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“No,” warned Gideon, his demeanor hardening. “If my mother is involved with the Erlking’s death, you absolutely must not investigate that further. You were seen as a crime of passion, a rogue changeling rising up for the love of humanity. If she was behind it…”

“Then it’s an act of violence of one god against another, and the other courts would be forced to intervene.” It was the kind of political coup that could disrupt the balance of the courts. It couldn’t be ignored, but a two-hundred-year-old assassination was a little less pressing at that moment. She returned to her original question. “What was the name?”

“When you killed him, the blade drew out the shards—the materials attract each other, it would seem. Carved from the same living glacier that coats the northernmost caves of Faerie.”

“What name?”

“The Devil’s Mirror.”

The items were intrinsically linked. Which meant the mirror was also linked to Iona. “Will you unseal the file?”

Gideon nodded reluctantly. “I will reach out to the others, but it will take time. Do not wait for me.”

“I won’t.” Avery stopped at the door. “I know you are unable to talk on anything related to the case itself, but do you happen to know the month in which Wilhelm Norton quit his position as Mercy?”

Gideon’s confusion was evident. “June, I believe?”

After Hingley’s death. Confirming his sealed case was for his murder trial. The murder trial that resulted in Patricia Aldridge’s magic being bound, which meant her involvement required a sentence. Which meant someone might have cause for revenge. Multiple threads, and most of them leading back to Iona. “You will want to send sentinels to move Patricia Aldridge to a safe location. If she somehow isn’t our next victim, she’s likely the murderer.”

Gideon nodded. “It will be done.”

Chapter 29 Saga

When Saga opened her door to check on Avery, she instead found Avery waiting for her.

The woman was sitting on the floor, long legs outstretched in front of her and crossed at the ankle. She was dressed in her usual coat, slacks, and boots, her shirt unbuttoned at the throat and the vest undone completely. The white curls of her hair were perfectly tousled, and she was currently paging through a library copy of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express. She looked up in surprise, and it might have been the first time the woman had ever had to look up at Saga. “You’re home.” She looked from Saga to the front door. “When did you get home?”

“Pretty soon after I left,” admitted Saga. “I was on my way to… I didn’t realize you’d come… How did your talk with Gideon go?”

“Unexpected.”

“Good unexpected?”

Avery’s eyes squinted, and her face pinched as if she was trying to do the math of an unseen calculation of pros and cons. “I believe it evens out, so let us simply call it unexpected. But he did agree to begin the process of unsealing the original file and that Patricia Aldridge should be placed in protective custody until this is over.”

Saga’s eyebrows raised. That all sounded good to her—was the other part just her irritation of speaking with her brother? “What’s the bad part of that equation?”

“We will, without a doubt, need to question Iona about the murder weapon.”

Saga wasn’t looking forward to that. “When?”

“Not tonight. We need to get to know our victims a bit better—and why they might have had it out for John Hingley eighteen years ago.”

Saga picked up the tote bag she’d placed on the other side of the door. “Reza had yearbooks for us. Seems the dates of John Hingley’s death and Theresa’s dropping out might align.”

“As you suspected,” remarked Avery proudly.

“I did.” Saga tilted her head as her companion’s position began to sink in. She’d been there a while. Almost camping out. “Were you waiting for me?”

“I was.” Avery picked up a folder and rose to her feet. “I did not want to miss you coming back from your dinner.”

“The conversation with Leigh and Reza was also unexpected. Sort of bad unexpected. I’m a little out of sorts.” Saga tried to shrug it off. “I’ll be okay. What do you need?”

“To make sure you’re all right.”

Saga frowned and eyed the folder. “You don’t want to talk about the case?”

“Not tonight. Tonight, I am here for you.”