“Which part?” he asked, moving in close. Not a touch, but still meant to be comforting. “Your new identity? Morgan? Wilder?”
“All of it,” I rasped. “It’s too much. Too fast. The bigger and more complicated this all gets, the smaller I feel.”
Frazer stared. “Is this coming from you or him?”
I eyeballed him. “Who? Wilder?”
He didn’t say anything. He didn’t even blink. Instead, something passed through our bond. A fragment of a dark emotion that made me utter, “You still don’t trust him? Fraze, he stepped in front of arrows for me.”
My kin’s stare cut me to the bone. “I trust him to protect your body, but your heart’s a different story.”
I braced my hand on the ledge. For some reason my core was shaking, fraying. “What are you saying?”
Frazer’s arm went to grip my elbow, as if he thought I’d need the support. “Wilder was right—he’s not your mate.”
My limbs weakened. Frazer pushed me back to a seated position on the ledge. His hands stayed on my upper arms, and when I didn’t collapse, he let go and stood, staring.
I gaped. “How could you possibly know that?”
“Well, apart from him not fitting Maggie’s prophecy, I’ve seen the bond in action, and I’ve seen your memories. And deep down you crave adventure and danger. An open horizon. You come alive in those moments. And a mate would know that instinctively.”
Sadness swept in. “You don’t think he sees that?”
Frazer replied coolly. “Actually, I think it’s one of the reasons he’s so attracted to you. But he still pushed you to stay confined to his rooms for days.”
A feeble protest passed my lips. “He said it was to protect me.”
A quick flash of pity thawed his face. “Yes, he’s acting like a male guarding someone he cares for. But he’d rather sacrifice his life for yours than risk having you work alongside him. And I’d probably have done the same thing, but Maggie said your mate’s meant to help you, not shield you from danger.”
I opened my mouth, but I didn’t know whether to agree or argue. Adrianna’s sudden arrival spared me from having to choose. I flung open the window, and she dove back in, panting heavily, looking stricken.
Frazer joined her side but didn’t move to touch her. “What’s wrong?” he demanded.
Adrianna sagged against the ledge. “Cecile’s dead. Murdered.”
Her broken words had the world slipping out from under my feet. My hand instinctively fluttered up and gripped her shoulder. “Whathowwhen?” I reeled.
Unblinking, Adrianna began. “I got the glamour to fail and climbed in through her bedroom window. I grabbed these.” She pulled out a shell and a pearl comb from her pocket and set them on the ledge. “I was leaving when I smelled the blood.”
Adrianna exhaled a heavy breath and wrinkled her nose, as if to clear her nostrils of the scent.
“How was she killed?” Frazer expelled.
Adrianna did blink then, grimacing. “I found her in the lounge with a knife embedded in her back.”
My eyes misted over. “What do we do?”
Frazer and Adrianna shared guarded looks.
“Did you scent anyone else in the room?” Frazer’s voice was cold. All ruthless efficiency.
An act. The grief and disgust shimmering in our bond was all too real.
Adrianna straightened up, but her eyes were glazed. “No. There was so much blood … I couldn’t smell anything else.”
My arms went slack at my sides. “Should we go to Hilda?” I asked.
“No,” Adrianna retorted. Seeing my flinch, she relented. “Cecile used to be a spy for my mother. I need to be the one to go to court and explain what’s happened. If we tell anyone else now, it’ll mean asking for permission to go see her. Something that might not be granted.”
“Why not just send a message to Diana?” Frazer asked.
Adrianna didn’t reply as she ducked down to where her bag rested. Rummaging through, she pulled out a large ruby feather and handed it to Frazer. Only then did she speak. “Because I want to look her in the eye when I ask if she knows who’d want Cecile dead. And, I’ve wanted to have it out with her ever since I learned she was sacrificing the recruits under her charge to that evil crow, Morgan.”
Frazer nodded, satisfied.
Grabbing her crossbow from beside the window and securing it between her wings, she added, “Wilder’s earned our trust. Tell him what’s happened, but hide the shell and the comb until Cai and I can hand them over to Bert.” She jerked her chin to the ledge where the items lay and went on. “I’ll be back soon.”
Before we could raise any objections, she’d shouldered her bag and quiver and was out the window, running into the sky.
I locked the window and mumbled, “This whole thing is spinning out of control.”
Frazer stared down at the feather, twirling it around. “We don’t know what happened. This might not have any connection to us.”
I didn’t believe that for a second. Feeling slightly sick, I pocketed the comb and shell and moved for what had become my go-to-spot by the hearth. Dragging my legs up, I wrapped my arms around them and rested my forehead against the tops of my knees.
My heart felt a little twinge. I hadn’t known Cecile that well, but she’d seemed honorable and in her own way, kind. And she’d been a spy … had someone found out? Had Dimitri? A knife in the back certainly seemed like something he’d do. A cowardly, evil act.
Frazer appeared by my side. He used quiet tones. “I need to stash the feather. Where did you put the nightshade?”
Without looking up, I said, “There’s a spelled trunk in Wilder’s bedroom. After he showed it to Goldwyn, he locked it away.”
Frazer sounded strained as he asked, “He told you how to open it though, right?”
I nodded against my knees. “Put your hand on it and say valo.”
He stalked away, returning a moment later to build a fire. Frazer seemed content to remain in silence. Something I was infinitely grateful for; there were no words left in me, anyway. As he moved around, making tea and then sitting down next to me to read, I stayed still, somewhere between sadness and exhaustion. I dozed off around noon, only to be jerked awake by the creak of a door.
Wilder walked in and took a quick scan of the area. “Where’s Adrianna?”
Frazer got there before me. “Gone.”
A scream erupted from out in the hallway. Wilder whirled and bolted out the door.
I peered over at Frazer who was staring at the door, frozen and unresponsive. “What do we do?” I breathed.
“Nothing,” he whispered through pale lips.
I tried to will my pulse to calm while we waited, but to no avail.
A dirty growl came from the doorway. “I knew you’d be somewhere close by.”
Dimitri was there, wings flaring.
Frazer stood, and with one casual move, sat on the edge of my armrest.
Dimitri’s dark eyes glittered at the protectiveness in that single motion. “Cecile gets murdered, and you and your wingless demon just happen to be the only ones around?”
He flashed his teeth. I felt his thirst for biting—it made me shiver. Thankfully, he didn’t see that vulnerability because his attention was drawn by something in the hallway. Wilder pushed past him into the lounge. Acting as our buffer, he said in an icy calm, “Leave now.”
Dimitri got right up into Wilder’s face. My throat constricted at the sight of his teeth so close to my male’s—
To Wilder’s throat.
“Good idea,” Dimitri drawled. “I’ll go and inform everyone that your pet and her friend were the only ones around at the time of Cecile’s murder.”
Frazer went rigid beside me. I looked up to see him wearing a death mask. “Adrianna Lakeshi was with us,” he said in a murderous growl. “She’s already gone to tell her makena what’s happened.”
Wilder’s shoulders bunched together, but he didn’t comment. Dimitri, on the other hand, hissed with his adder’s tongue. “That just proves my point. If you lot didn’t commit the crime, how did you know what had happened? How did you get into her rooms?”