Black Truth, White Lies (Black Hat Bureau 3)

17

Salt air pricked my eyes as I balanced on the edge of the jagged stones, gazing down at the sea, watching as waves pounded the cliffside. The roar was so loud, its fury so palpable as it hammered away at obstacles in its path, I could scream myself hoarse, and no one would hear me.

No one had ever heard me.

Or they hadn’t cared enough to check on me, which amounted to the same thing.

The urge to jump never manifested as it had when I was a child. I waited and waited, but it never hit. All this time I thought it was l’appel du vide, the call of the void, but maybe it had been more than that back then. Either way, I was grateful the only tug I felt was Asa’s arm as it slid around me, anchoring me.

“Are you afraid I was going to fall?” I leaned my head back on his shoulder. “Or jump?”

“Neither.” His warm lips brushed my temple. “I only wanted to hold you.”

I wasn’t sure if I believed him, or if he believed himself, but I wasn’t self-destructive.

Anymore.

“Let’s go home.” I cast the ocean one last glance. “We have presents to wrap and a tree to decorate.”

“Did you mean what you said in there?”

News of Calixta’s reappearance had shaken the director, but he came into the room already twitchy.

Whatever was coming, she wasn’t to blame for my promotion, but then again, she couldn’t escape her prison without me…or the baggy of ashes in my safe. The person behind the coup? They were out there, moving freely, and making dangerous allies faster than we could stamp out their followers.

The director hadn’t given me the ringleader’s name, maybe he hadn’t ferreted them out yet, but he was spooked.

Spooked enough to rip my consultation contract to shreds in front of me with a flick of his wand.

That was okay. I had a copy. And I had Megara, who would vouch for its contents under oath.

Given the rogue agents’ involvement in transporting those fae creatures, I was willing to play along. I owed it to Samford, and its people, who had suffered losses on my behalf, to do what I could for them, to keep them safe. Because whatever was coming, it knew where I lived.

“Yeah.” I puffed out my cheeks. “Colby will be thrilled. Clay too. The girls…not so much.”

I had already cost them so much, and I was about to ask for more.

All that kept me from pulling out my hair right now was I had seen the fear hiding beneath the director’s mask. He thought I could protect his organization, and through it, him. Why? No idea. But I got the feeling, based on Calixta resurfacing with help from the Black Hat rogues, it was all in the family. What else was out there? Who else?

That covetous glance he shot my heart told me he might wrinkle his nose at white magic, but he knew enough of what I was, what Colby had made me, to be tempted. Most likely, he would have killed me and taken my heart if he believed for a hot second he could transfer Colby’s familiar bond to himself.

Yet another reason why she hadn’t been here. He was too canny. Had she been in the room, he might have been too curious, too tempted not to make a move.

“The girls will understand.” Asa took my hand and pulled me back from the edge. “You have built-in security for the girls in Aedan.”

The sensation of being a pawn moved on a cosmic chessboard left my senses swimming, or maybe it was late-onset vertigo.

“Handy how that worked out.” I let him guide me toward the gates. “Everything tied up with a bow.”

I had my confirmation I was a quarter daemon. I had proof of my lineage. I had a distant claim to a faraway sea kingdom I would never see. I had a cousin, in a roundabout way, who was blood bound to me. One who could step into my shoes at the shop and fill in while I slid deeper into my old life.

All my problems wrapped up with a big bow, like a gift from the universe.

Merry Christmas to me.