My heart takes off at a gallop. I’m fully expecting to see Latham’s name staring up at us—it would be fitting for him to design a final bone game that forcibly lead us to him. So when I see the name Rayna Roe printed in neat block letters, a long breath sags out of me. I’m not sure if it’s relief or disappointment. On one hand, I’m itching for a confrontation. The rage that burns in my chest needs a target before it destroys me from within. Then again, I don’t feel ready to face Latham just yet. I’m not sure I ever will.

Jacey taps the page with her fingertip. “She’s a Bone Handler.”

I gaze down the list of crimes and my stomach curdles. Preparing illegally obtained bones. Selling stolen goods. Facilitating murder. I’m reminded again of Declan—the sharp sting of betrayal when I found him selling my father’s bones in the shadow market, the horror at realizing he’d helped arrange the murders of two members of Midwood’s town council. Perhaps that’s the point—Latham wants me to remember the wounds of the past. To be tortured anew. The more I suffer, the more powerful my bones will be when he finally kills me. But I won’t give him the satisfaction. I’ll treat this challenge like the game it is. I push aside my feelings and clear my throat.

“It looks like she worked here in the city before she went missing. Maybe we should start at the bone house.”

“I agree,” Jacey says. “It seems like that’s where the council would have started when they were searching for her.”

Talon yawns. “Do you think we could close our eyes first? Just for a little while?”

“The bone house won’t be open at this hour anyway,” Bram says. “Rest. I’ll keep the first watch.”

I’ve never been more exhausted, yet more certain I won’t be able to sleep. Even so, maybe I’ll close my eyes for just a moment—it’s better than nothing. I must drift off, because the next thing I know, sunlight is filtering through the clouds.

But my future still looks as dim as ever.

Chapter Twenty-Seven