Silas wanted to ask Laina about the “dragon” comment, but Grateful wouldn’t allow him near her room. “If she doesn’t rest, there could be complications. And that goes for Selene as well,” she said. “I’m setting her up in a bed for observation.”

So it was that Silas gave up on interviewing his sister and instead found himself in the vampire district late that afternoon with Jason by his side.

“Besides Nickelova, what dragon would stab Laina? Dragon fae are rare. You haven’t heard anything from the rest of her family, have you? They haven’t waged war against us while I was away?” Jason asked.

“No. The Siberian Dragon Fae distanced themselves from Nickelova once she stole the amulet. Official word is that they will not interfere with the course of events. They’ve known she is hibernating in her mountain, but her brother sent word that the family would not help her.”

“Then, if it was a dragon, it had to be her. But how is that possible?”

“I can think of three possibilities when it comes to Nickelova,” Silas said. “One: she’s here helping Alex, without her heart. Two: she’s here helping Alex and has somehow obtained her heart again. Or three: it wasn’t a dragon at all. After the sulfralite infected Laina’s system, the person who stabbed her could have suggested he or she was a dragon. The only theory we can potentially disprove is number two.”

“Ryker,” Jason said.

“We have to find out if he still has the heart.”

“Why do I have a feeling this is not going to go well?” Jason mumbled. He paused under the illustration of the runaway boy, smiling down from the old-fashioned Lost Things sign.

“Because demons don’t like questions. Especially demons who make their living reselling dark magical artifacts,” Silas said.

Jason had no argument with that. It was barely twilight, but Lost Things was brimming with shady-looking customers. A bald warlock in purple and black robes was levitating three silver balls in front of a shelf of weapons. Near the checkout counter, a woman who looked to be half goblin dug through a basket of dehydrated mice. Across the store, a vampire in a heavy, hooded cloak stood motionless in front of a rack of carved figurines. It was too early for him to be up. Silas wondered if he might be ill.

The two navigated to the back of the store and rang the bell on the counter. After several minutes, Silas shifted from foot to foot growing increasingly annoyed. Ryker was here. No way would he leave the store unattended with this many customers in it.

“I’m going in there,” Silas said, gesturing toward the door to the back room.

“Are you insane?” Jason said in a stage whisper. “For all you know, he could have it rigged to steal your soul. You do not touch anything in Lost Things without permission. Trust me.”

“Then how do you propose we get him out here?”

“Ryker!” Jason yelled toward the door. “I need to talk to you. It’s about my friend, Grateful Knight. You know, the Hecate? I’m not sure if you know this, but she has the power to sentence practitioners of the dark arts to her Hellmouth—”

There was a thump, and a black fog filtered under the door and formed into a dark and exotic-looking man. “Lower your voice, Mr. Flynn. Have you no respect for a man’s business?”

“We need to talk to you. It’s important.” Jason paused, eyeing the dark man behind the counter. “Hey, you look great. Have you been working out or something?”

“Eating well,” Ryker said. He glanced toward Silas. “Perhaps we should take this conversation to the back room.” He held the door open for them.

If the front of the store looked like a cursed rummage sale, the back room was even less organized. There was only one chair, parked unevenly in front of a desk heaped with papers and shipping boxes. Ryker promptly sat down in it.

“Now, what brings you two gentlemen into my humble establishment?” he said. His voice held a gritty quality, not unlike Clint Eastwood in those old Dirty Harry movies. Silas felt the weight of Ryker’s gaze settle on him again. Was Ryker more fidgety than usual tonight? He didn’t know the demon well, but his gut told him he was onto something here.

“I won’t beat around the bush, Ryker,” Silas began. “My sister was stabbed four days ago. There was sulfralite residue in the wound.”

Ryker stilled, his face showing the slightest lines of worry. “Sulfralite? Are you quite certain? That is a substance even I have trouble obtaining.”

“Quite certain,” Silas said. “Grateful was able to negate the effects, but when our sister woke up, she said it was a dragon who stabbed her.”

Ryker picked up a pen and tapped it rhythmically on his thigh. “I haven’t felt a dragon’s presence in this city for some time. Not since Nickelova.”

“Exactly. That’s why we’re here,” Jason said. “Do you still have her heart?”

“You’re afraid her heart was reunited with her body and that she is the one who stabbed your sister?”

