Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
When the door opened again, Charles came in, his lips pressed into a neutral expression and his eyes lacking their usual spark.
“I’m sorry, Charles, but we’ll have to arrest her,” Darcy said.
“I understand. My men will handle it.” Charles patted Jane’s hands once, then squared his shoulders.
“We’ll keep it quiet until we figure out what to do,” Darcy told him.
Charles nodded stiffly, gave Jane a soft look, then pulled out his phone and stepped into the hall.
“I want to go with him.” Jane swung her legs over the side of the bed.
I touched her shoulder. “You should stay. You’re still recovering.”
She caught my hand, tears gathering in her eyes. “Then will you go for me?”
“Will you be okay alone?” While it was hard to imagine anything happening to Jane here with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders and a fire crackling merrily, I hadn’t expected her to be hurt the first time either.
“I’ll be fine.” She jutted out her chin in a rare show of stubbornness.
“Okay.” I squeezed her hand, then followed Charles into the hall, Darcy at my heels.
“Are you sure you want to go?” he asked. “We could stay here with Jane.”
“I need to be there.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “For your story?”
I rolled my eyes, even though disappointment flared through me. “I think that ship has sailed. I’m pretty sure I lost my job tonight.”
“A scoop this big might save it.” Lightning flashed through the window, highlighting the indecipherable expression in his eyes.
I chewed on my lip. Solving Easton’s murder and exposing the involvement of a highborn faewouldprobably earn my job back, but I couldn’t do that to Charles. Maybe another reporter would find the story or maybe the Bingleys would cover it up, but either way, it wouldn’t be me. While Louisa seemed exactly like the Blackthorns who had tainted my childhood, Darcy, Charles, and even Steven had proved there were plenty of good fae out there, even highborn fae. Ones who cared about their family, their friends, and others.
Darcy opened his mouth as if to say something else, then glanced down at our interconnected hands, his face a mixture of hard lines and sharp shadows in the dim lighting.
Charles disconnected his call and turned to us. “My men are in position outside the house to make sure there’s no escape if she runs.”
Darcy snapped his mouth shut.
What had he wanted to say?
I shook off my curiosity and tucked my nerves behind an unreadable expression of my own.
It was time to end this.
Darcy talked to one of the men, who fell back to stand guard outside Jane’s room. My heart fluttered at his thoughtfulness. We moved down the hall, men falling into place behind us like shadows. We passed Darcy’s room and stopped a few doors down.
Charles clenched his jaw, then glanced at his phone. It must’ve been a signal because Charles rapped on the door. “Louisa, it’s me.” He didn’t wait before walking in.
The room was empty.
“Where is she?” Darcy looked around.
