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“I was thinking about food,” I said. “I’ll need to get you something to eat.”
She glanced out the window, and then back at me to shrug. “I’m fine for a while.”
With a long breath, she slid her back down the wall beside the window to sit and unfolded the blanket. I walked to the casement and twisted the vinyl blinds shut. They were a poor fit, probably a temporary solution by the realtor.
When I turned, Emily was holding one end of the blanket out for me.
I didn’t move quickly enough. She said, “It’s cold.”
I nodded. “I’ll find you a coat as well.” I stepped around her to sit on her other side, leaving a careful eight inches between us.
Overnight, the temperatures had dipped. We’d be more comfortable traveling during the day, but we’d also be more apt to be spotted. I’d have to get her to a safe house. And since Morgan knew who she was, I couldn’t get her there soon enough.
“Aern?”
Emily’s voice, so close and speaking my name, sent a very peculiar feeling through me.
I went completely still and then, quite unintentionally, moved toward her when I turned my head to answer. “Yes?”
It was the closest I’d been to her when she wasn’t trying to kill me.
“How did you know about this place? About how to find your way in the office building?”
And it was answer time. I resisted the urge to cringe. “I’d been watching Morgan’s men. Misleading them.”
She stared at me. I was explaining poorly, expecting her to make terrible leaps in my logic. I tried again. “Some of Morgan’s men have been working out of the area near the warehouse. I’ve been trying to keep an eye on them, and trying to keep them away from Brianna.”
I could see a protest form immediately on Emily’s lips and held up a hand. “Bri is safe. I promise. They have no way of finding her. But if they see me on the run, they’re going to assume I’m working alone, and that I have her.”
Emily straightened to face me, her shoulder braced against the wall. “You don’t have her?”
“I can’t tell you where she is, Emily. It’s the only thing keeping her safe. If they find you—”
She cut me off. “You think I would tell them where she is?”
“I think you would rather die first.” I purposefully lowered the tone of my own voice to keep her anger in check. “But they wouldn’t need to ask. You could do nothing but tell them.”
Emily didn’t ask why. Instead, she said, “Those men, the two who were chasing us.”
I nodded.
“Those were Morgan’s men?”
“Yes.” I shook my head. “No. They weren’t…” I sighed. “Emily, I have to tell you something you’re probably not going to believe.”
The corner of her mouth pulled down in a grimace. “Go for it.”
“Those men weren’t like Morgan. The man in the car and the man in the hotel were only commonbloods.”
Emily looked a little sick. I hoped it was only the thought of their smashed bodies.
“They were merely men in the wrong place at the wrong time. And Morgan used them. Like throwaways.”
“How… what do you mean?”
“They were under his control. It’s like a trance, and they have to do what he wants.”
She didn’t even flinch. “They drove into a brick wall and climbed a building.”
