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"God," Ius problems"

"And will no doubt continue to do so until both sorcerers are dealt with"

Dealt with – the polite way of saying dead Not that I was, in any way, doubting the necessity of it

I sighed and walked back to Azriel "You’ll let us know if you find anything useful," I said to Stane

He nodded "I’ll also check if the autopsy results are ready on the body parts found in the locker If it was Genevieve Sands, then at least it basically confirms the shifter theory"

Because it wasn’t Genevieve who’d walked back into that building just before the blast, but a shifter wearing my face And it was a wonder the police hadn’t contacted me about the events – unless, of course, Uncle Rhoan was running interference with theht ed me toward him Valdis was already in his free hand

"Why?"

"Because shein this place"

I drew Aan to flow across the outer reaches of -pile demons She really was a bloodthirsty little person

Not person Derinned as Azriel whisked us across the fields He released ht and airy hallway, his gaze watchful and blue fire running down Valdis’s steel sides

The place was silent The air held an oddly smoky, somehow electrical scent that reminded me of the s to suggest there was anything or anyone else in this place but the two of us

"There’s not" Azriel sheathed Valdis "Not even her resonance lingers"

"So around "It sh it does not feel recent or primed to attack"

"Why would she set a trap in one home, and not the other?" I cautiously walked into the first roo on the polished floorboards The double bed had been stripped of linen, and the drawers from the bedside tables had been thrown on top of thesomeone had emptied them in haste I walked across to the wardrobe and used Amaya’s tip to open the door It too was empty

The rest of the house provided a similar story – beds and wardrobes stripped, rooe pieces of furniture Genevieve Sands had taken everything that ht have provided us with soht now be found

The sudden urge to scream rolled up my throat, and I had to bite down on h the kitchen-diner, heading for the s that lined the rear of the house The sarden was immaculately tended and very pretty, filled with roses and other flowering plants There was no sign of a cuneiforarden to hed and rubbed my forehead wearily

"Another dead end Just e needed right now"

"That is not entirely true," Azriel said

I swung around He was squatting in front of one of the kitchen cabinets, and held up what looked like a torn edge of paper "It was caught at the back of this cabinet Obviously, whoever emptied the drawers did so in haste, and did not notice it"

I walked across "Does it say anything useful?"

He sh it failed to reach his eyes "There is so a stylized whirlpool and, underneath, a word that is incomplete because of the tear – Péno It can’t be anything else" Not in this instance, surely And that ht a break, even if only a sht "It also gives us our next target – that warehouse you and Jak discovered"

I frowned "But there’s nothing there"

"There will be so there, but it is possible it can only be accessed via iven neither of us is capable of ers here, which suggests its use was recent If she did not use it to set a trap, what, then, did she do?"

"I have no idea" I flared ain There was an odd sense of energy and movement in its undertones and I frowned "Maybe it was some sort of transport spell"

"Which is e should check that warehouse Perhaps the only way to reach whatever secrets that place holds is via the use of such a spell"

"Which still isn’t going to help us"

"No, but if the scent lingers there as it does here, then perhaps we could uncover her den via more practical means"