“That looks like it went well.”
Silas cleared his throat. She had no idea how badly this could’ve gone if he’d done what he was told.
“Have dinner with me.”
He didn’t know why he said it. He’d opened his mouth to say he was going to call an Uber, but the dinner invite popped out instead. Maybe it was just that he was desperate to avoid another night alone in his hotel room, hating himself. Or maybe it was that he was desperate to spend more time with her.
She put her coffee down, staring up at him with one eyebrow arched.
“Now why would I do that?”
“A business dinner. So we could have that Executor-to-Executor talk we discussed.”
As the words formed, he realized it was a good idea, aside from serving as a cover for him being a sap. Katherine, despite her animosity, was a valuable resource. If he could earn her trust, she might be able to tell him why Sylvia had been at Hollywood and Highland.
Katherine sighed, clearly sensing that he wouldn’t take no for an answer.
“Fine.”
He grinned. “Great. Bottega Ines. Seven o’clock.”
“I told you I didn’t want to meet with him.”
Katherine stared at Niles as he paced in his office in the back of the coffee shop. “And I told you it was unavoidable. Noctis wasn’t going to back down until they talked to you.”
Niles sighed as he sat down at his desk. “I know. But that doesn’t mean I have to like it. He’s a piece of work, isn’t he?”
Katherine took another deep sip of her latte. She’d known the meeting between Silas and Niles wouldn’t go well. The reason Katherine liked Niles so much was that he was steadfast in what he believed, and he believed that Noctis was the devil incarnate. Katherine didn’t disagree, but she wasn’t so sure when it came to Silas himself.
“You have no idea,” she offered noncommittally.
Niles swept her with an assessing look. “You all right?”
“Stellar. Just sick of dealing with assholes.”
“Cheers to that.”
Katherine reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone, then slid it across the desk to Niles. “You know this guy?”
“Byron Chambers? Wow, you really are dealing with a lot of assholes today.”
“I think he’s the one making the altum.”
Niles had been helping Katherine with her investigation into the magical drug, providing a much-needed sounding board as she sorted through the evidence she’d gathered over the last few months. He raised an eyebrow at her naming Byron. “What makes you think that?”
Katherine shrugged. “Got a feeling. Trying to find the evidence to back up that feeling.” She neglected to mention that she had already taken the spell that would let her find that evidence. She still wasn’t sure she’d go through the risk of actually using it, but she was hoping Niles could help buoy her suspicions and give her the courage to do what she needed to do.
“Byron is rich-rich,” Niles said. “What would he get out of it?”
“The thrill of knowing that he ruined my day.”
“Somehow, I don’t think losing his magic for good is worth that to him.”
“You underestimate how annoying he is.”
Niles clicked her phone screen off and slid it back to her. “I don’t know. I can’t see his motive. He’s from one of the most established families in the witching world. All he has to do is sit back and power comes to him.”
Katherine clenched her fist under the desk. This was not what she wanted. She wanted Niles to tell her that yes, of course, Byron made sense, and of course she should do the spell, because it would come back positive, and then she could pin him to the wall and tell him that she knew he was responsible for Lily’s death and that she would spend the rest of her life making him absolutely fucking miserable for what he’d done.
