Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
M ireille’s mouth fell open, and Ronin must’ve felt her tense in his lap because he whispered in her ear, “See? I told you he’d be worthwhile to meet with.”
“How…how did you do that?” Mireille asked Mattias, who snuffed out the flame, dragged deeply, and puffed out a cloud of smoke.
Mireille had never met a Fae with elemental fire magic. Nor the other two elemental magics, lightning and water, that had faded away centuries ago. Only the Windriders’ ability to control air and summon the wind had remained in Ethyrios after the suppression of the Fallen Goddess.
She was shocked Mattias felt safe enough to put on even that little display. Though truthfully, Mattias didn’t seem to be feeling much of anything at the moment.
“Fancy party trick, huh?” Mattias smirked at Ronin. Had he already known about Mattias’s gift?
“I knew she’d be impressed.” Ronin winked as Mireille continued to gape.
“Where did you get it from?” she asked.
“Showed up after my sister disappeared,” Mattias murmured around his cigarette. “No idea why or where it came from.”
“Your sister have it too?” Ronin asked.
Mattias shrugged. “Not that I know of.”
“What happened to her?”
A shudder ran through Mattias, and he seemed to sober up, sitting up straighter and glancing around the mezzanine. The alcoves were well hidden from each other, and the booming music was so loud that no one would hear them.
“I know something bad happened to her up at that estate…” Mattias trailed off, a fearful look in his eyes. “No matter what the IA claims.”
“Why did she go in the first place?” Mireille asked.
“She got some kind of cryptic invitation from Otto himself.” Mattias brought the cigarette back to his lips with pinched fingers, sucking in a comforting drag. He leaned his head back against the banquette, his mohawk crunching. “Claimed he could help her unlock her inner power , or some shit.”
“What, like fire?” Ronin shifted forward, his hair tickling Mireille’s temple.
Mattias expelled a long exhale. “I don’t fucking know, man. Larissa was always… she was super spiritual. Obsessed with the Fallen Goddess. Didn’t believe in the High Gods or the Empire. She and our parents used to have screaming matches about it.”
Mattias’s eyes glazed over, lost in the tempestuous sea of his memories.
Mireille coaxed him back. “So, what makes you think something happened to her up there?”
His face hardened. “Because I followed her.”
Ronin stiffened beneath her. “ How ? How did you even get in? And how the fuck did you get back out ?”
Mattias smirked. “Bought a vial of veiling potion from one of those back-alley apothecaries downtown and snuck in with a shipment of crates. Disguised myself as one of the deliverymales.”
“What did you see while you were there?” Mireille was on the edge of her seat. Well, the edge of Ronin’s knee, really. Very few people had ever seen the inside of Otto’s estate.
“The place is fucking huge and just…so odd looking. You’ve seen pictures, right? Those tall turrets with all those melting windows. The Cathedral of Bones—weirdest fucking architecture I’ve ever seen. And the collection he’s got in there? Shit from all over the continent, some of it thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of years old. Like walking through a fucking museum. And some of those pieces, man… I couldn’t shake the feeling that they were watching back.”
Ronin cocked an eyebrow and Mattias let out a bitter little laugh.
“I wasn’t on this stuff as much back then.” He flicked some ash into an ashtray. “And I wasn’t there long, but I saw Larissa having dinner alone with Otto. He was asking her all these questions about our family. Where we were from, where our grandparents were from, shit like that.”
“Did the staff not question you?” Ronin was rubbing idle circles against Mireille’s hip, goosebumps raising with every pass. She didn’t even think he realized he was doing it. It was extremely distracting. Though not entirely unwelcome.
“Nah, they were all so out of it. Think Otto’s got them all under some kind of spell.”
“What happened after dinner?” Mireille asked, not sure she wanted to know.
Mattias crushed his cigarette into the ashtray, then dipped his head into his hands. “I followed Larissa up to her guest room. She was the only guest there, as far as I could tell. I convinced her that I was, well, me, by telling her things from our childhood that only I would know. We had a huge fight. I tried to convince her to leave with me, but she refused. Whatever promises Otto made to her, she was so eager for them that she wouldn’t see reason. I was lucky she didn’t drag me out of that room and expose me as an intruder.”
“What did you do?” Ronin asked.
“What else could I do?” Mattias’s amber eyes filled with shame. “I left. Snuck back out on the delivery truck. I was… I hoped that maybe Larissa would come to her senses and return in a few days.”
“Did she?” Mireille strained forward.
“In a way, yes.” Mattias plucked up a bottle of Aquaver from the table and took a long, deep pull. “She came to me in a dream. Well, her voice at least. Said, I am one with my power. And I am enough. ”
“What do you think that means?” Ronin asked.
“Fuck if I know.” Mattias shook his head. “I thought it meant she was still alive, still up at that estate. But the IA wouldn’t take me seriously. And I had no concrete proof, other than my own testimony, that she’d even been there.”
“Did you ever go back? To find her or try to confront Otto?” Mireille asked.
