After an intense silence, he inclined his head. “We shouldn’t all go to the same place. We have to split up.”
“What do you suggest?” Atlas and my dad asked, almost in unison. They were often so much alike.
“Meera?” he said, turning to me. “You know your sister best.”
“Okay ...” I blew out a breath, running through scenarios in my mind. I had to think like her. Where she would go, and what she would do. She’d be on a murderous rampage, so I knew she had her axes and bracers on her. Maybe her gun. Unless someone took them from her during capture. If she was captured. “If she comes back before we find her, the first place she is going to go is home, and then the gym.”
My parents looked at each other, then nodded in agreement. My mom snapped her fingers harshly, grabbing my brothers’ attention like she was training a pack of dogs. All four of them straightened their backs, listening. “Fearghal. Darroch. You run the gym while we’re gone.”
“What? No?—”
“No arguments,” my dad interjected, pointing at the two of them. “Meera’s right. She’ll go there if no one is home, and we need to keep the family business running.”
With reluctant mumbles, a chorus of “yes sir” ended the conversation.
“The rest of us should split up in the Arcane District,” I suggested, and chewed at my thumb nail while I considered further. “We start at the Witching Hour and decide which direction we go from there.”
“And what do we do with our Lucky Lou here?” my mother asked, angling her head toward him as though he were yesterday’s trash.
“Your family and nicknames,” Lou muttered with an annoyed shake of his head.
Vareck assessed the leprechaun, considering our options. “He may be of some use still. He’ll need to be escorted to the dungeons.”
“I’m going with him,” Cadoc said. His tone didn’t leave room for pushback, though it didn’t appear that Vareck had planned on disagreeing. On the contrary, the twist of his lips made it clear he rather liked the idea.
“Done. Corvo,” Vareck started, and the cat opened an eye, peering at him with displeasure. “I need you to get Drayden.”
Lou audibly groaned, mumbling something that sounded suspiciously like “not again.”
The cat made a sour face, his whiskers bunching up as he muttered mockingly. “Corvo, do this. Corvo, do that. Corvo, Ineed clothes. When is it ever, ‘Corvo, let me adore you?’ Or ‘Let me feed you fresh fish, Corvo.’ Never.”
Then he popped out of the room.
Atlas and Fearghal jumped out of their chairs, staring at the spot where Corvo had just been. “What in the nine realms!”
“You get used to it,” I said, shrugging. “Mostly. It’s when he shows up in the weirdest places that throws you off.” Which reminded me, I still wanted to talk to him about why he was at Irene’s last night.
“Who is Drayden?” my mother asked, reaching over for a piece of bread and using it to soak up the stew before she took a bite. It had to be cold by now. I wasn’t even sure she was truly hungry, or if she was just stress eating. We had that in common.
“After Kaia, he’s next in command,” Vareck answered, and Corvo popped back in the room, appearing on the table near a bowl of stew.
“He’ll be here shortly,” he said, dipping his paw in and grabbing another piece of meat.
“Fucking great,” Lou muttered, shifting in his chair. He looked like he was going to be sick, and it had nothing to do with the knife embedded in his shoulder.
“Not your favorite person, I take it?” He shook his head.
“Drayden holds a grudge longer than anyone I know,” Vareck said fondly. “And Lou is at the top of that list. How long has it been now, Lucian? Twelve years?”
“Thirteen.”
I snickered. “You always said you thought thirteen was a lucky number.”
“Beginning to reconsider that, lass. My luck might be running out.” Lou glanced at the stone hearth, rubbing his palms over his pants in an anxious gesture I’d never seen from him before. Then the flames began to hiss and spark.
Chapter 3
Vareck
