“That’s a lot of effort for one ploy.”
“Ploys generally work that way, especially if you really do want some enterprising pr?torian to join up with you. You want to convince me? Give me an address and location. Or doesn’t your reach go there either?” While she spoke, Mae’s mind was racing, figuring out the best way to subdue this guy. If she’d had her ego within reach, she might have managed a covert call to the authorities. As it was, he couldn’t be that hard for her to take out herself, so long as he didn’t have a gun concealed somewhere. Even organized criminal groups had difficulty obtaining guns in the RUNA, but they were more likely to have them than average civilians.
“It’s hard for anyone to reach into Arcadia,” he said. “We lost track of her shortly after the picture was taken, but we can help you get to her—if you help us and take your rightful place.”
Mae didn’t hear anything past one key word. Arcadia. “You’re lying. They wouldn’t have sent her there.”
“Wouldn’t they?” Emil asked, meeting her eyes levelly.
Yes, she thought bleakly, they might very well have done that. “What do you want from me?”
“What we’ve always wanted: you to take your rightful place in the group you were born into and step up now that we need you.”
“Step up how?” She didn’t want to negotiate with these people, but it had suddenly become impossible to shake the image of that small girl in the desolate reaches of the RUNA’s tyrannical neighbor.
“By doing what you do best. We need you to kill someone.”
“Oh, is that all?”
He frowned, momentarily caught up in his own thoughts. “You kept company with the servant of another goddess this weekend, one our mistress doesn’t like. You need to eliminate her.”
“I don’t ‘need’ to do anything,” snapped Mae, trying to hide her shock at the reference to Callista. How did they even know about her? “And I’m not an assassin for hire.”
He shot her a wry look. “Really? Then why do you collect a government paycheck? Don’t be stupid about this. It’s your last chance to embrace your destiny…otherwise, you’ll face the consequences.”
Her body tensed. “Threats now if I don’t do your killing? Why would you even care about some zealot in the borderlands?”
“Because she and her goddess present a risk.”
“A risk to the Br—” Mae suddenly cut herself off as a terrible, sinking feeling emerged within her. It seemed as though Justin wasn’t going to be her last wacky mistaken-identity mishap. “You aren’t with the Br?dern.”
Emil was briefly thrown off. “The Swedish mafia? Those underlings?” Slowly, almost comically, realization dawned on him as well. “You don’t know, do you? You have no idea who I am.”
“I know you’re a guy who broke into my house and dangled promises of my niece in order to get me to commit murder. Seems like that’s plenty.”
His eyes were full of wonder. “Unbelievable. They broke the rules and never taught you her ways. I just figured you were one of the many who stray, but you were never even set on the path. It’s a shame,” he murmured. “You’re too dangerous to change now.”
“You don’t know the half of it.”
She threw the bowl, clipping Emil in the head. It made him stagger, and then with astonishing speed, he melted back into the shadows. She sprinted to the hall in a few easy steps and found no sign of him. It was impossible. He couldn’t be faster than her. Without stopping, she headed toward the bedroom and flipped on the light. He wasn’t there either. Swearing, she spun around and headed to the bathroom, wondering if he’d sidestepped into it. It too was empty. Her heart racing, she hurried back to the living room. Emil must have slipped into the bathroom while she was in the bedroom and then doubled back out. It was the only explanation…but it was improbable. This whole chase had only lasted a matter of seconds. She’d heard no door or window, and neither was open. The bolt to the storage area on the second floor was still in place.
She searched the apartment again, looking in every possible place: closets, under the bed, etc. No sign. He was gone, vanished without a trace. How had he done it? She paced around, more out of agitation than anything else. What did she do now? Calling the police over a break-in wasn’t unreasonable, but what was she supposed to say?