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“No. It—it all happened so fast.”
“I want the castle searched,” Brien told Cain. “Nobody goes in and out until we know if this guy was working alone.
He waited for Cain’s nod and went back to trying to wake Twilight up enough to drink from his vein.
While Cain made a second call, I lifted Eden’s forearm. “What happened to the IV?”
“I had to take it out so I could move around.”
“And meanwhile, we were chasing our tails on that fucking island.”
Cain put his phone away. “Olivia will be here in ten minutes, and James is coordinating a search of the castle,” he said, naming one of the enforcers who’d accompanied us to the island.
Cain crouched next to Stygian’s smoking bones and ashes. He plucked two switchblades from the charred remains. “This is Smythe’s. I recognize the raven.” He indicated the bird engraved on the ebony handle of one of the switchblades.
“Smythe?” Brien’s mouth tightened. “Bloody Lilith.”
“Yeah. Twilight staked the mofo with his own weapon.” Cain’s tone was admiring.
“Good,” Brien said shortly. “Saves me the trouble.”
Cain cleaned both blades and closed them. Then he hefted the second switchblade. The plain, stainless-steel one.
“But I don’t recognize this one.” His gaze slid to Eden.
She tensed. Still trembling, but now she looked scared on top of it. Her throat worked. “The other switchblade is—”
“Mine,” I interrupted. I looked at Brien over her head. “I gave it to her because I was afraid something like this would happen.”
I sensed Eden’s surprise, and I’m sure Brien and Cain did, too. I locked gazes with Brien, daring him to contradict me. He gave me a considering look, then with a shrug, went back to coaxing Twilight to drink.
Cain put the blades at the end of my bar and poured himself a blood-whiskey. “So you stabbed Smythe, too?” he asked Eden.
“I—” Eden nervously licked her lips.
“It’s okay,” I said. “You saved Twilight, didn’t you?”
Eden straightened. “Yeah. And I did stab him—in the thigh. He had a switchblade to her throat, and he’d stabbed her three times, maybe more. She was hurt—she looked like she had a fever. But when I stabbed Stygian or Smythe or whatever his name was, she managed to get his blade away from him and stake him. Then she collapsed.”
Cain lifted his glass to her. “Good for you, love.”
“Yeah. You’re a hero.” I brought her hand to my mouth, kissing her fingers. “My hero.”
“Yeah?” Her beautiful eyes creased in a smile. “I love you,” she said.
I knew she loved me, but finally hearing it aloud was like absorbing a body blow. Three little words, but they squeezed my heart. Pulled all the oxygen from my lungs.
I touched my forehead to hers. “I love you, too. So much.”
A noisy sucking made us pull apart. Twilight had finally revived enough to drink from Brien. She’d be okay, then, although she’d feel like crap for a few days. Silver poisoning hurt like a sonuvabitch.
“That man,” Eden asked. “He was actually Smythe? Brien’s PA?”
“That’s what Cain thinks,” I replied.
Cain left the bar, stopping a few feet away from us. “What did he look like?” he asked Eden.
“Kinda like Loki on that TV show—you know the one I mean? Narrow face, shoulder-length brown hair.”
