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“You’re kidding,” Kell mutters. “Come on, big guy.Tell usyou’re kidding.”
“He isn’t.” Jaden’s glassy eyed after his third long swig of vodka but far from plastered. Though I sympathize with his ultimate goal for the night, I’m glad he’s not there yet. His enunciation is stoic, clear—and miserable. “Not kidding. He’s really right.”
Kell huffs. “How much of the pharmacy is in you on top of those geese? Do youknowwhat he just—”
“I heard him,” Jaden retorts. “And I agree with him.” His glance at Rerek is doused in disgust. “I hate it, but I agree with him.”
Rerek, looking ready to sing a joyful aria even for that glance, clamps his composure back down. “I’m…not quite certain what’s happ—”
“You love me.” Jaden slams down the vodka hard enough to make some burst back up across his wrist. He shakes it off while circling smoothly around. “I got that part right, hmmm?”
Rerek’s eyes, deep set but doubly huge now, are also shiny with heavy liquid. “Yes, sir. You do.”
“Yet you’ve been stumped about how to prove it, aside from locking me down in your villa for days and nights on end.”
“Jaden—”
“Yes or no, chaos boy. Just yes or no.”
Rerek sags his shoulders. Looks ready to follow suit with his head. Instead, he whispers, “Yes. All of the above, okay? Yes.”
“Good. Because now you’re getting a perfect chance to prove it. We need eyes and ears inside the underworld, especially for details about where Hecate’s grimoire has landed. And if, anytime during this process, you decide it’s more fun to spill with Hades than us, we’ll decide it’s fun to let Reg bury her dagger in your carotid. Sound like a plan?”
It’s the moment of truth for Rerek Horne.
Reg senses it too, with a visible cinch on the cuff—though her effort won’t mean a thing if the chaos demon decides this is an ideal chance to feel more like himself again.
If we’re still dealing with the typical Rerek, he’ll seize this chance to scoop up every new revelation we’ve just handed over and leave with it under the cover of a sudden windstorm, earthquake, bomb threat, power outage—perhaps all of the above—before heading straight for an emergency audience with Hades.
But if we get to keep this new Rerek, who professes his readiness to earn my brother’s love and trust, maybe Jaden’s massive gamble just succeeded.
If not, we might have just made the most dangerous mistake in this game.
I only hope we find out before it’s too late.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
MAXIMUS
“How is she?”
Kell punctuates the query with some softtingsof her fingernail on the rim of her half-full wineglass.
The chime blends with the rest of the late-night sounds that drift up to my apartment balcony. The rumble of a Metro train. A salsa tempo from a live band up the block. An uptick of wind, rustling the trees and skittering loose newspapers up the street.
Most nights, all of this would be welcome music for my tired senses. Tonight, it’s just a background track for the whirlwind that persists in my mind. Taking a seat doesn’t help the noise. Neither does a long breath in and a longer one out.
“Exhausted,” I finally mutter as an answer. “Can’t say that I blame her.” While the EmStars festivities themselves went off without a hitch, Veronica was back to her old self after the broadcast, which meant a round of posing for the obligatory family photos at the afterparty. “I don’t think my cheeks will be the same for days.”
Kell joins a light laugh to her fingernail drum solo. “You get used to it. Well, youshouldget used to it. But to help in the meantime”—she salutes with her glass—“I pilfered a whole bottle of this from the party, and it’s eyes-in-the-back-of-your-head good, so have at it with some professorly imbibing.”
I wave a thanks-but-no-thanks hand. If anything, the expensive vino will only keep me up longer. Instead, while she’s relaxed, I grab a chance for a conversational prod. “So, Ishouldget used to it. Any more words of wisdom to share there, from the fast-thinking one who got us here?”
Though I finish with a teasing grin, Kell’s reaction is more a squirming wince. “Fast thinking? Or maybe whatwasI thinking?”
And what wasIthinking, assuming the wine would instantly restore her usual confidence?
“Hey. You did what you had to, given our little mall imbroglio.”
