Page 18 of Flames and Blood

“That’s not permission.”

“No,” she says. “It isn’t. The other three are expected back as well. Expected, not ordered. There’s a difference, and you know it.”

I do. She’s recalling her men, but not forcing them to leave me to deal with this alone. That’s as close to sanction as I’ll get right now.

Odile’s already reading my face when I turn around, which means she heard all of it from where she stands.

“She’s taking you back,” I say.

“I heard her.” Her jaw sets. “Merde. I gave my word to that Court long before I took this job. I’m going to have to go back.”

“Do what you must. I won’t hold it against you.”

“Of course you won’t.” She pulls her coat straight. “I’m to go home and play my part. That’s all I can do right now. Sit in my chair, drink what I’m given, and let the room watch me do nothing at all.”

“That’s the job she’s given you.”

“It’s a poor use of me.” She looks back at the building. “And you’ll be out here with a Syndicate dragon somewhere at the end of that route number.”

“I’ve had worse.”

“You’ve had different.”

She walks with me to the trucks. She takes her time about it.

“You still haven’t told me why,” she says.

“No.” I haven’t told her why I took this job because I don’t understand it myself.

“Then I’ll tell you, and you can stand there pretending I’m wrong.” She pulls a glove straight at the wrist. “That night at the quarry, you saw something. Something in the back of that truck.”

“No, I—”

“Don’t argue, Monsieur Crowe. I’ve known many men like you in my lifetime. You don’t freeze in your tracks without reason. And I’ve seen you do it several times since.”

“So what are you trying to tell me?”

“I’m telling you to keep an open mind.”

“I always do.”

“Mm.” She stops at the truck. Looks at me for a moment. Assessing. “Do you believe in Fate, Gideon?”

She rarely addresses me by my first name. Nobody does.

“I believe that many feel it exists.”

“It does.” She smiles. “And you would do well to take note of it.”

“I think my fate was sealed the moment a vampire chose to drain the life from me in a stinking back alley,” I say.

“That’s not the sort of Fate I’m talking about, Crowe. I mean the one that seeks you out. The one that’s chosen for you.”

“Right.” I nod and leave it there. She’s talking in riddles.

She shrugs, shoulders up, hands spread. “But who am I to instruct you on such things? You will learn soon enough.” She opens the door. “Just remember, you’re not hunting freight anymore. Try not to get the rest of them killed pretending you still are.”

She gets in. One of Faine’s men gets in after her. He was expected back, and he’s going back, and nobody says a word to him about it on his way past.