“So, what is it? No, wait—how do you spell it?”

I pace a circle around her. She spins as I stalk her, unwilling to give me her back. I’m going to have it anyway. Every way. “S-i-n-s-a-r.”

“Sinsar?”

“Shi-sa. Shi-sa-du.” I continue pacing. I like the way her body moves. If she glances down, she’ll see my coat is open and my suit fails to conceal how hard I am. She never takes her gaze from my face. Few keep it there.

“Oh, that makes great sense. And the du?”

I stop circling, facing the door. She stops, her back to it. Three feet separate us. I can feel her. Smell her.

“D-u-b-h.”

“Dubh is ‘do’? Should I be calling pubs ‘poos’?”

“Dubh is Gaelic, Ms. Lane. Pub is not.”

“Don’t bust a gut laughing.”

“Nothing about the Sinsar Dubh is a laughing matter.”

“I stand corrected. So what is this gravest of graves?”

Flippant. She has no business being here. Fio was right.

It would be merciful, Jericho. Kill her quickly before one of the others tortures her for days then rips out her throat.

Does mercy look like my middle fucking name?

Do it for me, Jericho. I can’t bear the thought of what one of the others will do to her.

One of them? Or me, Fiona? Which thought can’t you bear?

I saw the look in your eyes. Jericho, how could you want that … that … that foolish, empty-headed child! What could she possibly offer you?

“Too long,” I say. Fiona has been with me too long.

“What?” she says blankly.

I’m suddenly furious that MacKayla Lane came to my city, thinks to play on the same field with me and mine, made herself my problem in any capacity. “Go home, Ms. Lane. Be young. Be pretty. Get married. Have pretty babies. Grow old with your pretty husband.”

“Oh, screw you, Jericho Barrons! Tell me what it is. You said you would.”

“If you insist. Don’t be a fool. Don’t insist.”

“I’m insisting. What is it?”

“Last chance.” For many things.

“Too bad. I don’t want a last chance. Tell me.”

I was lying anyway. Her last chance was her first one. She walked through my door. “The Sinsar Dubh is a book.”

“A book? That’s all? Just a book?”

“On the contrary, Ms. Lane, never make that mistake. Never think it just a book. It is an exceedingly rare and exceedingly ancient manuscript countless people would kill to possess.”

“Including you? Would you kill to possess it?”

“Absolutely. Anyone and anything that gets in my way. Always have. Always will. Reconsidering your stay, Ms. Lane?”

“Absolutely not.”

“You’ll be going home in a box, then.”

“Is that another of your threats?”

“It is not me who will put you there.”

“Who will?”

“I answered your question, now it’s your turn to answer mine. What do you know of the Sinsar Dubh, Ms. Lane? Tell me. And don’t lie. I’ll know.” I could Voice her, force her to tell me everything. Little fun there.

“My sister was studying here. She was killed a month ago. She left me a voice-mail message right before she died, telling me I had to find the Sinsar Dubh.”

“Why?”

“She didn’t say. She just said everything depended on it.”

“Where is this message? I must hear it myself.”

“I accidentally deleted it.” Her gaze darts to the side.

“Liar. You would make no such mistake with a sister you care enough about to die for. Where is it? If you are not with me, Ms. Lane, you are against me. I have no mercy for my enemies.”

“I already gave a copy of this recording to the Dublin Gardai. They’re working to track down the man she was involved with.” There goes her gaze again.

“Give me your phone.”

“Not a chance. But I’ll put it on speakerphone.”

She plays the message. Never takes her gaze from my face. The things I could teach her … if she could survive them.

“Did you know my sister?”

I slice my head once to the left in silent negation.

“You were both after this ‘exceedingly rare book’ yet never ran into each other?”

“Dublin is a city of a million-odd people inundated daily by countless commuters and besieged by a never-ending wave of tourists, Ms. Lane. The oddity would be if we had encountered each other. What did she mean by ‘you don’t even know what you are’?”

“I wondered that myself. I have no idea.”

“None?”

“None.”

“Hmm. This was all she left you? A message?”

She nods.

“Nothing more? No note or package or anything of the sort?”

She slices her head once to the left in silent negation. I scan her eyes. Deep but there, a hidden mirth. She just mocked me. My dick gets harder.

“And you had no idea what she meant by the Sinsar Dubh? Your sister didn’t confide in you?”

“I used to think she did. Apparently I was wrong.”

“Who did she mean by ‘them’?”

“I thought you might be able to tell me that.”

“I am not one of these ‘them,’ if that is what you’re inferring. Many seek the Sinsar Dubh, both individuals and factions. I want it as well, but I work alone.”