Silas spread his hands. “Do you have the heart or not?”

“Nickelova’s heart is in a safe place. A safer place than this. I can assure you that it is nowhere near Nickelova.”

“Where is it?”

“In a safe place,” he drawled. “That is the only explanation you need. If I told everyone who asked where it was, the place would no longer be safe now, would it?”

“You’re sure, though?” Jason asked.

“I held it in my hands as recently as yesterday. The heart is safe.” Ryker tapped the pen harder against his leg. “It has not been returned to Nickelova’s chest.”

Silas lurched forward and grabbed Ryker by the collar. “You’re lying. Tell me where the heart is.”

Ryker’s eyes blazed with internal fire.

“Knock it off, Silas,” Jason said, tugging at his shoulder. “This isn’t necessary.”

Ryker wrapped his hand around Silas’s wrist. “Unhand me,” he said in a steady, calm tone. “I am not your enemy.”

There was something other than denial burning in Ryker’s eyes. It was almost like… pity. Yes, pity. A chill rippled through Silas’s body. He released Ryker and backed away. “It was you, last night.”

“What was him?” Jason asked, looking between the two.

Ryker tilted his head to the side but said nothing.

Silas’s gaze roved around the room, coming to rest on a bit of red sticking out from one of the shelves. He pushed the clutter aside. A mask. A silky red mask, splattered with blood. It didn’t make sense. Soleil hated Ryker. She’d mentioned on multiple occasions how draining she found the incubus. There was so much he wanted to say, but only one word came out of the fog of his befuddled brain. “Why?”

Ryker stood and opened the door to his office. “The heart is safe. Any other information you wish to know, you’ll have to find out somewhere else. As for last night…” He leveled a knowing look on Silas. “It is not my story to tell.”

Feeling dazed and confused, Silas allowed Jason to usher him from the office, past the line that had formed at the counter. “What the hell was that all about?” Jason asked. “What happened last night?”

“Can you go check on Laina?” Silas asked Jason. “I need to follow up on something.”

“Seriously? You’re not going to tell me what’s going on?”

“Please.”

Jason nodded. “Fine. I’ll see you back at the hospital.”

Silas split from his brother in the darkening twilight and headed in the direction of the bordello.

* * *

Silas arrived at Maison des Étoilles without any idea of what he intended to say. He only knew that he needed to confront Soleil. He needed to hear from her own lips why she’d come to him, trying to reconcile, only to do what she did with Ryker immediately afterward. He didn’t want her back. He had crossed that bridge and burned it behind him months ago. But there was more to this. Something was off about the situation. He felt it down to his soul.

“Mr. Flynn! Is Madam Soleil expecting you?” The fae holding the door wore a gown of stars. Her name was Astrial. Silas knew her well.

“No. Is she available?”

Astrial smiled sweetly. “We have strict instructions to show you back at any time.” She turned her body and gestured toward the hall. “I trust you remember where to find her.”

“I remember,” Silas murmured.

He strode down the dimly lit hall to Soleil’s room, remembering the many times he’d been here before. The door opened before he had a chance to knock, revealing the bright décor that seemed to magnify Soleil’s glow: a white marble floor, a bubbling fountain, walls of windows. The room was crowded with plants that thrived from the light she put off.

“Silas!” she said excitedly. She tossed her arms around his neck and pulled him into the warmth of the room. “Come in. I’m so glad you came. I was going to call you.”

He staggered forward, blinded by her bright glow. She was overwhelming, the heat, the intensity, the fresh smell of her skin. The door closed behind them. He pushed her away.

“Soleil, we need to talk.”

“Sounds serious.” She smiled and backed toward a padded bench near the fountain. Her white dress fluttered against her golden skin. It was impossible to think of her as the same woman who’d done the things he’d seen her do. She looked sweet, innocent. But he knew better.

“I saw you,” he murmured.

“What?” She sat down, crossing her legs and patting the seat beside her.

“I saw you last night. With Ryker.”

Soleil’s face fell, her eyebrows sinking in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“I followed you to the club and watched what you did from the observation area. I saw you with Ryker.”

“Wh… why? Why would you do that? Why did you follow me?” She pressed her hands to her heart.

“They found a substance in Laina’s wound—one only a demon could obtain. I’d heard you were dating a demon. I knew he couldn’t use the substance on you, but I wanted to make sure he wasn’t manipulating you in another way.”

