Poison Tree

She grinned. “You know I could take out your hunters before they could blink an eye, don’t you?”

“I don’t know that,” he replied, “and neither do you. Do you want to work or not?”

He was certain she wouldn’t risk a ght unless she was pushed to it—she was a businesswoman, after all— but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to push his buttons. He didn’t know how long he could keep up this confident facade if she decided to test him.

Instead, she sighed. “I suppose I can see what you have to o er before I decide what I want. Let’s go somewhere comfortable and you can get me some tea. Then we’ll talk about how you killed Liam and now want to make amends.”

The words took him aback just long enough that she was able to lead the way toward the administration building. As he hurried after her, one of the hunters increased his pace to catch up.

“Is there a problem?” the hunter asked.

“Not yet,” Jason answered, “but if you’re willing to stay close, that would be good.”

Did Maya know she wouldn’t be able to simply disappear from inside any of these buildings? She might not. He wasn’t sure what kind of advantage that might give him, but it was good to know anyway.

“Mary, can you get us some green tea?” he asked as they passed the secretary’s desk.

“We’ll be in conference room one.”

Maya glanced back just long enough to see which door he gestured to and to say “Good boy” in response to his choice of beverage.

Given her current fashion choices, green tea hadn’t been a deductive stretch. The only other possibility had been bubble tea, but he was pretty sure Mary didn’t keep that on hand.

Maya sat herself at the head of the conference table, leaned back to put her feet up, and then said, “So, Jason. What happened to Liam?”

“He tried to either kill or abduct a SingleEarth mediator,” Jason answered.

“Correction. He tried to abduct a third-ranked member of Frost, Onyx, and Crimson,” she replied as she ddled absently with one of six buckles on her knee-high boot. “Said member is guilty of just about every crime written by human or witch authorities, and therefore not eligible for sanctuary in SingleEarth.”

“It isn’t about what she used to be.”

“No, it’s about who she is,” Maya retorted. “She’s a killer and a thief. Not that I’m judging, but SingleEarth does. And you’re asking all the wrong questions.”

“Then what should I be asking?”

She raised one brow and waited.

“You were hired to go after Alysia,” he said.

Maya nodded. “It was a public posting.” Public meant she had no reason to withhold the information, since it had no value.

“Who hired you?”

“That part isn’t public.”

He made a mental note and moved on.

“Do you know anything about the job that resulted in me and two others being shot here recently?”

“You were shot? Poor baby,” she replied. “I had no idea. But if I were you, I would ask one of the two highly ranked members of Onyx who have been here in the last week.

Maybe the one whose sister you murdered.”

She was volunteering information, which meant she was trying to hurt him, but he couldn’t immediately guess what she was implying. He was sure he had murdered somebody’s sister during his time with Maya, but how was he supposed to know that anyone here at Haven #4 was a survivor of one of those kills?

Alysia could be. If she had recognized him as the monster who had killed someone in her family, she might have been swift to take revenge, even if she had otherwise reformed.

That would explain the timing of the attack but not why someone had hired Maya to capture Alysia.

“Wait for it,” Maya said, leaning forward with a slight smile, at the same moment that all the puzzle pieces came together in his head.

“Sarik,” he said.

Sarik, who was so terri ed of her father, who had made him into some kind of godlike gure in her mind, one even SingleEarth couldn’t stand up to. Who had blanched when

Jason had mentioned Kral. He had thought the reaction was because she was afraid the leader of Onyx would mention her to her father, but …

“No,” he said, standing up.

“Darling,” Maya said sweetly, “has your lover been less than honest with you?”

Sarik had told him that she had ended up in Maya’s care because she had stupidly knocked on the door looking for help because she had run away from home and become lost. She hadn’t been lost. She had been looking for Cori, the girl Maya had been hired to kidnap.

Maya stood up and came to his side. She patted his shoulder and leaned against his side to say, “Love hurts, darling. And I don’t think you have any deal worth o ering me, so I’m going to head out. I’ll look you up next time I need something.”

She walked away, just in time for Mary to arrive with her tea. Mary looked bewildered that the meeting was already over. Jason followed Maya, only to make sure the hunters would let her go. No one here wanted a fight.

As soon as Maya had disappeared, Jason collapsed in one of the chairs in the reception room. He didn’t know what to do next. Where to go next.

“Jason?” Mary asked. “Is everything all right?”

He shook his head.

When Lynzi got home, he would tell her.

Tell her what, exactly?

He could tell her what she wanted to know, he decided: that SingleEarth wasn’t at risk for further attacks. After all, Alysia and Sarik—

Sahara. He knew her name as well as he knew Christian’s and Kral’s.

Alysia and Sahara were gone.

Sarik was gone.

CHAPTER 17

CHRISTIAN DRIFTED IN and out of consciousness for a while. Each time he came close to the surface, he tried to grab on to reality enough to focus, but it was hard.

Once, he heard someone say to someone else near him, “The woman they found was the cashier working at the station. She says she doesn’t remember seeing Alysia.”

Christian tried to ask a question on that topic, but the e ort caused the world to slip away again.

The next time he woke, he could feel someone funneling power into him. It wasn’t

Pandora, but it had to be another of his own kind.

She must have sensed his mental nearness, because she said, “If you’re awake enough to help me out, give me a sign.”

He tried, but he couldn’t focus.

Again he woke, and nally he was able to get a sense of his body. He was hurt, badly, but Lynzi had probably saved his life. He managed to ask mentally, Where’s Pandora?

She came, Lynzi replied, the same way. She said this was your “own stupid fault” and that as long as you already have a SingleEarth nursemaid, she doesn’t need to waste her time.

That sounded like her.