Claimed

by Sarah Fine

  Rylan held up his hands. “I wasn’t twisting anything. I just thought the two of you were close.”

  Dec didn’t feel that close to Aislin right now. He wasn’t quite sure where she stood when it came to Galena and the potential repercussions of her work. But he wasn’t about to admit that to Ry. “I have some questions.”

  Rylan leaned back, looking totally relaxed. All his desperation from last week seemed to have melted away, replaced with his usual smooth veneer—and the barely perceptible cunning underneath. “And you think I have answers? I’ve been locked up in here since Aislin took over.” He raised his eyebrows. “Wait, has something happened?”

  “I do think you might have answers,” Dec said, avoiding his brother’s last question. “Did you choose Mandy, or did she choose you?”

  Rylan had worked with Mandy, a Ker, to kill seven people, including Dec and Ry’s father. They’d hurt countless others—including Galena—in the process.

  Rylan pursed his lips. “Why should I tell you that?”

  Because Luciana had said her attacker’s eyes had glowed red. “I thought the Kere couldn’t make a move without Moros knowing. Aren’t they all psychically connected to him or something?”

  “More like soul-connected. But Mandy realized she could get around that. She came to me after learning about Galena Margolis. She said she’d resented Moros for decades and was dying to take him down, and she’d finally found the way to do it.” He shook his head. “She seemed to really hate the guy. Anyway, she showed me that she could kill by choice, not just by command, and she offered to help me become the Charon—for a price.”

  “And it was that easy for you, to betray our father.”

  Rylan bowed his head. “No. And I wish I’d never been that weak. I’m ashamed of what I’ve done.”

  “I hope you don’t expect me to buy this little remorse act you’ve got going on. The only thing you’re ashamed of is getting caught.”

  “It doesn’t matter anyway. When Aislin takes me before the Keepers, I fully expect the Keeper of Hell to claim me immediately. I’m sure that’ll make all of you happy.”

  It didn’t make Dec happy, but he felt there was a certain justice to it. The summit had been Rylan’s idea—he’d set it as a trap for Moros, hoping to frame the Lord of the Kere and get him removed from power completely. It had almost worked, too. “When is the meeting?”

  “The Keepers move slowly, luckily for me. They’ve agreed to the meeting, but they haven’t given Aislin and Moros a time.” Rylan raised his head, the curiosity alight in his eyes. “I wonder what would cause them to delay.”

  Dec stared obstinately at his older brother, knowing he’d use any information to his advantage. In fact, Dec was taking a risk being here at all, but his determination to find a different way to protect Galena drove him forward. “You said Mandy came to you. Did she mention whether any other Kere had slipped their leashes?”

  Rylan smiled. “There’s another rogue on the loose, isn’t there?”

  Dec folded his arms over his chest. “Do you know how Mandy managed to hide her actions from Moros?”

  Rylan’s eyes went wide. “There is another rogue. Has he gone after Galena Margolis again? That’s it, isn’t it?”

  “If you’re as remorseful as you claim to be, you’ll tell me what I need to know.”

  “But why are you here asking me these questions? Why would you be particularly concerned about Galena and her research?”

  “None of your fucking business.”

  Rylan’s eyes narrowed. “If I give you information, you will give me some in return. I have just one question.”

  “Depends on how forthcoming you are.”

  Rylan’s smile was chilling. “Fair enough.”

  “Tell me how Mandy fooled Moros.”

  “No idea. She said she could feel it when she had her freedom back, and then she tried to do as much damage as she could. But that freedom obviously wasn’t permanent.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “At the end, she was under Moros’s command. Otherwise, she would have escaped before she was punished. So whatever she’d managed to do, it didn’t last.” Rylan laughed quietly. “It was shortsighted of Moros to kill her before asking her these questions himself.”

  Dec couldn’t disagree. He was guessing Moros had been pissed—and also pretty eager to show that he was in control again. Too bad it didn’t seem to have been true. “Who else were you working with?”

