Page 112 of A Shade Too Far
“A nice justification for doing what you’d wanted from the start,” she countered. “Getting the artifact.”
“What was your plan?” Since it would keep me eye level with Naveen, I hoisted myself up to sit on the stage. “Let the dybbuk into the gloves and then?”
“The dybbuk would take physical form,” Naveen said, subdued from the news about Zev. “Since it was a separate entity from the Banim Shovavim at that point, Laurent would send it back to Gehenna while I destroyed the gloves, leaving that woman without her magic. But I guess you took care of that.” He sounded surprised.
“A Banim Shovavim putting Ohrists first. Shocker,” I said unkindly. We’d achieved the best possible outcome—I glanced at Juliette still working on Frances. Potentially achieved it, but it had been by the skin of our teeth and with no thanks to the men. I didn’t have the energy or the inclination to play nice.
My boss leaned in practically nose to nose with him. “I don’t care who you work for, Naveen, when I say no, you will listen to me, understood?”
His eyes turned flinty; his lips twisted. “Yes.”
Dressed casually in shorts and a blue hoodie, Laurent strode into the room, slowing as he gauged the chilly emotional temperature.
Juliette sat back on her calves and ran a hand across her brow. “D’accord. She’s alive. Barely. I did what I could, but this will take more than one healer.”
“Call the Lonestars,” I said. “Let them have her.” I was still pissed off at Ryann since I hadn’t heard back about ensuring Elizabeta didn’t poke her nose into my business.
Tatiana skewered me with a sidelong glance. “I’ll do it.” She walked past Laurent, pinching his arm as she went.
“Ow! Why did you do that?”
“Ask him.” Tatiana pointed at Naveen. “Miriam, meet me by the car when you’re done. The guest room is readied for you.” She sailed out of the room, Emmett walking behind her like the queen’s consort.
Royalty, bitches.
“I’ll go with her to describe the patient’s condition,” Juliette said, checking Frances’s pulse. “She’s stable, but I’ve suspended her in a temporary coma. Don’t disturb her.” After securing promises that we wouldn’t, she left.
“The pinching?” Laurent said.
“Tatiana doesn’t appreciate you two going behind her back when she expressly said otherwise.” I rubbed at a cigarette burn on the stage floor, one leg crossed over the other, and my foot bouncing. I couldn’t keep still, my anger needing to come out in a dozen tiny ways. “Did you consider what could have happened if you’d destroyed those gloves?”
Laurent shrugged. “Not like my relationship would be any different with the vamp.”
I stared at him, incredulous. “You’re as bad as Naveen. I almost died getting Zev the gloves in the first place. And whatever your feelings about me, he associates the two of us together. And you with Tatiana. You think he would have stopped to rationalize out who was and was not involved?”
“Excuse me?” he said in a low voice.
Get over yourself.I pointed at Naveen. “What about Daya and Evani?”
“Even BatKian has a line,” he said stiffly. “He wouldn’t have hurt them. Especially not Evani.”
“Maybe not under normal circumstances, but these aren’t. We still don’t know what the gloves mean to him.”
“How great that you’ve barely reclaimed your magic and yet you have all the answers.” Naveen laughed bitterly. “Too bad you don’t listen to yourself. If he’s the demon who created the artifact, it’s obvious why he wanted them.”
“You might want to rethink this tunnel vision of yours, Naveen, because it’s not doing you any favors.”
“Meaning?” His eyes narrowed.
“If you’d paid attention, you’d have seen Zev’s reaction when you were about to destroy the gloves. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t about losing a demon artifact, and if you’d been successful, he’d have gone ballistic.”
Naveen frowned.
“I absolutely do not have all the answers, and I’m delighted about that fact.” I looked up at the ceiling with a smile. “I have to constantly question everything from a dozen different angles, and my open mind gives me perspective none of you will ever have. Like what was really going on with Zev.”
“Bully for you,” he muttered.
I fought past my first reaction to let Delilah wail on Naveen, because his glowering and posturing had a hurt quality. God, he was as bad as my teenaged child. I silently counted to ten, the same as when Sadie made my head want to explode, until I could speak calmly. Okay, it took me to twenty-three. “What are you really mad about?”
