Meaning someone was pretty desperate to keep track of my movements, and that was odd, considering Lugh was the relic hunter, not me.

Of course, I was the one who’d found the crown.

I just wished I wasn’t also the one who’d lost it again.

“What are their names? And yours?”

“Leina Rodden, Reid Rodden, and Eryk Rotte.”

“Right,” Lugh said, “you’re going straight back to Kaitlyn from here and tell her you can no longer fulfil your contract—”

She made a low growly sound. “You can’t make me do that.”

“He can’t,” I said, “but I can, and you will do just that. And you will never again accept a contract that involves either me or my brother.”

She somehow managed to look both annoyed and unimpressed by the restriction. A smile tugged at my lips. “And if you’re thinking I can’t stop your counterparts from accepting such a contract, you’d be right. But Sgott Bruhn happens to be our adopted father, and as the head of the night division of the IIT, he could make life extremely hard for them.”

As statements went, it was mostly the truth. He might not have officially adopted either of us, but he’d been Mom’s partner for over sixty years and had been in my life since I was two.

Whether he’d break the law for either of us was another matter entirely, but I personally doubted it. Which didn’t mean he wouldn’t help us—he would and had—but he’d do it within the framework of the law.

Or, at the very least, a flexible version of it.

Leina’s eyes widened, alarm evident. She’d obviously had dealings with either Sgott or the IIT.

“Kaitlyn really didn’t tell you anything about your targets, did she?” Lugh said. “Maybe do a bit more groundwork before you take the next contract.”

She muttered something I couldn’t quite catch, and then said, “What happens now?”

“We let you go,” Lugh said.

“And when you do report back to Kaitlyn,” I added, “you will tell her nothing about the tunnel, the shaft, or indeed this basement and whatever you might have seen here.”

She swore. Long, loud, and rather colorfully.

“Wow.” The corners of Lugh’s frost green eyes crinkled. “Who knew there were so many different ways to say ‘fuck you’?”

He walked around the table, grabbed the back of the chair, and rolled our captive across the room and down the small corridor to our shaft.

I followed, eying the shifter with increasing concern. Her breathing was ragged, and small patches of gray were beginning to bloom across her skin. It was a sign of just how rapidly the infection was moving.

As Lugh bent to release the cuffs, I stepped to one side of the chair—out of kicking range—then touched her shoulder again. “Change of plans—go directly to the hospital and get the silver poisoning treated. You can make a call to Kaitlyn and your team on the way there.”

She grunted but didn’t say anything. The minute she was released, she shoved the flagstone aside and disappeared down the shaft as swiftly as... well, a rat down the drainpipe. I sent the wind down to check on her, even though she really had no choice but to obey my last directive. She’d shifted shape and was moving away at a run.