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A rumble bursts from my chest. I turn away, following my brothers into the main room and dropping onto one of the chairs. “How does he know about what we have planned?”
Eros sits down, shaking his head. “I dinnae ken. We have played our cards very close to our chests this time around. Kept a tight circle.”
Ares stays standing, aggravated by Eros’s words. He ticks names off on his fingers. “Who could it be?”
“Etienne,” Eros suggests.
My gaze hardens. “We just told him that we were looking for a forger. Nothing more specific than that.”
“He probably ran straight to Constantine and told him who we were looking for,” Ares said. He lets out a hiss, rubbing his hand through his dark wavy hair. “Fuck. If it was Etienne, he also told Constantine that we have his ex-girlfriend.”
A heavy weight settles on my shoulders, like a blanket made of lead. “Fuck.” I cast a glance behind me, but the doorway where Persephone stood is empty. “That’s not good news, Ares.”
Eros flits his gaze over to the bedroom. Then he leans in. “Should we get another forger? Dispose of this one?”
My heart rate begins to thrum. “And how exactly would that help us?”
“Relax. We aren’t going to kill yer little girlfriend,” Ares says, rolling his eyes. “Eros is just brainstorming.” He pauses, yawning. “Did ye notice that it is hot as balls in here?”
Eros’s face tightens. I know that look. He was in fact trying to suggest that we should kill Persephone and start over with a new forger. That’s bloody obvious.
It’s important to me to seem impartial, so I let it slide.
“Constantine might just be sniffing around, trying to figure out when and where our next deal is going to take place,” I say. I purse my lips. “He might be relying on us to lash out when he gets too close to uncovering our secrets.”
“That is entirely possible.” Ares yawns, glancing at his watch. “I have to get some shut eye. We’ve been up for almost a whole day.”
He stands, using his meaty fist to bump Eros on the shoulder. Eros yawns, too, cracks his neck, and heaves himself up. “Fucking time differences.”
“Ye’ll have to sleep in yer car,” I tell them.
Ares yawns and flips me off, but he doesn’t argue as he heads out the door again. Eros is right on his tail, starting to argue with him over who should sleep where in the car.
I stand as they head out, watching them silently. Planning my next move, as it were.
I guess I should first check on Persephone. When I lumber into the bedroom, I find her crouched by the corner.
“Lass?”
She nearly jumps out of her skin. Looking at me with wide eyes, she silences me with a finger placed against her lips. When she moves back, she reveals a little bundle of twigs that has been stuffed with bits of fabric and wool. Something wriggles inside.
I lean closer, frowning, and I can just make out a pink, wrinkly newborn rabbit.
My eyes widen. I glance at her.
Rabbits have always been close to my cold, dead heart. They remind me of when I was young, when I would care for wild rabbits in the lush green springs of the Hebrides.
I often thought of them secretly as my friends.
Now, though, I tilt my head at the little clutch secreted away in the bundle of twigs.
“Where did they come from?” I ask, my voice low.
Persephone glances back at me with a shrug. “I don’t know. I just found them here. It seems foolish to bother them.” She frowns and looks around. “I’m not sure where their mother is.”
I watch her face for a second as she looks at the little bundle. She frets, her brow creasing.
I remember all too well having tender feelings about beasts just like these rabbits. Something inside me seizes and jerks, finding common ground where none was expected.