“Ryker didn’t use any substance on me.” She tucked her chin and looked up at him with an expression of betrayal. “I went of my own free will. I wasn’t manipulated. Is that what you want to know?”

“You don’t owe me an explanation. You can do what you want. But after all the times you complained about Ryker, I wondered why. Does he have something over you?”

“He isn’t holding anything over me.” Soleil’s voice wavered with her words. Tears like liquid fire carved bright paths down her cheeks. “You stupid bastard. You have no idea what you saw.”

“Enlighten me then.” Silas sat down beside her.

“Ever since you told me Alex was back, I’ve been working to find him for you. I’ve sent you every scrap of information that comes through these walls.”

“Thank you,” he said. “But I have to be honest. The names haven’t panned out. It’s always like Alex is two steps ahead of me. Do you share the names with anyone other than me?”

“No,” she said firmly. “It became clear to me that we were missing a key factor. The type of help Alex is getting isn’t only from one healer or one vampire. There’s something else going on here. Something much bigger.”

“I have the same sense. Alex is acting strangely, running when he could fight. And now Laina and the sulfralite—”

“Sulfralite?”

“That’s what they found in her body. That’s why I suspected the demon.”

“Ryker had nothing to do with the sulfralite.”

“So he says.”

She brushed back a blond tress from her face. “Listen to me, Silas. I wanted to help you, but it became clear to me that there’s only one person who has the power to find Alex before he’s completely healed and it’s too late.”

“Who?”

Soleil sighed and strode to a particular square in the marble floor. “The one person who knew Alex best. The one who planned and schemed with him. The one creature strong enough to fight him and knowledgeable enough about his power to make a difference for us.”

She waved a hand over the tile and the heavy marble popped from the floor. She slid it aside. Her delicate, long-fingered hands dipped into the opening and retrieved a purple velvet sack.

“No,” Silas muttered.

“It’s been perfectly safe here. The floor is impenetrable as long as I’m alive.”

“Is that what I think it is?”

“I cannot help you find Alex. He’s too careful. The only one who can track him is the one from whom his power comes. Nickelova.” She reached into the bag and pulled out a giant ruby the size of a large fist. It throbbed with an inner light from the cradle of her palm.

“Ryker gave that to you? I thought you said that a demon wouldn’t give up a dragon’s heart for anything?”

She snorted. “No, Ryker did not give it to me.” Her face grew quite serious. “An incubus feeds on sex and sexual energy. I traded him what you saw last night for a few weeks with the heart. It’s a loan, not a gift. He thinks I’m using it to bolster the energy here. He thinks it will remain locked in my floor.”

Silas wrapped his hands around the dragon’s heart. “You had public sex with Ryker to get this for me?”

“Yes.”

A deep, hostile anger flared behind Silas’s breastbone. “You shouldn’t have done that,” he said through his teeth. “It’s not fair for you to put that on my shoulders.”

“I’m not blaming you. It was nothing for me to do it. I am what I am. And it needed to be done.” She stood, stepping in close to the dragon heart cradled in his hands. “I had the currency Ryker wanted. I used it to buy you what you needed... because I care about you.”

“Soleil, I’d never want you to do that.” He scowled at her, bile rising in his throat.

“Why? Why do you care what I do?”

“I care for you as a friend. You know I care. It’s not what it used to be, but I still care.”

She backed away. “But only if I play by your rules, right?”

“No. I’ll always be your friend. Even though we’re not together anymore, I still want what’s best for you. And Ryker is not what’s best for you.”

She stopped, her hands balling into fists. “Can’t you see I did this for you?”

“I can, but you shouldn’t have. I don’t know what you expected would come of this—”

“I wanted you!” she said. “I wanted to prove to you that I still love you.” She blinked her blue eyes at him.

He shook his head. “It’s not like that anymore for me. We were at a crossroads, and we both went in opposite directions. There’s no going back.”

She wept in earnest. He reached out a hand to comfort her, but she shook her head. “Take the heart. Wake Nickelova. Find Alex. And then think long and hard if you are willing to lose me forever.”

“Soleil…” Silas slipped the heart back into the purple bag and backed toward the door. He didn’t feel good about this. It was like she was hanging on to some hope that wasn’t there. “Good-bye, Soleil.”

She turned away from him, her eyes fixating on her fountain. He left before she could say another word.