“Why have you tied a vigilante to my bed?” I ask, sounding relatively patient instead of extremely pissed off. The only reason I’m able to manage that tone is because Lee couldn’t bring himself to kill his brother when he had the chance.
“His name is Mikhail Glazunov. He was my dad’s friend, his second-in-command. He’s in charge of the vigilantes now.”
And he’s in my apartment. The way he looked at me when I opened the door . . . The vigilantes are all filled with hate. I don’t want Glazunov here. I especially don’t want him in my bedroom.
“Start explaining,” I say in a voice so cold, Lee looks like he might be rethinking his decision to come here. Even Kyol feels the chill. He sends assurance through the bond, telling me without words that he’ll be here soon and will take care of this.
I don’t need him to take care of this. I need Lee to grab the vigilante and get the hell out of my apartment.
Lee clears his throat. “Glazunov . . .” He takes in a shaky breath. “Let me start this differently. I know that what I did to Paige was wrong. I didn’t think the serum would hurt her because it didn’t hurt me. I wasn’t thinking about the future. I made a mistake, and I am sorry.”
“You’re sorry,” I echo. “That makes everything okay. I’m just supposed to listen to you and—”
“I know my words don’t make it okay,” he cuts in. “But I’m trying to fix things. I need to talk to Paige. She has the serum research. Glazunov helped develop it. He might be able to find out what’s wrong with us.”
“He can find out what’s wrong with you somewhere else. Why tie him to my bed?”
“He doesn’t exactly want to be here.”
“So take him away!” I yell as I stand.
Sosch darts to the arm of the couch. I feel bad for startling him, but I can’t stand the fact that Glazunov is here. I can’t stand the fact that Lee is either.
“You want to help Paige, don’t you?” Lee asks, ignoring my outburst. “I was hoping you’d know a way to make him help us. I know fae have different magics. Can someone coerce him?”
I snort. “You hate the fae, and yet, you want to use their magic?”
“I was raised to hate them,” he says. “I don’t. Not anymore. But I don’t trust them either.”
“Funny. I don’t trust you.”
“Do you know a fae who can help or not?” he asks. He’s annoyed. Good. I am, too.
“Why don’t you ask the remnants for help?” That’s who he was with the last I heard. Caelar and the others were all camped out in the Corrist Mountains just before they attacked the palace a month ago.
“I can’t find them.” He uses the back of his hand to wipe a rivulet of sweat from his brow. “When they learned what I did to Paige, they were pissed. They fissured me to Houston and told me to stay away from her. That hasn’t been a problem because she’s staying away from me. I went to her house, talked to her landlord, called some of her friends. No one’s heard from her.”
I cross my arms, making sure my go-to-hell look doesn’t waver. It doesn’t stop him from asking his next question, though.
“You haven’t heard from her, have you?”
My expression doesn’t flicker, but inwardly, I cringe. I have heard from her. Three weeks ago, I left messages on her cell phone, her home phone, at the bar where she used to work, and with several of her friends. She finally got in touch with me after a few days, and we’ve been talking a few times every week since then. The conversations were awkward in the beginning. We’re on opposite sides of the war. Paige respects and trusts Caelar and the remnants, and since Lena’s been hunting them down these past couple of months, Paige has no desire to see her on the throne. She won’t tell me anything about the remnants except that she talks to Tylan, Caelar’s brother, almost every day.
Of course, it’s been almost a full week since I last heard from her. She’s working with a chemist to analyze and dissect the Sight serum research we took from the vigilantes’ compound. As far as I know, they haven’t made any progress on finding out why it’s fatal.
“You have, haven’t you?” Lee asks.
“No,” I tell him. It’s not technically a lie. I haven’t heard from her in almost a week now. Plus, I don’t owe Lee the truth.
“Really?” His shoulders slump.
I start to make a smart retort, but stop on the first syllable. His question wasn’t sarcastic. It didn’t even sound like a question. It sounded more like his hopes were being crushed. Suddenly, he looks twice as pale as he did before.
Damn it, I don’t want to feel one ounce of sympathy for him. I bite my lip to keep from asking him if he’s okay.
“You’ve been looking for her, though,” he says. “That’s how I found you. You called the bar where she works. Your number showed up on the caller ID.”
“They gave you my number?” It never occurred to me to conceal my identity or to use a public phone when I called. I’m used to hiding from fae, not from humans.
Lee nods, then winces as if the motion was too much for him. “They knew me. I showed up there a few times before to talk to Paige.”
He’s breathing even harder now. The conversation is wearing him out.
I stand. He does, too, and his hand goes behind his back to where his gun is.
“I was going to get you a glass of water,” I say.
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine, Lee.”
“Are you close to finding her?” he asks, wiping his hand across his face again. “Will you let me know when you do?”
I’ll talk to Paige about it. She’s justifiably pissed at Lee, but if working together helps save both their lives, she might have to cave and speak to him.
Out loud, I say, “I’ll think about it if you get Glazunov out of here.”
Something flickers through his expression just before he meets my gaze. “There’s another reason I’m here.”
“Another reason besides the fact that you’re bleeding on my floor?” A few drops have splattered on the fake hardwood. At least it’s not carpet, but he seriously needs to get to a hospital.
“I need you to watch him for a few days,” Lee says.
One second ticks by. Two. Three.
“Excuse me?” I couldn’t have heard him correctly.
“I don’t have anyone else I can trust him with,” he says.
“You can’t trust him with me!” I yell.
“I have to,” he says. “Look, the . . . the vigilantes. Whatever you want to call them. Some of them died at my dad’s compound but not all of them. Not most of them. And the lead chemist who created the serum is still alive. I found out where he is. If he and Glazunov have their research, and if they work together, it’s our best chance to find a cure.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “Absolutely not. I’m not babysitting a man you’ve kidnapped, a man who probably wants me dead.”
“I’m leaving him here, McKenzie,” Lee says, leveling his gaze at me. “I won’t be gone more than three days. All you have to do is feed him and give him some water.”
He’s serious. He’s going to walk out of here and leave that man tied to my bed. I won’t be able to just let Glazunov go. If he doesn’t try to kill me immediately, he can come back anytime. he knows where I live. And if I call the cops instead, I’ll have to explain how he ended up tied to my bed.
“You don’t have a choice on this,” Lee says.
Those words make my resolve turn to steel. I’m sick of people taking away my choices. I’m not putting up with it anymore.
I give a short, humorless laugh as I pace past the couch.
“I’m sorry,” Lee begins. “It’s the only . . . Where are you going?”
I don’t answer. I reach my front door, turn the knob, then swing it open. As soon as Kyol crosses the threshold, I say, “He has a gun.”