“ Fuck , no. I never want to go near that male or his creepy place again.” Mattias shivered. “Jurgev Otto is the fucking manifestation of Stygios himself.
“Death and destruction, that’s all he’s got to offer.”
Mattias had always been a little out there, but even he had never spouted anything as strange as this. And Ronin knew he wasn’t lying.
“When did all of this happen?” Mireille piped up.
Ronin was trying to ignore how good, how natural it felt to have her sitting in his lap with his hand at her waist. And High Gods, her fucking scent . He could no longer blame the effect it was having on him solely on his wolf.
“’Bout a year ago,” Mattias answered.
“And you haven’t seen Larissa since?”
Mattias’s gaze trailed out into the club, the lights bathing him in a pulsing rainbow. “No.” A simple answer, yet weighed down with a year’s worth of guilt and regret.
No wonder he needed the lethaphyll. Ronin could relate.
The thought made him instantly, and uncomfortably, aware of how long it had been since he’d had his own fix. He pressed a button on the table to call over a waitress, and Mireille shot him an annoyed look.
She scooted out of his lap, her ass brushing over his cock far too briefly, and settled herself next to Mattias.
“I’m so sorry.” She grasped the male’s hand, her voice laced with an empathy Ronin had never heard her use. Like she recognized Mattias’s loss, had felt a similar one herself. That missing father she refused to talk to him about, perhaps?
Mattias sighed. “Sorry, I haven’t been much help.”
Again surprising Ronin with her gentleness, Mireille placed a hand on Mattias’s thigh. Ronin’s wolf emitted a low growl. “Every little piece of information we can gather before we go up there will help. And if we find any trace of Larissa, if we figure out what happened to her, we’ll let you know.”
“Thank you.” The pained, grateful expression on Mattias’s face had Ronin’s chest clenching. “Fuck, stunning and thoughtful? Again, I’ll ask… how did this guy score you?”
Mireille aimed a cheeky little smile at Ronin over her shoulder, and winked. “He’s not so bad.”
And even though he knew it was all for show, goosebumps shivered down his neck.
Mattias pushed up from the banquette and handed the pack of lethaphyll cigarettes to Ronin. “You might need this up there to chill yourself out. That estate is a fucking viper’s nest. Watch out you don’t get bitten.”
Ronin stuffed the pack into his pocket, then stood and shook his friend’s hand. “We will. Thanks, Mattias. Take care of yourself.”
Mattias shuffled out of the alcove, swallowed by the droning music and throbbing lights.
Ronin crashed back against the banquette. “Well, that was… interesting.”
“You’re telling me. Did you know about Mattias’s fire power?”
Ronin nodded. “He mentioned it to me when I contacted him to arrange this meeting and told him about our assignment. I promised him we wouldn’t tell Skanisse.”
“What are the chances his sister is still alive?” Mireille shot him a pleading look.
He was about to answer when the waitress he’d summoned finally bustled up to the table, her golden wings flowing behind her. Her mouth formed an excited O before she noticed Mireille and her lips pressed together.
“Can I get you two something?” Her gaze bobbed between them.
Ronin grimaced. “Oh, hey, uh…”
Sharae , his wolf supplied with a laugh.
“…Sharae. Nice to see you again.”
“Sure it is,” Sharae answered flatly. “Last call. What do you want?”
“I’ll take a Delirium. You want anything, Mireille?”
“Aquaver,” she said to Sharae, no trace of the previous empathy she’d shown to Mattias. “Straight up with a twist of lime. A twist , not a peel. Make sure the bartender doesn’t fuck that up.”
“Of course.” Sharae aimed a saccharine smile at Mireille, then huffed down the mezzanine, wings bouncing.
Ronin loosed a chuckle. “She’s gonna spit in your drink.”
“What was that all about? She looked like she wanted to use her wind to choke the life out of me.”
“Nothing. Had a little fun with her last weekend and haven’t seen her since.”
“Ronin Matakos, Butcher of hearts,” Mireille teased. “Sounds like she’d be better off spitting in your drink. Though based on what I saw earlier, you might be into that.”
Ronin leaned back against the banquette, crossing an ankle over his knee, and spread an arm along the back, tracing circles on the plush velvet. Mireille’s eyes darted right to his fingers. “Curious, little she-wolf? You never let me tell you what my kinks are.”
“I’ve got a pretty good guess,” she muttered. “What were we talking about before your ex-girlfriend showed up?”
“She’s not my?—”
“Right, Mattias. And the question of what actually happened to his sister.”
“Is it worth checking through the archive files again tomorrow before we leave for Otto’s on Monday?”
“I don’t think so. We’re heading to the source itself. Better to see what we can learn up there.” Mireille got a far-off, dreamy look and they settled into a comfortable silence, each of them lost in thought as they gazed down upon the sea of Fae still dancing away to the pulsing drumbeats.
And Ronin wondered if Mireille’s thoughts matched his own.
What the fuck was going on up at that estate?
And what had the IA gotten them into?