Malakai pointed toward the engraving.
Diablo Levélle.
Cole’s expression tightened.
“Heretic coven.”
“I found it near the garden bench,” Dax said. “Planted where patrol would find it. The female upstairs is connected to them somehow, or they want us to believe she is.”
Malakai did not touch the metal.
If she works for them, why save Cole?
“I don’t know. That makes it worse.”
Cole’s gaze remained upon the amulet.
“She could be bait. They send her knowing we are less likely to kill somebody who has just saved one of us.”
Or she may not know she is being used.
Dax’s expression hardened.
“Either way, we cannot ignore it.”
Malakai stood.
We tell Rhen carefully.
Dax nodded.
* * *
Rhen sat beside the bed, watching the witch’s chest rise and fall.
The fire cast unsteady light across her face. She remained too pale, too fragile, and too human for what she had taken into herself.
His phone vibrated.
He ignored it once before looking.
Kitchen. Now. We have a problem. —Dax
Rhen rose.
The witch shifted, and a quiet groan escaped her.
He entered the corridor and stopped the first servant he encountered.
“Stay with her. If she wakes, contact me immediately.”
“Yes, Master Rhen.”
He moved through the halls quickly.
The brothers waited inside the kitchen without jokes or posturing. The tension in the room told him the interruption had earned his attention.
“What now?”
