Sin & Surrender (Demigod of San Francisco #6)(55)

“Agreed,” Magnus said.

“Agreed,” two others chorused.

“Fine, fine,” Zander cut in, clearly seeing the writing on the wall. “But what about—”

“I chose Demigod Kieran,” Dylan cut in, and lifted his chin. I knew it wasn’t easy to admit that to someone of Zeus given the way Zeus people traditionally stuck together. “You can question the Chester townspeople, or simply check the timeline. There is proof to back up these claims. I went to Kieran. I accepted the oath from him. I’m satisfied where I am.”

“Yes, there. See?” The regal woman checked her watch. “Genuine. You can tell these things. I don’t think there is anything more for us to do here.”

Zander’s stare beat into Dylan, and I knew the holes in the story were still bothering him. He wasn’t about to let this go, not when it concerned a magic he clearly wanted.

“All who think his testimony is valid, say yay,” Magnus said.

“Wait a moment.” Zander held up his hand. “Wait. I am not clear on the whole story. I wish to think about this some more. Something isn’t adding up.”

“I am satisfied with the testimony and I have places to be.” Rufus braced his hands on the arms of his chair, getting ready to stand. “You lost out on a precious Thunderstroke. Magnus didn’t get to kill his kid… You guys can have drinks about it and remember the good old times before you instituted these tedious hearings. Now, if you’ll—”

“I vote we table this for now until I can get to the bottom of the discrepancy,” Zander said, his voice booming. Nervousness exploded in my belly. I’d come in here thinking I was under fire. I hadn’t known Dylan would be tossed into the flames with me.

“Fine. Yay. Whatever.” Rufus stood.

“Yay.” The regal woman stood as well.

The rest muttered their assent, eager to be gone.

My heart was beating too quickly. I could sense the concern from Kieran through the link.

Now we’d have Zander poking into our affairs, and if he found out who’d really told me about Dylan, he’d be none too pleased. We’d first summoned Harding with a pocket watch originally stolen from Zander, after all, not to mention I was being trained by someone Zander had killed. There were all sorts of skeletons in my closet, and I didn’t want Zander knowing about any of them.





“Dylan, ride with us.” Kieran pushed open the door to the Summit building and paused for me to go through. Anger and annoyance burned through the soul link.

“Yes, sir,” Dylan said, walking out after me, the others following.

The limos waited where we’d left them, each of the drivers standing beside an opened door. I got into the lead limo and scooted over so Kieran and Dylan could follow me in. As soon as we got moving, Kieran let out a big sigh.

“Tell me what happened. Start from the beginning,” Kieran said.

Working together, Dylan and I recounted what had been said, pausing for more precise questions and left turning occasionally to explain what the other Demigods had said and done. When we were finished, Kieran stared out the window for a moment in silence.

“That is…surprising,” he said softly as we neared the lodge. “I hadn’t picked up on his concerns. I had no idea he would try to pull Dylan in. Damn it, some of these old-timers are wily.”

“He’s not happy with the story,” I said, bracing my hand to my stomach as nervous butterflies exploded through my ribcage. “He sees the obvious holes.”

Kieran nodded slowly, still staring out the window. “The holes in Dylan’s half of the story have nothing to do with us. He can look into that all he wants—maybe he’ll even uncover the killer, who knows. It won’t have anything to do with us. Or Dylan. Your story…”

Another wave of butterflies fluttered in my stomach.

“Still has nothing to do with me,” Dylan said softly.

Kieran leaned back and slung his arm across the seatback. “Exactly. Alexis working with Harding has nothing to do with you. There are absolutely no grounds to take you from this team. Zander can scratch and sniff all he wants; he won’t come up with anything, especially since the other Demigods will surely cock-block him if he tries to get sneaky.”

“But the thing with Harding will not look good for me,” I said, now feeling a little sick. “It’ll make him question me all over again. Your mark won’t mean a thing if they think I am too dangerous to live.”

Kieran brushed my hair away from my face. “It’ll be okay. We’ll handle this. He’ll never find out. Tell me about the spirit that peered in during the proceedings. You only mentioned that in passing. It wasn’t Harding?”

I shook my head as we pulled up in front of the lodge, a smear of red catching my eye. Dylan leaned closer to the window and his mouth dropped open. “Oh crap.”

“What is it?” I asked as he pushed open the door.

The second the limo stopped, he was out, jogging toward the lodge. Kieran got out next, and a flurry of emotion rolled through the link.

“What is it?” I asked again, taking his hand and letting him help me out.

Shouts made me glance right, and I caught Thane and Zorn running for the lodge. The rest of the guys and gals hurried out of their rides, their faces grim and movements urgent. In a moment, it all came together.