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“How do you know so much about this place?”
“I bought malt from them for a distillery I owned as one of my first solo business ventures.” He glanced at her. “Trigger any clues for you? Any locations where the Order held you? Or ties to supernaturals you healed?”
Before they’d been tortured to death. At least he’d left that gruesome part out since she’d already relived those horrible memories a few times in this twisted game. She stared at the outlines of the silos, then cracked the SUV’s window and sniffed the air. Sewage, petrol, and paint fumes—nothing to remind her of her time held hostage by the Order. “No. The others seemed obvious. This? I don’t recognize a connection, not to any of the places they kept me. No one I knew talked about brewing alcohol or farming grains that would need malting.”
“What if I told you that two workers fell to their deaths from the silos?”
In her mind, she went through the worst tragedies she’d known with the Order. “That’s sad, but I still come up with nothing.”
He stared ahead. “Both workers were demon hybrids with wings from my father’s kingdom.”
“What?” She did the grisly calculations using the height of the silos and the length of the fall. “They should’ve had time to save themselves in a fall or even from a push unless they’d already been injured or fought on the way down.”
“Or if they’d been cursed by worshippers of a deity who protects beer brewers because those two demon hybrids had been stupid enough to poison a shipment destined for a rival distillery.” His stoic expression didn’t change.
“Please tell me you made up the part about vengeful deities being real.” She couldn’t imagine actual gods interacting with mortals. Just as she struggled to come to terms with her possible star goddess origins.
“Nope. Their deaths forced the plant to shut down. No one else wanted to piss off supernatural zealots armed with a giant fire-breathing bird. I paid the grieving families and made sure my people didn’t mess with shipments from my next vendors.”
“This isyourmemory. Noxx picked this place for you.” She stopped short of sayingfinallybecause she had no desire to mentally walk through her monstrous memory lane again. “Think she could be holding Tai here?”
“Doubtful. She probably believes we’ll ditch the SUV or our weapons this time.”
“Would you consider leaving the armored car behind for—”
He didn’t let her finish the question. “Not a chance. We grab whatever cryptic message she left here, and then we return to the warehouse to regroup. I’m tired of this reactive bullshit. We’ve played her games without answers. Now, we switch to a full-scaled assault and flush her out of hiding.”
“Regardless of the consequences?” She couldn’t shake the image of Tai’s face, of Kyle’s suffering.
“Collateral damages in a war that the kingdom cannot risk losing if she’s coming for our children.” Alexei’s prince tone allowed a sliver of sympathy under unwavering finality.
“All right.”One last stop. She reached for the door handle, pushing down nausea and fighting the fear clawing at her from inside. A rush of warm air colored with the scent of Alexei brushed against her that she held onto like an anchor in the storm of her emotions.
“You stay put until I open the door just like the last times,” he said.
Security that hadn’t been necessary, but arguing with him would take longer. Tai didn’t have longer. “Fine.”
He pushed buttons on the dashboard, bringing up a screen that he scrolled over. Green and grey filled the picture. “Night vision isn’t picking up movement outside the building.”
“That’s a good thing, right? Guards checking the perimeter or someone lurking means we would need to break the rules of the game and call for backup.”
“More likely some movement would mean a homeless person squatting on open property, which would make far more sense than finding abandoned, unused shelter in this part of town.” He didn’t look away from the screen, sweeping his fingers until another image showed. “Infrared can’t read past the metal silos and intricate pipe structure in the plant.” His expression didn’t look satisfied with whatever information he’d kept to himself.
Her patience snapped. They could check this location and either finally find the necessary clue to locate Tai or leave to regroup. Neither possibility settled the churning in her stomach. “What aren’t you telling me?” she asked.
“Something’s off. The building has stood empty for ten years and no one stripped it for recyclables? A fraction of that metal would bring in thousands.”
“Maybe it’s haunted.” She didn’t know if supernaturals could leave ghosts. Gods, she hoped not considering the death and suffering she’d witnessed.
“Or the Order owns it,” he said.
“If they did, wouldn’t we see some signs of activity? Instead of a rundown abandoned factory? They would have technology installed and someone patrolling. Even the dilapidated ruin where you found me had guards and some upgrades.”
“I don’t like it.” With Alexei’s tense muscles and grim expression, she wouldn’t be surprised if he threw the SUV into reverse and bolted.
“One last stop,” she reminded him.
“We could leave,” he said. “I love the boy as well, but Yulia brought this on him and her people. The smartest course of action would be to rally additional forces, come up with infallible strategies, and attack at our strongest. Not fight an uphill battle from this weak position.” He stared at her, and the pleading look in his eyes reminded her of the moment on the ship when he gave up, ready to sacrifice his life for hers.
