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“Do you disagree with sooner being better than later?”
“I’m wholeheartedly behind the idea.” And for more reasons than he was currently aware. Not that I needed to be married before I had our child. I just wanted it to happen before fate decided to throw another spanner in the works. “That doesn’t negate the fact you need to stop making these announcements without discussing them first with me.”
He laughed and hugged me. “Consider it a work in progress.”
I rolled my eyes, but before I could say anything my phone rang.
“Ignore it,” he said. “Unless you’ve changed dial tones recently, it’s not anyone important.”
“Yeah, because you’d totally ignore your phone if it happened to ring right now.”
As if to emphasize this point, his phone rang. I raised my hands. “I promise, no magic involved.”
He laughed again, rolled to his feet, and walked over to the counter where he’d left his phone. I dragged my purse closer and retrieved mine. It had stopped ringing by the time I got it out and the number wasn’t one I knew.
I glanced across at Aiden, saw the consternation in his expression, and knew something bad had happened. I glanced down at my phone again and, after a slight hesitation, copied the number and did a “who is” search.
The number belonged to Émigré.
My stomach dropped. Something must have happened for her to be ringing me. Usually, she just sent Roger along with whatever message she wished to impart. Me being here rather than at the café generally wouldn’t have made much of a difference, as she was no doubt fully aware of where Aiden lived when not at the compound.
I let my finger hover over the return call button for several seconds before finally hitting it. The phone at the other end rang out then flicked over to a “leave a message” message.
I did so, then hung up and glanced at Aiden. “Problem?”
“Yeah, another missing person, this time near Shepherd’s Flat.” He answered without looking up, his attention still on his phone.
I wrinkled my nose. “Where’s that?”
“Ten or so minutes outside Argyle. Why?”
“Just wondering if it’s connected to the basilisk or not, given it was last seen in the Maldoon area.”
“If the bastardisringing the reservation, then Shepherd’s Flat could be considered a midpoint between Rocco’s compound and the area where he was called into being.” He shoved his phone into his back pocket. “I’ll have to go. Jaz is on call tonight, but I can’t leave her to handle this situation alone, given what we’re likely dealing with.”
“You’ve contacted Monty?”
He nodded. “Sent him a text. Mac will pick him up on the way through.”
“And you mentioned that they both need to grab mirrored sunglasses?”
“Jaz hasn’t any, but she said she’d borrow Levi’s.”
Meaning she was home, not at the station. I snagged a potato cake and rose. “I might grab an Uber back to Castle Rock. That call I missed was from Maelle, but she’s not picking up. I’ve a gut feeling something might be wrong.”
He hesitated. “Keep me updated.”
I nodded and followed him out the door. Night had set in, but despite the ominous clouds, the air remained warm. I waited until Aiden had left, booked an Uber, and then walked up to the main gate to wait. It took just over thirty minutes to get to Castle Rock, but by the time we arrived, my tension had ramped up so much that tiny sparks were dancing across my fingertips.
I ran into the café to grab my backpack, then jumped into the SUV and sped around to Émigré. There were no lights on around the exterior, nor any sign of the magic that had been so evident earlier. While even someone as powerful as Maelle could not continue to cast and support multiple spells at the one time without taking some sort of break, it nevertheless felt… wrong.
The fact there were no guards stationed out front only emphasized the feeling of wrongness. Every time I’d come here previously, they’d been present. Granted, unless they were thralls like Roger—and I had no evidence that they were—they’d have to take time off at some point. But Maelle would have rostered on others. She wouldn’t have left her building unprotected—especially now, when she knew her maker was in town intent on revenge.
I climbed out of the car and slung my pack over my shoulder, but didn’t immediately cross over to the club area. I scanned the building’s façade and roof, searching for something, anything, to hint at the trouble I sensed waiting.
There was no foreign magic, no blood scent, no sound, and no sign of building damage.
Trepidation nevertheless swept me. After a slight hesitation, I grabbed my silver knife and a small bottle of holy water from the backpack, tucking the latter into my dress’s pocket. Neither were exactly welcome inside Maelle’s lair, but I wasn’t about to walk in without some form of physical protection. I had plenty of the other kind, of course, though whether they’d be enough if thiswassome kind of a trap set by Marie, I couldn’t say.