  “Because it didn’t end with Mandy,” said Rylan, nodding like he heard all Dec’s thoughts. “The Lord of the Kere is in a weaker position now than he ever was. I wonder if Aislin is bold enough to ask the Keepers to punish him. I should talk to her. I could help.”

  Dec rolled his eyes. “Give it a try.” He stood up abruptly from his chair. “But you killed our father, Ry. If you think she’ll ever forgive you for that, you don’t know her at all.”

  Rylan smiled. “Oh, I know her very well. Better than you do, I think. She’s as ruthless as I ever was. Maybe more so.” There was a glint of admiration in his eyes. “But she’s also more cautious. With me helping her, though, we could take Moros down and fold the Kere into our empire.”

  “What makes you think you can control them any better than Moros has? Be careful what you wish for, Brother.”

  There was a beep, and then the guard’s voice filled the room. “Ten minutes is up, Mr. Ferry.”

  Rylan shook his head. “Now you answer my question.”

  “What is it?”

  “Tell me what Father said to you right before he entered the Afterlife.”

  Dec’s heart kicked fiercely against his ribs. “No.”

  Rylan tsked. “You said you’d answer my question. I thought you were an honorable man.”

  “I guess I’m less honorable than you thought.”

  “But it’s why you’re here. It’s why you came to me. You’ve never been interested in our business, Dec. You’ve always stayed as far from the politics as possible. So the reason you’re here now . . . it’s because of whatever Father said to you.”

  The door opened, and Dec took another step backward. “Good luck, Ry. I hope the Keeper of Hell has mercy on you.”

  Rylan’s dark stare was piercing. “It’s her, isn’t it? Galena Margolis. He told you to protect her.”

  Dec took a quick step forward, cocking his fist. Rylan jumped to his feet. “Guards! Help!” he cried.

  A firm hand closed over Dec’s shoulder. “Come on, Mr. Ferry,” said Charlie. “Give yourself some space.”

  Dec shrugged him off but walked back to the door. As he stepped into the hallway, Rylan called out, “Wait.”

  Dec turned back to him.

  “Good luck, Dec,” Rylan said quietly, his pretense at fear gone. “You’ve been given an impossible task. I don’t envy you at all.”

  And with that, Charlie put a closed door between Dec and his brother.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Galena clutched Eli’s hand tightly as they came to a stop in front of the building that had once housed her beautiful lab. It was still standing, but that was all that could be said for it. Construction workers were clearing debris, and the police had cordoned the place off with crime-scene tape, but Galena was hoping they’d let her take a look at what had been salvaged, to see if any of her equipment had been spared.

  “You up for this?” Eli asked.

  “No,” she said quietly. “But I need to do it.” She looked around. “I thought Dr. Cassidy would be here by now.” She had called this morning and asked to meet Galena here to discuss next steps. Galena was eager to see a friendly, sympathetic face.

  Eli frowned and looked uneasily at the bombed building. “When was the last time you heard from her?”

  Galena put a hand to her stomach, which threatened to rebel at the caution in Eli’s voice. “Only an hour ago.” She pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed, her fingers shaking. Not her too. Please not her too. The phone rang sever
al times but then switched to voice mail. “Oh God,” Galena whispered, tears burning her eyes.

  Eli’s arms closed around her. “Hey. Calm down. We don’t know that anything’s happened.”

  “You know it has,” squeaked Galena. She felt like she was being strangled. First, all her volunteers, and then Ankita and Jian. Her poor neighbors who had been home when her apartment exploded. And now Dr. Cassidy? “Eli, when is this going to stop?”

  His only answer was in the protective tightening of his arms, the way his hand held her head to his shoulder. Galena closed her eyes. Eli had died because of her research. He’d been hurt over and over again trying to keep her safe. And now Declan Ferry was about to offer himself up, too.

  Was it worth it? Was she worth it? What if her vaccine didn’t work? What if it was all for nothing?

  She had to make sure it wasn’t. She owed it to all of them.

  “Galena?”

