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He takes a second to answer. “Yes.”
“So you know this man.”
“We have met,” Keon replies. “His name is Zaire en’Diavolo.”
It’s not a name I’ve heard before.
“And you trust him?” I ask. I want to know everything about Zaire en’Diavolo, the Aelyd who took my best friend. If Keon has any information about him, I wish he’d tell me.
It takes him a few seconds to answer. “I don’t think he would’ve hurt your friend.”
I guess that’s something, but it’s notmuch. I frown. “And what do you get out of all this? You don’t have any reason to help these women, do you?”
Keon snorts. “Maybe I’m just a nice guy.”
I scowl at him, saying nothing.
“Fine,” he says. “Like I said…I knew you were smart. What I get out of this is goodwill, and possibly more access to human brides for the Ganivets. The Gift is more likely to pass from parent to child if the child is carried to term in utero rather than in a lab; we don’t know why.”
“So you really do care about your family,” I say. “But…how do you feel about Atlas?”
“Hm,” Keon says. “Complicated question.”
I wait for him to elaborate. He doesn’t. Finally, I cross my arms and say, “Care to tell me more?”
“Nowyou want a story,” he huffs.
“I’m less interested in your stories and more interested in why you brought me here if you don’t know where my friend is,” I say. “You clearly want something from me. So what is it? Do you want me to kill Atlas?”
“Been there, done that,” Keon says. “I’m guessing he didn’t tell you that I was one of the conspirators who tried to take his life a decade ago?”
My jaw almost drops. “And he trusts you this much now?”
“Yes,” he says. “Because I’ve proven it. I’ve saved his life more than once. And, well, Ilikehim in charge. I prefer to work behind the scenes.”
“You prefer to take his wife away in a hovercar,” I deadpan.
“He doesn’t know about that,” Keon smiles. “No—I don’t want Atlas dead. In fact, quite the opposite.”
I frown. “Tell me more.”
“I’ll help you find your friend,” he says. “And in exchange, I want you to help me find the rat in the Ganivet operation.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
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PENN
Keon wasn’t lying when he said he wanted to take me out for dinner after the show.
The hovercar cruises through the streets of Solis, taking us God knows where. I’m fully aware of the fact that Keon has removed my tracker and that I could be in a dangerous situation. He’s a performer; he could be lying to me about all this.
Either that, or he really is just a playboy mafia prince who happens to be on the right side…if there is a right side in all this.
The car slows to a halt, landing to let us out. Keon gets out first, and extends his hand—and I’m surprised to find that he’s brought me not to some fancy restaurant, but to a hole in the wall that you could find in any city. There’s a lot of neon on the streets, puddles gathering from what must have been a recent rainfall.
A flickering red sign hangs over the door, advertising what roughly translates to “pasta” in Aelyd. I think it’s a different dialect; a few of the characters look wrong. Keon guides me through the door, a bell ringing over our heads.
