“I know.” Raziel crossed to him, and for a moment, the mask fell away entirely. The sardonic smile, the cold calculation, the armor of wit and cruelty—all of it vanished, leaving behind something raw and honest and terribly human. He clasped Ivan’s shoulder, his grip tight. “I know.”
Ivan’s hand came up to grip Raziel’s arm in return. They stood there for a long moment, these two men who had survivedso much together, saying everything that needed to be said without words.
“You come back,” Ivan said finally, his voice thick. “You hear me? You come back, or I swear to every god that ever existed, I’ll find a way to drag your sorry corpse out of whatever pit you end up in and kill you myself.”
Raziel laughed—a real laugh, not the sharp thing he used as a weapon. “I’ll hold you to that.”
Azazel approached more hesitantly, his orange eyes bright with something that might have been unshed tears. “For what it’s worth,” he said quietly, “I think you’re both nuts. But I hope you make it.”
“We will.” Nadi surprised herself by speaking. Mostly because of how much she honestly almost meant it. “Either way, we’ll see you on the other side.”
Azazel nodded, then turned away quickly—but not before she caught the glint of moisture on his cheek.
Strangely, she hoped she saw him again. And maybe, just maybe, lived long enough to make good on that time she once said she wanted to be his friend.
The drive to the waterfront was conducted in heavy silence. Ivan kept his eyes on the road, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. Nadi sat in the back with Raziel, close enough that their shoulders touched, drawing what comfort she could from his presence.
The fishing boat was small. Nondescript. And fast. It was perfect for what they needed to do. The trip along the dark waves was silent save for the loud, droning roar of the engine as it carried them up the coastline of Runne, far faster than the Nostrom yacht could ever hope to be.
The leisurely trip that had taken them a day or two in the yacht only took them a few hours in the fishing boat. Nadi was glad—she didn’t want to be left alone with her thoughts for any longer than she needed to be.
It wasn’t hard to spot the Nostrom estate this time. It was lit up on the cliffside like the glowing towers of the metropolis.
Ivan pulled the boat over to the shoreline, into the shadows of a large rock, and killed the motor.
“I’ll wait here.” His voice was steady now, professional. The bodyguard, not the friend.
Raziel silently jumped from the boat to the shore without a backwards glance.
Nadi paused before climbing out. “Ivan?”
“Yeah?” The big man sniffed.
“Thank you. For everything. I’m…glad I didn’t kill you.”
Ivan’s jaw tightened. He didn’t even look at her. “Just come back. That’s all the thanks I need.”
Nadi followed after Raziel. The silence after the roar of the engine was eerie. A reminder of what was to come. Raziel led the way up the rocky embankment, trusting her to be able to handle the climb on her own.
When she joined him, crouched behind a fallen tree, looking off into the distance at the glimmering corpse of a building that was the Nostrom estate, he finally spoke.
“Ready?” Raziel asked.
She took his hand in the darkness. Squeezed once.
“Let’s go kill your family.”
The Nostrom estate blazed with light.
It was impressive what could be done in a relatively short amount of time with enough money and enough hands thrown at it.
Not so long ago, the place had been an absolute abandonedwreck.Vines had overtaken the building, windows had sat dark and vacant like the sockets of a skull. Doors had been hanging from their hinges and left to rot wherever they had last been placed.
But now?
The place looked like, well, a reverse-ghost of its former self. Nadi could almost imagine what it had looked like in its prime. The exterior walls had been cleaned of the overgrowth and scrubbed of the damage and age caused by the weather. New glass panes had even been installed on most of the windows, and those that couldn’t be fixed had been delicately cleaned and decorated with curtains.
The large front doors had clearly been removed, scrubbed, restored, and replaced. The large hinges shone in polished brass.