  Galena gasped and turned toward the voice, relief flooding through her. Dr. Elaine Cassidy was walking toward them from the direction of the tent the police had erected about a block away, her silvery-gray hair cropped close to her head, her heels clicking on the sidewalk. She looked more like a businesswoman than a scientist, but she’d done brilliant work in identifying the ways in which certain viruses mutated, and without her research, Galena wouldn’t have made some of her own discoveries. “I’m so glad to see you,” Galena said, wiping tears from her eyes.

  Dr. Cassidy’s brow furrowed as she took in Galena’s appearance: her pallor, the circles under her puffy red-rimmed eyes. “Galena, I’m concerned about you.”

  Galena shook her head. “No, I-I’m okay.” She pulled away from Eli’s embrace and let him greet her boss, who gave him a perfunctory hello and a brisk handshake.

  Dr. Cassidy’s mouth set as she looked up at the building. Through the glass front doors at the entrance, they could see the construction workers dragging damaged equipment up from the basement. “The police confirmed this morning that the bomb had been placed in one of the nanopore sequencers,” she said. “The damage is in the billions.”

  Heat suffused Galena’s face. “I’m so sorry.”

  “G, why are you apologizing?” Eli asked. “You’re the victim here.” He looked down at Dr. Cassidy. “Any hint of who did this? What about that lab assistant—Jian Lee?”

  “Well, it’s innocent until proven guilty, but his movements over the last week are definitely making him a target for investigators. Unfortunately, the surveillance videos were scrambled by someone with a high level of technical expertise,” Dr. Cassidy replied. Her eyes met Galena’s. “Jian is dead, but he’s not the only suspect. The detectives are making their list of persons of interest. They’ll be bringing them in for questioning as soon as they finish collecting evidence from the crime scenes.”

  Galena clasped her hands in front of her. She was glad to hear about the investigation, but she had little doubt Jian was responsible. She would never have thought Jian capable of this kind of evil, but the moment Moros had announced Jian had killed himself, a feeling of dread had settled deep in her gut. He was dead now, though. If he was guilty, he’d already punished himself.

  “I just want to salvage what’s left and rebuild,” Galena said. “I’m eager to get back to work.”

  And after she got through tonight, she’d be able to do exactly that, and with a lot less fear. Too bad it felt like she was made of fear right now, especially at the thought of what she had to do tonight.

  “Well, that’s something I need to discuss with you,” said Dr. Cassidy. “It’s why I asked to meet you here. I met last night with the university’s administration, and we agreed that you should take a leave.”

  Galena stared at her. “What?”

  “Your lab, the one we constructed to your exact specifications, has been destroyed. It’s going to take a few months to rebuild it.” Her voice took on a frustrated tone as she gestured at Galena’s face and body. “And with all due respect, you don’t look prepared to return to work. We think you should take some time.”

  Eli looked back and forth between the two of them. “Isn’t her research time-sensitive? I thought you guys wanted it to move forward as soon as possible.”

  Dr. Cassidy looked annoyed. “The world has been waiting decades for this vaccine, young man. It can wait a few months longer.”

  “But I need to work,” said Galena, her voice rising in desperation. “It’s the only thing that’ll help me feel better.”

  “Research isn’t about making you feel better. It takes precision and total focus,” said Dr. Cassidy.

  “I know that,” Galena snapped. “I’m pretty damn good at it.”

  Dr. Cassidy gave her a pitying look. “Of course you are. That’s why you’re at Harvard. But we need to work with police to figure out who is responsible for last night’s tragedy, and then we need to make some decisions about rebuilding. I trust you to cooperate with the police. Once the investigation has concluded, we’ll make a decision about your future here.”

  Galena suddenly felt hollow. “My future here?”

  Dr. Cassidy’s heels scraped against the sidewalk as she shifted her weight. “After a devastating event like this, one that took many lives in our community and destroyed one of our most recently constructed facilities, the administration must carefully evaluate the psychological profiles of anyone involved and—”

  “Wait. Do you think I actually had something to do with this?”

  Dr. Cassidy met Galena’s eyes. “You’ve been under enormous pressure.”

  “I’ve been under enormous pressure for years!”

