Courting Darkness by L R Braden

Author:L R Braden [Braden, L R]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781611949636
Publisher: Bell Bridge Books
Published: 2019-08-08T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

I TOSSED MY purse in a corner and padded through my empty living room. Kai’s car had been out front when I pulled up, but there was no sign of him inside. The kitchen was empty of all but a collection of dishes drying by the sink. Kai’s door was closed, and I passed it on tiptoe, not wanting to alert Hortense of my return just yet. I gritted my teeth at being reduced to sneaking in my own home.

My room was just the way I’d left it, blankets pulled semi-straight over the bed, clothes in piles ranging from freshly laundered to stained rags. Still no sign of Chase or Jynx. No sign of Kai, either. Everyone was out making progress toward James’s rescue. I bunched my fists. Everyone except me.

“You’re home early.”

I jumped and turned, placing a hand over my speeding heart.

Kai slouched against my door frame, hands stuffed in his pockets.

Pushing past him, I marched back to the living room. The door to his room stood open. “Where’s Hortense?”

He lifted one shoulder. “I told her you’d be working till four. She chose to spend the time elsewhere. Speaking of which,” he crossed his arms, “what are you doing here?”

Grimacing, I flopped onto the couch. “I got sent home early.”

“You were fired?”

“No,” I snapped, glaring over the back of the couch. “I just—” I fell back against the cushions, deflated. “I couldn’t concentrate.”

“Because of James?”

“James, and Hortense, and Chase, and Jynx, and Elsa, and O’Connell, and Maggie, and the homeless junkie in the alley, and the dead girl in the apartment.” I dragged my fingers over my face with a groan. “All of it.”

He pushed my legs out of the way and settled at the end of the couch.

“Just when I think I’ve found some kind of balance in my life, everything falls apart.”

He smiled. “That’s because you’re thinking of “balance” as “stable.” Balance is something that is constantly changing.”

I shifted to look into the twin galaxies of his eyes. “Did you get what you needed from your friend?”

He snorted. “He’s hardly a friend, but the old hermit was helpful. We made a couple adjustments. The incantation is ready to go.”

“Then let’s get to work.” I pushed off the couch, itching to have something productive to bend my frustrated energy toward.

I padded down the hall to the extra bedroom I used for storage, and flicked on the light. Boxes lined one wall, shelves the other. In the back corner was a nest of blankets and pillows that shouldn’t have been there.

I crouched beside what looked like a child’s fort and trailed my fingers along the fabric. A tuft of white fur lifted free.

My mouth tightened. So this was where Jynx had been sleeping. I hadn’t even had time to ask.

My stomach rolled at the thought of the still-missing teenager. Surely Chase would keep her safe. Assuming he caught up to her. Assuming they weren’t both caught and sitting next to James in Merak’s dungeon. Assuming they weren’t dead.

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