Viktor's hand found mine. Brief squeeze. “Always.”
One word. But it held everything.
We walked back toward the palace, Apollo trotting ahead, muddy and happy and completely oblivious to the fact that he'd just won over the most dangerous man I'd ever met.
“He still needs bath,” Viktor said.
“You volunteering?”
“Absolutely not.”
“You love him. You're going to help.”
“I will supervise.”
“That's what I thought.”
Viktor's mouth twitched again. Almost a smile. Close enough.
Apollo barked once. Happy. Free. In love with a man who claimed not to feel anything but kept throwing sticks anyway.
We were all hopeless.
But for tonight, in this moment, walking through gardens turned gold by dying light, it didn't feel hopeless at all.
It felt like coming home.
18
THROUGH BLOOD
VIKTOR
I'd been tracking leads for three weeks. Following the trail of bodies and money and encrypted communications that led nowhere. Every time I thought I had something solid, it dissolved into smoke. Into nothing.
Someone was very good at covering their tracks.
Someone with resources. With connections. With access to the palace itself.
My encrypted comm device buzzed. The holographic screen flickered to life, and Adrian's face appeared. Sharp suit. Sharper eyes. The kind of expression that said he was tired of waiting for results.
“Report,” he said. No greeting. No pleasantries. Just straight to business the way he always was when he was worried.
I kept my tone level. Professional. “Multiple dead ends. Whoever is funding the cell has palace access. Inside knowledge of security protocols. Movements. Schedules.”
“That narrows it down to about two hundred people.”
“Yes.”
“So you have nothing.”
“I have patterns. I have suspicions. I have?—”
“You have dead bodies and no names.” Adrian leanedforward, and I saw the frustration there. The fear underneath. “I sent you there to protect the prince. Not to play detective while someone picks off witnesses.”
“The witnesses are already dead. That is the problem. Someone is cleaning up before we can reach them.”
“Then you already know what I'm going to say.” His jaw tightened. “No more witnesses. I want a name. I want the person behind this. And I want them before they make another move on your prince.”
