Page 35 of Guardian of Exile

“I don’t like her refusal to give me a time and location now. It could be for safety reasons, it could be because Tristen decides that, or it could be that she isn’t actually associated with him. The people who come looking for him are always going to be desperate. If someone caught on to who he is and what he does, intercepting those who come looking for him would be an easy way to prey on the desperate.”

Outside, two people had joined Valerie on the sidewalk. One was a slightly younger looking white woman with pixie-cut hair dyed shockingly pink, the other an older, Asian man with short-cropped black hair. They talked, and by the glances that shot inside to Nyx, it wasn’t hard to guess what they were talking about.

“I want to follow them when they leave,” Nyx said. “If she is who she says she is, maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll lead us straight back to Tristen. If she’s lying, maybe following them will tell us something else. I don’t think she’s luring in the chronically ill so she can murder them and sell their remaining functional organs on the black market, but you never know, and if she is I’d rather not walk right into it.”

Kaden gave her an odd look. Yes, it was possible she’d watched too many crime shows during her time in Dead Earth. Not that she was going to admit it. “What? I can’t consider the worst case scenario?”

He shrugged. “You usually don’t.”

“Then it is good she is starting to be more careful,” Evra said. She said it with a distinct frostiness in her voice that implied Kaden really didn’t need to bother offering aloud any further insights he might have.

Morgen frowned at her, which told Nyx she hadn’t imagined Evra’s tone. Something was definitely up between the Amazon and Kaden. She had a vague, drunken recollection of Kaden saying Evra would kill him if she came back to the hotel and found Nyx on the couch. It was the entire reason he’d picked her up. Which probably meant she could drop fifty percent of the blame for last night’s splendidly bad turn of events on the Amazon, if Nyx didn’t feel like taking full responsibility, which she really didn’t.

She was about to say something—anything—to try and lessen the awkward tension now permeating the group, when Valerie and the two others started walking, saving her the trouble. Nyx rose, intending to follow. “I’ll meet you guys back at the hotel.”

“No, you will not,” Evra said. “We will be coming.”

“I can’t Hide all of you here. Not well enough, given what else I’m now Hiding.” Too many accidental brushes into other people, especially if they hit when Mary was tugging at her Hiding again, and Nyx would lose one of those battles. “I can take one of you.”

She had a second to decide which one. Normally, it would be Evra. But right now, Nyx wanted to know what was going on between Evra and Kaden, and Evra wouldn’t tell her. Neither would Kaden.

“Morgen, let’s go.”

“What?” Evra asked. She’d already stood when Nyx had.

“The two of you”—she indicated Evra and Kaden—“solve all of your problems with physical violence. I may need nuance.”

“Nuance is my middle name,” Morgen said solemnly.

Nyx rolled her eyes. “Come on, Morgen Nuance. Our quarry is getting away.”

She threw a cloak of Hiding over both of them, struggling a little to get it over them and force it into place, her magic stretched thin. Hiding memories truly was a bitch. If she didn’t hate her mother so much, she might actually respect her for keeping Nyx’s amnesia so complete for so long.

Nyx got the last stitch of the cloak together as they walked out the door, trailing Valerie and her companions. If the three of them got into a cab, Nyx was fucked, but with any luck, they were walking to their destination.

“Though I am, of course, honored to be your first choice for this mission,” Morgen said as they walked down the block, “would I be correct in assuming you have ulterior motives for choosing me?”

“What’s going on with Evra and Kaden?”

Morgen sighed. “You noticed that, hmm?”

“It was kind of hard not to. And it isn’t the first time. She seems like she’s pissed off at him, but she won’t really say anything to me. Did he do something to her?”

“No. I asked her the same thing and she assured me he hadn’t. So I asked him what was going on.”

“Let me guess.” Nyx gave Morgen her best impression of Kaden’s deadpan stare.

“Pretty much.”

“Has he had any more”—how to phrase this delicately?—“issues? Like on Calista?”

Morgen’s lips thinned. “Not that I’m aware of. Why?”

Nyx shrugged. “Something Evra said last night when I left you guys. That she didn’t trust him with me.”

Morgen was quiet as they rounded another block, Valerie and the others only twenty or so feet ahead. When he finally spoke, his tone was cautious. “Understand that I’m not trying to make excuses for him. I’m very aware of what could have happened to you on Calista, and I can’t imagine what that must have been like for you. But he wasn’t himself in that moment. I know he hasn’t made the best choices with you, but he would never try to hurt you under ordinary circumstances.”

“I know. That’s what I told her.”