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My shoulders loosened and I blinked at his odd statement.
“Until then,” he went on, an edge of deadly seriousness coming back to his tone, “I will give you until Jorgen and Hati arrive for our miniature summit to tell me what Dmitri has revealed to you.”
He nodded, then strode back to Olympus, gesturing for Peter and Neil to come closer to him.
“We have a murderer to catch and a conspiracy to uncover,” he told the others. “I suggest you all do your parts.”
They all seemed to know what Magnus was talking about and nodded to him, looking serious.
Yet again, I was the odd one out. I was beginning to think I would never be on the same page with my friends again.
“I’ll leave you all to it,” Magnus said, nodding to Lefric and the others, then kissing Neil, then Peter with obscene enthusiasm. It might have been my imagination, but he seemed to linger slightly with Peter, as if reassuring him Dmitri would never harm him again.
After that, he stepped away, then he and Olympus turned to go.
“Come on,” Lefric told me, starting off with the others following him. “We’re going to have a Sons meeting before we show Billie and Hayk the notebook.”
He sounded as if he were inviting everyone to a birthday party.
Just like that, the tension of the moment passed. I rocked slightly, as if my feet didn’t want to unstick from the ground, then pushed myself to join the others.
I was all set to fall back into the restless, disconnected feeling I always had when all the Sons were together—like I was a part of them, but only on the fringes. I’d already accepted the gloom that came with feeling that way.
Then Hayk slipped up to my side and took my hand.
“You alright?” he asked quietly as Lefric said something to Jace that I didn’t quite catch.
I opened my mouth to say yes, of course I was, but I couldn’t just brush things off like that. Not with Hayk, not after what we’d shared.
“I haven’t decided yet,” I said as honestly as I could. “I think…I think Magnus is angry with me for keeping secrets.”
Hayk leaned back a bit, his eyes wide. “Is that what you took from that conversation?” He laughed. “Your King Magnus is cutting you an extraordinary amount of slack. Most kings I know would have demanded you tell them what you know at the point of a sword.”
“He might still do that,” I mumbled as we crossed the garden and headed into a building that seemed mostly utilitarian.
Hayk laughed louder. “I don’t think so. I think he was giving you a chance to keep the blood off your hands, like you said you wanted.”
“I don’t know why,” I said, even quieter.
Hayk shrugged, tugging my hand as we all turned a corner into a long, tiled hallway. “I haven’t spent enough time around him to know for certain, but I think King Magnus respects life and other people’s desire not to take a life, which is pretty impressive, if you ask me.”
I glanced to him, considering that he might be right. Hayk smiled at me.
“Either that,” he went on, “or he realizes that Dmitri isn’t going anywhere, since the estate is locked down, and no one else is getting in or out either. What is he going to do with the information you now have? He can’t do anything with it immediately, so why not let you hold onto it for a while?”
I hadn’t considered that. Hayk was right. As vital as the things Dmitri had told me were, it wouldn’t make any difference whether Magnus learned those things today or tomorrow, or even next week.
Another, much more ridiculous thought struck me as Lefric led us into what looked like a vast washroom with a massive tub or pool sunk into the ground.
“Where did you find clothes so quickly?” I asked. I didn’t exactly smile, but my frown softened.
Hayk grinned. “Mia found some for me within seconds of Billie and I stepping out of your room. I guess she doesn’t like the sight of a young, fit body when she sees one.” He let go of my hand so he could stretch and flex, then pulled the simple tunic he wore off over his head.
“Whore,” I said, shaking my head. Part of me wanted to swallow the word or take it back, but I spoke it as though it were a joke, the same way Peter and Jace had teased each other with it in those early days of our acquaintance.
Hayk somehow knew how important my reaction was. He laughed, his face lighting up with happiness and…affection? Maybe that’s what it was. I couldn’t let my heart run away with me, though. If I somehow convinced myself that Hayk liked me more than any of his other customers…well, it might break me.
The joke turned into something else a moment later when Hayk slipped out of the trousers he wore as well.
