“Where did you get the medallion?” Terryn asked.
Sinclair picked up the chain and rubbed the medallion. “My grandfather made it. He didn’t like the human tendency to kill what it doesn’t understand. He thought I would have an easier time in life if people thought I was fully human. He was afraid if anyone knew about me, I would be studied like an insect. Much like this moment, I imagine.”
“We’re not examining you, Jono. We’re talking,” said Laura.
“Interrogating,” he said.
“Fine. Call it that. But you have to understand the position this puts us in-puts me in. Lives would be at risk if people knew what I do.”
“My life feels at risk right now,” he said.
We can’t let him go, Terryn sent.
There has to be another way, she sent back.
“Who are you working for?” Terryn asked.
Sinclair shook his head. “I’m done. I told you about the medallion because you would have found it anyway. We’re even. You keep your mouths shut. I’ll do the same.”
“Why should we trust you?” Terryn asked.
He shrugged. “Why should I trust you?”
They stared at each other across the table. A pit formed in Laura’s stomach. This is what she had always feared would happen to her someday, glamours removed, trapped in a room, and interrogated. When that day came, she would pay the price for years of lies and betrayal.
“We have more to lose than you do,” said Terryn.
Sinclair snorted. “Sure. My life’s not worth much, right?”
Laura glared. “That’s not what he meant. If we expose you, you can disappear and start over. If you expose me, I might manage to stay alive, but there will be political ramifications. You’ll probably become a target, too. There will be angry people who will blame you and be a lot more relentless in looking for you than anyone you’ll have to deal with if we expose you.”
“Now that’s a subtle threat,” he said.
Laura shrugged. “Those are the facts, Sinclair. I’m not happy you’re in this position either. I wish I had never met you. But I have to tell you, if you expose me, I will not stand in the way of anyone who wants to kill you. I might even help.”
He smiled. “Does this mean you’ll say no if I ask you to dinner?”
Terryn raised an eyebrow. Cheeky.
“Your lack of seriousness isn’t helping you,” Laura said.
Sinclair leaned back in his chair. “I don’t for one minute believe you will let me walk out of here alive. Excuse me if I don’t beg for my life. It’s not my style.”
“You said someone tried to run you off the road, Sinclair. I’ve had two attacks on my life the last three days. What makes you think you’ll have a better chance outside than in here?” she asked.
He smiled. “I don’t.”
She stared at him. “Did you try to kill me?”
“No,” he said. No hesitation. Firm voice. No fluctuation in his essence. Truth. She sensed truth.
“Who do you think did?”
“Gianni.”
“That’s one possibility,” she said. “So we both suspect the same person. I think we can help each other.”
“What do you propose?” he asked.
Laura refused to look at Terryn. “How would you like a new job?”
“What kind of job?” Sinclair asked.
I think we should discuss this, Terryn sent.
Later, Laura replied.
As Sinclair shifted his gaze between them, she wondered if he had another aberrant ability and could eavesdrop on sendings, something no fey could do. She formed as lascivious an image in her mind as she could, but he didn’t react. However good Sinclair was at keeping his composure, she doubted he would have had no reaction at all.
“What you do now: investigations. InterSec could use a human staffer,” she said.
“Under what legal authority?” he asked.
“InterSec’s. We’re governed by treaty and agreement with the U.S. government,” Terryn said.
“What if I don’t want to do what you want me to do?”
Laura shrugged. “Quit.”
“What if I quit right now?”
Laura frowned. “Cute.”
“What’s the catch?” he asked.
“Trust, Jono. We need to trust each other, and we need to get out of this mess,” Laura said.
“What’s in it for me?” he asked.
“Protection. You’ll need it. The pay’s pretty good, too,” she said.
Am I going to have any say in this? Terryn sent.
Laura ignored him.
“I don’t know. I’ve got a pretty good career going,” Sinclair said.
“Which will likely be cut short by your death in the next few days,” said Terryn.
Thanks for joining the party, Laura sent him.
Terryn’s comment took the cockiness out of Sinclair. He leaned on his forearms and stared at his hands. “I won’t kill anyone.”
“No more than you’re asked to now,” Laura said.
“What’s in it for you?” he asked.
“Protection as well. We watch your back; you watch ours. I think we can trust each other,” Laura said.
“What if we can’t?”
She shrugged again. “It’s simple. One of us dies.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, simple.”
Terryn leaned forward. “Let’s make this provisional. We make it through the current situation, then decide whether you stay or not.”
Sinclair slowly shook his head while he considered. “But I don’t get a choice until then, right?”
Terryn didn’t crack a smile. “Who said the choice would be yours then either?”
Sinclair’s eyes shifted back and forth, not looking at them or anything else. Laura watched him closely. She remembered how calm he was when she first met him. The stress flowing off him now was understandable, but beneath it was a strong focus. He weighed his options and tilted back in his chair. “When do I start?”
Laura released the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. “Now.”
CHAPTER 17
“I DON’T LIKE this,” said Terryn.
Sinclair remained locked in the basement. When Cress arrived, she went down to tend his bruised ribs. Laura leaned against the counter in the kitchen. “We don’t have a choice, Terryn. I’m exposed.”
“We don’t know if we can trust him.”
She crossed her arms loosely and stared at her feet. “He could have let me get killed tonight.”
“Or he could be lying to gain our confidence,” Terryn said.
She arched an annoyed brow at him. “Ahem. Are you questioning my ability to sense truth?”
She thought she detected embarrassment. Actual embarrassment from Terryn macCullen. “I didn’t mean that. I’m worried.”
“I’ve been sensing only the truth from him,” she said.
Terryn nodded. “I don’t dispute that. But he was also able to hide his fey nature from you. We don’t know if he can hide lies from you.”
She shook her head. “We’ve never disclosed my truth-sensing ability, Terryn. Every arrest or report we’ve ever made, we’ve used independent verification. No one knows about it. Sinclair wouldn’t know to hide from it.”
“You can’t be sure of that,” he said.
She stared at him. “Terryn, if I can’t be sure of that, then we have a bigger problem. Our agreement was that you and Cress would never tell anyone about my truth-sensing, not even Maeve herself, unless I agreed. Is there something you need to tell me?”
Again, embarrassment rolled off him. “No, we’ve never told. I’ll trust you on this.”
She ran water into a glass and watched him as she sipped. “This isn’t like you, Terryn. You’re never this unsettled. What’s wrong?”
He closed down his emotions. It was a natural reaction, Laura supposed. He knew she could read him. She wondered what it must be like for him to have two people he couldn’t lie to. She could sense lies in his tone, and Cress could feel them in the core of his essence. Laura could not fathom what it was like to have not one, but two people know him that intimately. It had been years since she allowed someone that privilege.