  “That’s a pretty backhanded way of making an accusation,” Eli said, his voice hard. “And it’s totally unfair to Galena. She’s busted her ass every day since she got here, trying to get this vaccine ready. How can you—?”

  “I’m sorry, Galena.” Dr. Cassidy stepped back, shaking her head. “I know this is disappointing. I wanted to do you the courtesy of telling you in person, but now I need to get back to work. Like I said, please cooperate with detectives on this case. They’re eager to get to the bottom of it.”

  “Dr. Cassidy?” A young woman with brown hair and glasses poked her head out of the police tent and called out in a hesitant voice, “The detective has a question, and I’m not sure how to answer it.”

  Dr. Cassidy’s stern face melted into a smile. “I’ll be right there.” She turned back to Eli and Galena. “My new assistant. This isn’t exactly how she’d planned to spend her second week on the job,” she said, and Galena didn’t miss the accusation in her tone. “Please excuse me.”

  And with that, she turned and walked back in the direction of the tent. Galena stared after her, stunned. “She thinks I did this,” she whispered.

  Eli put his arm around her. “She didn’t say that. It’s going to be easy to prove you didn’t have anything to do with it, G. I’ll be surprised if they even label you as a person of interest.”

  Galena watched as one of the construction workers carried Danny’s shattered screen into the lobby and dropped it onto a pile of broken equipment. “If you say so.”

  He took her hand and pulled her toward a bus stop. “What would you say to something to eat? We don’t have to be at Psychopomps for another few hours.”

  Just the mention of it sent Galena’s heart rate skyrocketing. “I’m not that hungry.”

  Eli tugged her hand as an amphibious bus turned a corner and rumbled toward the stop. “Come on. Humor me?”

  She squeezed his fingers and let him pull her onto the bus. The ride to Chinatown was about twenty minutes, first through the Charles River canal zone and then across the river into Boston. Galena leaned her head on her brother’s shoulder and stared out the window as the bus chugged through the chaotic waterway. She’d been so excited to move here from Pittsburgh, so ready to leave all the misery of that place behind and start over in this new city. And now it was all falling apart.

  It was hard n
ot to want to give up, just to lie down and do nothing. Arrogant belief in her own ability to save lives had kept her going. Sheer determination. It’s what would get her through the night to come, what would enable her to take off her clothes and—

  “Hold her legs,” the blond one snapped. Iron fingers grabbed her ankles and wrenched them to the side.

  Galena shuddered. She couldn’t let herself remember. She wouldn’t survive if she did. Dec is a good man. He won’t hurt you. He’s handsome and sensitive, and you’re lucky. She chanted silently to herself all the way to Chinatown, trying to convince herself it was true.

  Eli got to his feet as the bus rattled to a stop. She followed him as he got off onto the crowded street and walked half a block to a noodle place. From the sidewalk, Galena could smell roasted meat, alluring and mysterious. Eli grinned. “Cacy brought me here a few days ago. They have the most amazing food. The Szechuan noodles make your mouth feel like it’s been lit on fire.”

  She smiled in spite of her dark mood. She and Eli had been raised on canned protein slurry and stale carb bars, with the occasional can of real green beans or peaches as a special treat. And now Cacy seemed determined to expand Eli’s horizons. “I could give it a try.”

  He got them a tiny table at the back of the restaurant, reasonably private. Once they’d ordered and had little cups of tea sitting in front of them, Eli gave her a searching look. “How are you feeling about tonight?”

  Galena let out a half-hysterical burst of laughter. “Must you ask?”

  He shrugged. “You’re my sister. I care about you, and I know this is scary. I wish you weren’t in this position.”

  “I guess I should be glad Dec agreed to it.”

  Eli smiled and looked away. “Yeah. That was a nice surprise.”

  “Wait. He said you went to talk to him. What did you say?”

  He gave her this wide-eyed innocent look. “I just told him what happened after he left Aislin’s office.”

  She was certain he’d said more than that. She’d thought Dec had proposed all on his own, that perhaps he even liked her enough to be willing to give it a try, but now she knew her brother had guilted him into it. “Thanks,” she murmured.