

“I need him not to be dead.” My voice broke and my eyes burned. Tears sprung up unwanted. I lifted a hand to wipe away the ones that were bold enough to trail down my cheeks, but Rook grabbed my forearm.

“Don’t touch those. Wait here.”

He dashed out of the room and returned seconds later with a large kitchen knife in his hand.

“It’s not fancy, but it’s sharp. It’ll do the job.” He ran the flat of the blade across each of my cheeks and caught the tears on the shining edge. He touched the tip of the knife with his finger, magic sealing the tears to the metal. “Come with me.”

He guided me, half-dressed, to the bathroom and laid my arm across the sink. “This is going to hurt for a sec. Close your eyes.” He pulled the blade across my forearm in a long gash, until blood dripped in the sink, and coated the blade in that too, sealing it the same way he had the tears. Both fused with the metal.

He healed my arm and mopped up the blood with a washcloth. I stared at the knife, at the weapon that would kill the foe I’d been chasing since I left home. I hadn’t heard from the spirits since I scared them off the night before, but if Gray had crossed over, if he wasn’t stuck here like them…

He was the second person Death had taken from me.

Rook laid the knife in my palm.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Do you think the masked man could have done this? He graffitied your building.”

“What would he gain from burning down my warehouse?” A number of thoughts had crossed my mind—an electrical malfunction, an enemy trying to make a point, one of my own men who would have known Gray was working there—but not the killer who seemed so interested in me.

“He could be trying to scare you, or ruin your business. I might have considered it a few months ago if I’d known where it was.” He gave a wry smile. “Youkilledmy greatest asset. Don’t look at me like that.”

I smoothed the sour expression on my face and nodded. “What connection do you think Pope and I have to the Council?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “Pope owed everyone something. He could have fucked anyone over and gotten killed for it, and you’re the biggest power in town.”