Chapter 10 · Eli Left a Trail

"You knew where he was."

Kane doesn't look up. He's crouched by the hunter's body, wiping blood off a silver blade onto the guy's sleeve. The vault door is still open behind us, my mother's voice still echoing in my head. Don't let him take it.

"I knew where he went," Kane says. "Not where he is now."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the one you're getting."

I step over the spent shell casings. My wrist burns where the mark sits under my sleeve. The hunter's phone is still lit up on the floor, Eli's location blinking under EmberSaint's glass tower.

"You used him," I say. "You sent him in there."

Kane stands. His jacket's shredded across the shoulders, claw marks deep enough I can see the shirt underneath soaked through. He's not healing as fast as he did before. The curse is eating him from the inside.

"I didn't send him anywhere," Kane says. "He volunteered."

"Bullshit."

"He came to me three months ago. Said he had a way into Marcus Vale's research wing. Said he owed you."

My throat goes tight. "Owed me what?"

"Didn't say." Kane picks up the hunter's phone, swipes through the messages.