Page 28 of A Shade Too Far
Tatiana set her fork down, shooting her nephew a concerned look, but she didn’t say anything.
Braced for the worst-case scenario that this was a straight-up case of possession, I speared a forkful of pancake and smeared it in a puddle of syrup. “Laurent…”
He swallowed, nodding at me to continue.
I half-heartedly poked at my food. “So, I’m going to say something, but I want you to keep an open mind because—”
“You think Nav was working with that woman.” He wiped his mouth with a sharp, frustrated motion, but when I tensed, he held up a hand. “That’s not directed at you, Mitzi. I want to say it’s impossible, but…”
“Nothing is impossible when it involves people.” Tatiana’s fork squeaked against her plate. “No matter how well you think you know someone, there’s always some situation in which they can and will surprise you.” She dropped her cutlery on her dish with a suddenness that smacked of resignation. “And usually not for the best.”
Laurent shot his aunt a hard look, but she didn’t elaborate, handing him her plate to dispose of. He placed it on the tray with his own.
“But what?” I prompted him to finish his earlier thought.
“I will always prioritize killing dybbuks over everything else.” The shifter glanced up, as if trying to pluck his next words out of the air.
Much as I wanted to blurt out a whole bunch of questions, I methodically kept eating, waiting patiently for him to fill the silence. A tactic I’d learned from Eli.
“The thing is, I have no conflicting loyalties,” he said.
I glanced down at my lap so he didn’t see my frown. If it came down to killing a dybbuk or saving Tatiana—or me—he’d go for the dybbuk? He might think that, but there was no way if push came to shove that would be the case. I’d heard his agitation when he’d called about the letter.
Did he require that belief to keep functioning or something? What was this guy’s deal?
I set my dirty dishes on the tray, moving some cutlery so the plates didn’t topple over.
Laurent leaned forward with his elbows braced on his thighs. “I appreciate things are more complicated for you. You have a family.”
Now I was just sad. I opened my mouth to tell him that he had family as well, but Tatiana shook her head at me with a weary sigh. “I’m glad you see that,” I said instead.
His brows got a little crease between them like that hadn’t landed exactly as anticipated. “My point is that I’d have sworn Nav’s commitment to protecting people would rule out any chance of him working with someone who was dybbuk-possessed. Especially given…” He rubbed his shoulder, like a heavy weight had settled upon it. Before I could press him, he blinked and shook his head. “If Nav deemed the artifact a big enough threat to humanity, then yes, he’d team up with this woman in order to get his hands on it and destroy it.”
“Even if Naveen wasn’t working with her?” Tatiana crossed her legs, primly smoothing out her housecoat. “He should be able to identify her since he was part of the security team. Pay a visit to Mr. Kumar and get her name and location from him. By whatever means necessary.”
“Is he back from the island?” I said.
Laurent gave a resigned nod.
My phone buzzed with my long-awaited text from Sadie. It simply said that she was fine and she’d see me later. That level of terseness from my kid meant she was still mad. However, she’d made contact and that was the most important step.
Since I wasn’t a security expert, I put on my mom hat about how best to handle the death curse situation. “Someone needs to stay with Tatiana at all times.”
My boss groaned but didn’t fight me.
Laurent nodded. “Between the three of us—”
“Three? You mean Naveen?” I shook my head. “Hard pass.”
“Emmett.” Laurent beamed at Tatiana. “He can stay here while we investigate.”
Tatiana had hired the golem and installed him at Laurent’s place. Seems Emmett had worked his usual charm on his new roommate. Jude and I had laid bets on how long the golem would remain in one piece while living with Laurent, and to our surprise, he’d surpassed my generous estimate of four days by almost two weeks.
Jude hadn’t even given Emmett twenty-four hours, but she was a bit biased since he’d driven her up the wall during their stay together.
“What’s a golem going to do to an assassin that I can’t?” Tatiana said.
“It’s true,” Laurent said. “You’re far more powerful, but you also get lost in your work. The golem will do everything in his power to protect you, leaving you free to paint.”
