Page 85 of No Charm Done

“One object,” Elias said, smoke drifting from his lips, “for every evasion.”

Burke dropped to one knee. Blood trickled from his nose.

“I didn’t intend⁠—”

A carved ivory tusk flew.

“I didn’t mean for⁠—”

A bronze mask followed it, spinning end over end into the night.

Burke sobbed now, the chant collapsing into incoherent syllables. “You can’t . . . Shaw, please . . . ”

Elias took a step closer, his voice eerily calm. “For the twentieth time. Did you know that stealing Tut’s linen would kill my brother?”

Burke’s body locked up. Every muscle went rigid, like he was being pulled apart from the inside. His mouth opened. Closed. Opened again.

Luna took a step forward. This was wrong. This wasn’t justice or strategy or even revenge. This was just a shakedown. Just slow, methodical destruction until a desirable answer had been purchased.

When she’d first met Elias Shaw, he’d bristled at the suggestion he was a thug. He’d had the nerve to seem affronted.

But look at him now.

Burke choked. “I knew,” he gasped. “Of course I knew the curse would kill him.”

Elias exhaled slowly, deeply. Satisfaction flickered across his face. “There it is.” He turned to Luna. “You hear that?”

Burke collapsed, retching. “He was expendable,” he sobbed. “It was necessary. I needed the artifact⁠—”

“Enough.” Luna thrust out her arm, causing the air to crystalize with a sharp crack. The token—burning in Elias’s jacket pocket like a tiny furious sun—froze.

Burke went slack, confusion washing over his face as the compulsion vanished. He looked around at the ruined penthouse, blinking. “What on earth—” he began. Then his eyes rolled back and he pitched forward, unconscious, landing face-first among a scatter of Babylonian tablets.

Elias straightened his cuffs and took another draw from the cigar. “Well,” he said lightly. “That clears that up.”

Luna stared at him. “You stole a token.”

He raised a brow. “Borrowed.”

“You stole,” she repeated, “my token.”

His jaw tightened. “I got the truth.”

“No. You forced a confession. That’s not honesty, that’s ventriloquism.” She gestured at Burke’s unconscious body. “You didn’t give him a choice. You just kept at him until you liked his answer.”

“He deserved it.”

“That’s not the point!”

“Isn’t it?” His eyes burned. “He killed my brother. He sent me to the Void. He lived forever while Frankie died. You want to tell me he didn’t deserve to say it out loud?”

“You should be better than him.”

He visibly flinched at that comment, which she found satisfying although she knew deep down, she’d regret it later.

“We need to go,” Luna said. “Before he wakes up.”

She held out her hand. After a beat, Elias surrendered the dead token. She tucked it back into the satchel and began tracing a portal between them.