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And the first time anyone had convinced him to let down his guard, that bastard Colt had made all of us pay for it. My teeth gritted, and I turned to Gideon. “I need some answers.”
He finally raised his head, his expression unreadable. “To what questions?”
“For the investigation,” I said. “Exactly who was here the night Titus died, what their role is, whether any of them other than Kaige might have had a beef with the guy.”
His mouth twitched with what looked like annoyance. I guessed I’d probably interrupted him in the middle of something. “I’ve checked everything,” he said. “So did Anthea. If there was anything that obvious, we’d have found it already.”
“While I’m sure that’s true, I need to start somewhere.” I waved my hand vaguely. “Eliminate the obvious so you can see what remains, or something. Isn’t that how detectives are supposed to work?”
Wylder snorted. “So now you’re a detective?”
I jabbed a finger at him. “You’re the one who put me up to this. If you want to skip that part and go straight to decimating the Steel Knights, be my guest.”
“But why should I when it’s so much fun watching your pert little ass scurry around at my bidding?” He smirked and tossed a remark to Gideon as he turned to leave. “Don’t give up the goods too easily!”
Gideon eyed me for a long moment. I had the impression he might be staring right inside my skull—and that he wasn’t all that impressed with what he was finding there. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, and Rowan, naturally, decided to play hero.
“I can take you through—”
Gideon held up his hand with a jerk. “No. She should have the most accurate info, and I’m the one who can provide that.” He blinked slowly, and a hint of a smile touched his lips. “But Wylder’s right. She should have to work for it. We can’t have someone messing around with Kaige’s fate who isn’t totally committed.”
A shiver ran down my spine. “And what exactly doyouexpect me to do?”
He pointed past me to the aquarium. “Stick your hand in the tank with my school of piranhas. As long as it’s fully dunked, I’ll keep talking.”
He kept the lights in here dim. The eerie glow of the computer screens lent his sharp features a grace that was almost angelic, but clearly he was just as devilish as the rest of these pricks.
“Are you kidding me?” I sputtered.
“Do I sound like I’m joking? Simply getting your hand wet shouldn’t be too hard for the heir to the Claws.”
I held back a growl and marched over to the aquarium. Stick my hand in the water. No big deal. He wouldn’t ask me to if he really thought the fish wouldeatit, would he?
“Just so you know,” he called after me with no apparent concern, “I can’t remember whether I’ve fed them today. They might be a bit hungrier than usual.”
Fan-fucking-tastic.
“Gideon,” Rowan said, but his protest only hardened my resolve. He should see just what Mercy Katz was made of these days too.
“It’s fine,” I declared. There was a low step stool next to the aquarium cabinet. I stepped onto it so I could easily lift the lid over the tank.
The filter hummed. The piranhas swam by with flashes of their silvery scales. I swallowed hard and dipped in my hand.
The water was warmer than I’d expected. I watched the fish carefully, braced for a response to the disturbance.
The tiny, colorful fish scattered. The piranhas glided onward. I held my fingers as still as possible, wary of making any sudden movements. “Okay. I did it. Start talking.”
Kaige and Rowan both stood frozen, looking nearly as tense as I was, but neither of them doing anything further to intervene. Gideon ran the show in this room.
The blue-haired guy had swiveled all the way around in his chair now. The reflected light glinted off his lip ring. He flicked his tongue over it and grabbed his tablet off the desk. “Ask away.”
I tipped my head toward the hall. “Who was staying in or came by the mansion around the time of Titus’s death?”
“Ezra, Wylder, Ezra’s closest associates, and the three of us.”
“And Ezra’s closest associates would be…”
He rattled off several names that meant nothing to me, as well as Axel’s. One of the piranhas flitted past my hand so close its scales slid against my fingers.
