Page 107 of Stalk the Dark
I answered quickly. “Hey, it’s good to hear from you. I was getting worried.”
“I apologize for that, Orina. There were some issues with the line.”
He sounded distracted. Worried. “Is everything all right?”
“It will be. You focus on the rising and Tepes. I’ve found someone to come and assist you. A young mageri. Her name is Holly Abbot, and she’ll be with you in a couple of days. She’s more than adept at tracking and pretty good at telling when someone is lying.”
“Thank you. Any news from Nyx?”
“Nothing from Morningstar at all. The wards are still up. We’re waiting…”
My stomach contracted with nerves. “Okay, you’ll let me know if anything happens?”
“Of course. And Orina, you’ll do the same…if you need me…”
I smiled down the phone. “Of course.”
I hung up, and everyone in the office pretended to be busy, as if they hadn’t been listening to my every word.
“We have help coming. Holly Abbot, a mageri. She’s a tracker.”
Padma let out a low whistle. “I didn’t think you’d pull it off, but you did.”
“I didn’t do anything; Lorenzo did.”
“You know what I mean.”
I grabbed my jacket and sword, ready to leave. “Yeah, I do, and this means we might be able to solve some of our cold cases.”
Padma shrugged on her coat.
“Mystical trackers are insanely good,” Edwin said. “Or so I’ve heard.”
We trooped toward the exit.
“But they don’t usually work with the Order,” Merry added as she set our alarm. “The mageri like to keep their trackers close. Your friend must have some clout.”
“He does. He’s practically mageri royalty.”
We stepped out into the night, and I took a deep breath, letting the angst and the tension of the last few days go becausetomorrow…tomorrow would be a better day.
Hemlock pickedme up at the carriage stables, and I was glad for the time alone in the carriage to mentally prepare myself for the evening ahead.
The Midnight Ball was set to begin at…well, midnight, and every head of house had been invited as well as over a hundred humans from old bloodlines considered royalty in themselves by their long-standing association to the nobles.
I’d quizzed Ingrid on it over late-night tea in the kitchens. The specter had become somewhat of a confidant over the past couple of days. She was stern but sweet, reminding me of Babs, the woman who’d raised my best friend Nyx. Babs was the only mother figure I’d had. Both my parents had been killed in a fire when I was a child. They’d been retired Order members, and I’d been their miracle baby—or so everyone told me. They’d had terrible trouble conceiving once they’d given up their blessing, but I’d finally come along four years into them trying.
I’d been loved. I knew that much. I felt it when I thought about them, but the night of the fire was a dark patch in my mind. The memories lost to me. Theysay trauma can do that. Block memories. Micah had saved me, and the Order raised me.
But Babs, Quinn, and Nyx had given me a real sense of family, and now Ingrid was a warm haven hidden in the cold dark heart of Ezekiel’s crusty-ass castle.
I stayed in my room for supper, then napped before waking at ten in the evening to shower and change into my Order uniform.
I’d be attending in an official capacity tonight, none of this fancy dress bullshit.
The distant sound of hooves and the whinny of horses told me that people had begun to arrive. It was half past eleven, and Ingrid had made it clear that the ballroom doors wouldn’t open till midnight on the dot. The hallway and courtyard were going to get very crowded.
I took a deep breath and left the sanctuary of my room in search of Ezekiel.
