“The man who tried to shoot Ivan had scales and a spiked back,” Alice said. “I saw him myself.”
“Gila shifter,” Clelia said, her black eyes showing her concern.
At the word shifter, Lann visibly tensed. Obviously, he didn’t like them much.
Maya picked a berry from a muffin and licked her finger. “You have a gift hunter on your tail, Ivan.” She grinned. “Welcome to the club.”
“Gift hunter?” Alice looked between Maya and him.
“You haven’t told her what you are,” Cain said with surprise.
Alice’s brow pleated. “What is he talking about, Ivan?”
Silence descended on the room. Joss and Clelia exchanged a look. The others stared at him expectantly.
“Are you going to tell her,” Cain said, “or shall I?”
“Princess, don’t do this. It’s better you don’t know.”
“Better for you or me? I have a right to know.”
Ivan sighed. He knew his limits. In the bedroom, she might allow him to tie her up and spank her ass red, but on this she wasn’t going to budge. If she demanded the truth, it was only fair she heard it from him.
A mixture of regret and fear left a thick, sour taste in his mouth. He swallowed hard and looked her straight in the eyes. “I’m a necromancist.”
Alice winced as if he’d slapped her. Her reaction bordered too much on repulsion for his peace of mind.
“As in forcing spirits to return from the dead?” she asked in a quiet voice. “That kind of necromancist?”
“There’s only one kind,” he replied darkly. She’d better accept it, because like he’d told her, he wasn’t going anywhere. No matter what.
“The voices and the visions…” She blinked.
“Yes,” he said, his tone flat. “They’re dead people.”
She placed a hand on her heart, seeming to digest his words. “Why would a shifter hunt you? I know you’re not supposed to exist and that the government may want you dead as a potential threat, which makes an assassin the logical assumption, but she,” she pointed at Maya, “said a gift hunter.”
“A shifter can take my art and sell it, but only if I’m killed.”
“Where did you learn this?” Joss asked. “We’ve only recently figured out how it works ourselves.” His eyes met Sean’s. “The information isn’t exactly general knowledge.”
Ivan glanced at Alice, trying to decide how much he should say.
“It’s water under the bridge,” she said. “You may as well come clean.”
“A spirit told me.”
Sean moved to the edge of his seat. “Why would a spirit tell you?”
“To protect me.”
“Against the gift hunter?” Clelia asked.
“Spirits always do what they do for their personal gain,” Ivan said wryly.
“He did it in exchange for a favor,” Sean said with insight. Something in his eyes told Ivan he’d lost someone dear not so long ago.
Maya lifted a brow. “What did this ghost want?”
Ivan shot her an irritated look. “Does it matter?”
She shrugged. “Just curious.”
“He wants his body to be found so he can be buried next to his mother.”
“Another unsolved murder,” Lann mused.
“How are you going to manage that without calling attention to yourself?” Clelia asked. “You can’t walk into a police station and say you know where to find the body.”
Yeah, he might need Cain’s help on that one. Jurisdiction and legislation where dead bodies were concerned weren’t his specialty, but he’d be damned if he’d ask for more help than he already had. “I’ll figure it out.”
“Will you do what he asked?” Alice said. “I mean, give him a proper burial?”
“I always keep my word.” He lowered his voice. “You know that, by now.” From her compassionate expression, he gathered she was moved by Nicolas’s plight. It had to be the thing about being buried close to his mother. “I’ll make sure he gets his proper grave.”
“Why?” Lann asked with an air of indifference. “He’s dead. Whatever does it matter?”
“To some spirits, the burial ritual holds a symbolic meaning of closure.”
Alice sat down on the sofa, her hands clamped between her knees. “Where is his mother buried?”
“Cape Town.”
Cain froze with his mug in midair. “Camps Bay?”
He knew? A chill broke out over Ivan’s body. “Yes.”
“What is this spirit’s name?”
“Nicolas. Why?”
The atmosphere in the room changed. Cain paled. Joss squeezed Clelia’s shoulder, and Maya’s eyes widened a fraction. If Sean moved forward any farther, he was going to fall off his seat. Of all of them, Lann seemed most affected. His jaw set into a hard line, and his hands clenched into fists.
Cain addressed Ivan. “It’s very important that you tell us exactly what he said.”
Ivan stared around the room. “What was Nicolas to you?”
Lann gritted his teeth. “His father and stepbrother held my pregnant wife captive to steal my son.”
“Nicolas helped her escape and gave her a cure so mothers of forbidden arts babies won’t die at birth,” Clelia said.
He knew his biological mother had died in childbirth, but he didn’t know it was because of what he was. At the moment, he didn’t have time to deal with the new information. He put it away in the back of his mind to deal with later.