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Marcella settled into her throne once more. “I heard you had something to show me.”
I considered the necklace in my pocket but it no longer seemed like a good idea to show my hand. I’d come here believing that Marcella herself wasn’t compromised, but now I wasn’t so sure.
She wanted the stone and I didn’t trust her enough to know her intentions. Besides, this little gold necklace might be useful later.
I reached into my other pocket and pulled out the dart I’d wrapped in tissue. Carefully, I uncovered it, revealing the tiny silver object.
“What is that?” Marcella’s brow furrowed. She reached out her hand, palm up.
I walked toward her and set the dart carefully in her palm. “It’s a new weapon. One of these gave a vampire the final death instantly. It nearly killed me.”
She looked up at me, her eyes wide in surprise. “Silver?”
“Probably. But other things as well. Silver doesn’t hurt me, but I had a similar reaction to what other creatures get from silver poisoning.”
She brushed her fingers over the smooth surface of the dart. It was silver in color, but whoever constructed it made it with a different metal so the exterior wasn’t dangerous. It was whatever they filled it with that caused the damage.
“I’ll have my people look into it,” she said.
“One more thing.” I hesitated, unsure if I wanted to add this. But I had to give her something more. It might be enough to buy Skylar extra time. It wouldn’t take long for Cain to send people after Skylar despite my claim that she didn’t have the stone.
“What’s that?” Marcella asked.
“The woman who shot me with that dart was human,” I said.
“You’re certain?”
“I am,” I said.
“That does complicate things.” She wrapped the dart back in the tissue. “I’ll let you know what I find out.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“In the meantime, I expect you to keep your senses open for that stone. You do realize what that could do in the hands of a Knight?” Her jaw was set, her gaze steel.
I hadn’t thought about that. If someone could control shifters, it would make kidnapping them so much easier.
“I’ll see what I can dig up,” I said.
“Thank you.” She smiled. “I knew I could count on you.”
Everything about her smile was wrong. She was hiding something. Even she couldn’t shield all her emotions from me.
I gave a quick bow and exited the throne room as quickly as I could. I had to get back to Skylar and make sure she was safe. I’d left her with Xander. The shifter had a claim on her the same as I did. I knew he’d protect her with his life but that wasn’t the same as doing it myself.
When I stepped through the doors, Cain was waiting in the hallway. “The girl still has the stone, doesn’t she?”
“I told you, she gave it to the pack,” I said. “She’s a lone wolf. You know that better than I do. You keep tabs on the hunters.”
“She hasn’t claimed a bounty or picked up a new mark,” Cain said. “She’s hiding somewhere. Which means she has something to hide.”
“Or it could be that she’s mourning her friend,” I said.
“She’s a hunter,” Cain said. “They mourn by killing things.”
That was true of most hunters I’d met, but I didn’t think Skylar would fall into that category. Even if she wasn’t really hiding something.
Cain set her hand on my chest and gently pushed me against the wall. Her lips curled into a smile. “Tell me, did you heal enough from your injury?”
