“I’ll meet you there.”

He hung up. I shoved the phone away and said, “Well, that was unexpected.”

“What was that about Aram?”

“Mathi’s intending to complete our interrupted quest to talk to the man. He wants me—or more specifically, my knives—along.”

“And I bet he didn’t even try to soften that admission.”

“Nope.”

Lugh shook his head. “I take it you’re going?”

I nodded. “It’s worth a trip. If he’s there, he will give us answers.”

“If he had any sense, he’d have disappeared by now. They might have kept the kidnapping of you and Mathi out of the mainstream news, but I doubt it’d be a secret in underground circles.”

“Maybe, but Mathi said Kaitlyn didn’t send Aram a warning about us wanting to talk to him.”

“Well, of course she’d say that.”

I quirked an eyebrow at him. “It’s to her benefit to tell the truth, given she’s admitted she regularly passes information onto Ruadhán for certain... allowances.”

Surprise flitted across his expression. “Really? I can’t imagine Sgott being party to something like that. Especially given what he said about the woman being as slippery as an eel.”

“Maybe that’s why. Maybe Ruadhán uses his position to downgrade certain charges.”

Lugh frowned. “I know you don’t like the man, but I can’t imagine he’d pervert the course of justice.”

“He’s a light elf; they never think in terms of black and white. If he thought perversion would get the desired results, he’d do it. Legalities wouldn’t come into it.”

Lugh’s expression suggested he didn’t agree, but he didn’t argue any further. He clicked open his car and, once we were underway, said, “Just do me a favor and keep an eye on who’s behind you this time? I don’t need the stress of another phone call saying there’s been an accident, there’s blood all over the car, and you’re missing.”

“Keeping an eye on who’s following us didn’t help us last time.”

He gave me that look. “You know what I mean.”

“I do, and I’ll be fine.”

He harrumphed but didn’t say anything else. It was close to five by the time we arrived at Lugh’s, and Mathi was waiting, as promised, his arms crossed as he leaned back against the driver side of the car. He didn’t move as we pulled up behind him, nor did he smile. Serious Mathi was in full control. It’d be interesting to see how long it lasted, given how desperate he was to get me back in his bed.

I was betting it would take maybe five minutes with me in the car. Ten at the most.

“Send me a text when you get to Elsmoot,” Lugh said as he switched off the engine. “At least I’ll know you got that far safely.”

“I will.” I leaned across and dropped a kiss on his cheek. “You make sure you lock and bar the front door. We both know how lost you can get in research.”

A smile twitched his lips, but he didn’t deny the accusation. I grabbed my coat and bag, then climbed out the car and walked down to Mathi.