Her gaze flicks to me and softens just a fraction. “What do you want it to mean, Jace? How long do you want thisusto last? The one that includes me… Are you asking what my hobbies mean for you in a relationship aspect, or are you asking if I’m going to kill you after confessing all of this and toss a match over my shoulder to burn the evidence?”
Kieran exhales harshly. “Jesus.”
“Not Jesus.” Eris lifts her hand, and I spy the tiny M tattoo between her fingers. “Just privileges.”
“I’m asking if confessing all of this is going to put us in danger,” I enunciate slowly, tasting the strangeness of the words. “Should we be walking around with guns and shit? Or will I make it to the grocery store without taking a bullet?”
A quiet giggle leaves her, and she slaps a hand over her mouth like this is the most inappropriate thing to happen all night.
“I’m sorry,” she whispers, but the laughter lingers. “This is Crimson Bay. You should always have a weapon within arm’s reach. Always.”
“Sure, okay,” I snap and turn to glare at Silas when he coughs. “I’ll go buy something in the morning, but until then, can you answer my questions?”
“I sort of did,” she informs us. “But honestly, in a town full of criminals, whose side you’re on is important. You don’t have to be in the club to get certain perks of the membership.”
“How protected?” Silas pushes, jaw tight. “We don’t need you jumping in front of bullets for us, but we do need to know if we should expect more bullets than normal.”
“Protected like bodies disappear before the news hits,” she says matter-of-factly. “And cops don’t ask you questions unless they’re told to. Like your names never make it onto anyone’s radar without me knowing. You can continue your daily livesas if nothing ever happened, and I’ll continue doing my job by keeping the trash out of Crimson Bay.”
My mouth moves before my brain processes what I’m asking.
“Then why haven’t you killed Daniel yet?” I blurt, the words clawing from my throat like a mildly curious accusation.
For the first time all night, she hesitates. It’s just a breath and a quick grimace, there and gone so fast that if I wasn’t giving her all of my attention, I would have missed it.
“Before HimLock, Daniel only really wanted to hoover me back into his world. He wanted control. To feel important. If I’d taken him out the first time he crossed a line, it would’ve been loud and messy. And public. He would’ve turned into a mystery people asked questions about.”
Eris walks toward the wall of monitors, taking a seat in one of the computer chairs.
“Killing him was never going to be the hard part,” she admits, frowning as she shrugs. “It was timing, catching him somewhere private, so I had less cleanup to manage.”
She leans back in the chair and points at the monitors.
“And then you put cameras in my apartment,” she continues, flashing us a quick smile. “Firewalls Roo didn’t build. Systems we couldn’t bypass without tripping alarms. So, I made a plan to lure him into my bathroom, kill him there, and hunt the rest of my stalkers while Roo ripped the digital evidence apart as viciously as possible.”
“But we showed up instead,” Kieran adds, nodding his understanding. “It’s kind of difficult to kill him when strangers are watching you.”
Eris nods, but her eyes are hard, focused on the original threat. “I don’t kill unless I can erase the echo.”
Silas goes very still.
“And now?” Kieran asks quietly.
“Now… I quite enjoy being in the company of said echoes,” she answers, shaking herself out of whatever dark void her thoughts were falling into. “Daniel has gotten sloppy and emotional since he’s seen me with the three of you. He wants to touch things that don’t belong to him.” She glances between us. “And now, I don’t have to hide the fallout from you. It’s all on the table. Regardless of your stance on murder, he’s going to die by my hand soon.”
Silas visibly relaxes, which makes me wonder… How close to death were we before our charm won over the reaper?
“So, we kill him.” Kieran steps closer, spinning the chair so she has to look up at him. “Tell us how to help you.”
Eris smiles sweetly at him, and the juxtaposition between this moment and ten seconds ago is so striking, I feel as if Eros himself just slapped me.
“Hollow,” she sings softly, “Are you flirting with me while conspiring to be my accomplice in a murder?”
