Oblivion Heart (Darkling Mage 4)

“I’m sorry,” Gil said, shrugging, scratching the back of his neck.

Prudence sighed, turning to face me head-on. “Mona isn’t exactly somewhere you’d call safe. She’s being held at the Lorica for questioning. Been there since the night of the incident.”

I frowned. “The girl had no idea what was going on. There’s no need to get the normals involved in this. Why didn’t a Mouth just wipe her memory then turn her loose? Put her in some kind of magical witness protection program.”

Prudence bit her lip, her eyes focused on the ground. “You know that’s not how it works at the Lorica, Dust. Besides, there’s a small complication. Mona was a siren. Undocumented. Can you believe? Pretty brazen of her to hide in plain sight, what with her high profile. But that means that there’s plenty more questions we need to ask her.” She cleared her throat. “More things that Royce wants to learn.”

I threw my hands up. “So what, the guy’s like your grand inquisitor, too?”

“I – I wouldn’t say that, exactly.”

Dad looked between us, flabbergasted. “She’s a what, now? An actual siren? A hot, singing chick who makes sailors crash ships into rocks?”

“Basically, yes, except that they don’t exactly hang out on remote islands anymore.” Gil walked over, balancing a raw steak on a plate in one hand and a container of coarse salt in the other. “It explains why she was so popular. Can’t deny that she was talented, and her songs were really catchy, but it was her siren call that gave her career the extra nudge it needed.”

Dad was stroking the stubble that made up his sort-of beard. “So what, they’re holding this Mona girl in some kind of high security prison?”

“Prism, actually,” Prudence said.

I blinked. “Come again?”

“High security Prism. It’s what the Lorica calls its holding area and detention center.”

I cocked my head, furrowing my eyebrows. “So it’s like wizard jail?”

Prudence stiffened. “Again. It’s a holding area and detention center, and it’s located in a different dimension that’s attached to HQ itself.”

“How come I never knew about it?”

“Well.” She blinked, considering it for a moment. “You were a Hound, which meant that you were concerned with espionage and artifact retrieval. You were never actually involved in working with targets that needed suppression or detention.”

“In other words, it was above my pay grade.”

Prudence smiled, but not unkindly. “Come on, Dust. I said what I said. It’s not like you had to actually deal with criminals, so the Prism is where we take our prisoners.”

“Aha! So it is a jail. And Mona is rotting in it.”

Gil held up his hands. “Whoa. Come on Dust, they’re just questioning her. They haven’t ruled out mind control. She was probably influenced into doing – well, whatever it was she did. I’m sure nothing bad will happen to her specifically.”

Fat chance. As if reciting a spell from the Tome of Annihilation and killing over a hundred normals wasn’t an awful crime to begin with. I knew how the Lorica worked. Mona – if that even was her real name – would never see the light of day again.

And speaking of light – I needed to find out what she knew about that silver brilliance that killed all those people, and that attacked me and Sterling that one night. It couldn’t have been her fault. Stupid as it sounded, I knew that I needed to help. I wasn’t just going to question Mona. I was going to get her the hell out of there.

Gil’s stare pierced me, as if he could tell that gears were turning in my head. I didn’t know how much he knew about the angel evidence from the others, or whether Sterling had casually mentioned the Tome to him, but Gil and I had lived together for some time now. He knew me well enough.

“Dust,” he muttered. “Whatever it is you’re planning – don’t.”

“I – what? I don’t even. Come on, you guys.” I hadn’t realized that my hands had moved without me having to tell them. They were taking my jacket down from dad’s coat rack, and pulling its sleeves over my arms.

“Dustin, don’t you dare,” Prudence said. “I don’t know why you’re so invested in this, but you can just stop. Royce is one person, but he’s a Scion. He’s more than enough to flay you alive. The Prism is heavily guarded at all hours. You wouldn’t stand a chance.”

Dad’s eyes flitted between us all, and his brow knitted when he put the pieces together. “Dustin, don’t you do anything stupid now, you hear me? I know you think you’re some kind of action star, but – ”

“What? I would never. You guys are being ridiculous. I’m just – stepping out for a, um – ”

I shadowstepped, melting into the shadow of the coat rack, faster than any of them could grab me. But as quick as I vanished, I still caught the last thing that my father yelled.

“Dustin Nathaniel Graves, you come back here this instant.”