Page 55 of Shattered Jewel
“Stay out of my head,” I warn under my breath.
“I don’t have to be psychic to see it,” he replies with a laugh, leaning back in his chair with stretched ease.
Before I can respond, Elara stands abruptly from her chair.
The sudden movement startles a murmur of surprise out of Axe, drawing all eyes in the room to her. Cav comes out from the stacks, concern etched into his sweat-dotted forehead.
I note the small droplets on his face. He’s in pain.
“I found something,” Elara announces.
“Don’t leave us in suspense,” I drawl.
Elara ignores the jibe—to the point that I’m annoyed she reduced me to it.
I fight the urge to one-up her with my progress on Maverick’s files. But I bite back the impulse, knowing that any breakthrough she had will ultimately be mine as well. She may as well have her moment.
She spins Axe’s screen to face us.
In half a second, Axe is by her side, swiping the phone from her and gripping the edges as he studies what she wants to show us. A flash of panic crosses his face before he quickly composes himself.
I frown, but I’m stopped from asking what has crawled up Axe’s ass when Elara says, “Maverick said he made three flash drives. See?” She looks over Axe’s shoulder to see the screen again. Reluctantly, Axe lowers his arm to accommodate her.
She continues. “‘There are no more USB drives. Just the three.’ Three videos. We’ve only found two.”
Wilder’s pleased expression falls at Elara’s words, his bottle of whiskey pausing halfway to his lips. Cav’s cool gaze sharpens in thought, his brows furrowing with an intensity overriding any lingering agony he feels.
Tickling at the edges of my mind are fingers of bruising desperation. The fear of failing our legacies, of being banished from the Court, or worse—being killed in the bloody ritual down in the catacombs by homicidal Sovereigns.
“Three videos,” Wilder finally utters, setting the bottle onto the piano. His gaze moves to me expectantly. I glance over at Elara and release a slow sigh, tipping my head back and closing my eyes for a few seconds.
Fuck.
“How did we miss this?” Cav asks from across the room, voice strained.
“Distracted by lesser details,” I say, raising an eyebrow at him.
I don’t need to look at Elara to know I hit my mark. We’re all too distracted by her.
“We need to find that third flash drive,” Elara says, ignoring me. Again.
“But not just anywhere,” Cav points out, crossing his arms over his chest, then letting out another groan as soon as he accidentally presses against his cuts. “Maverick would’ve hidden it somewhere significant. Somewhere meaningful.”
“Cav, you should sit down,” Elara says, reaching for him.
He shakes his head, his bloodless pallor not helping his argument.
Elara frowns but turns to Axe. “I’ve combed through your notes, but I can’t find any subtext to what he’s saying—if Maverick’s given me a clue through his words.”
I swallow a sardonic chuckle. Beastie still refuses to ask me for another look at the video.
“I found the first drive here,” I say, deciding to end her suffering somewhat. “Maverick referred to this space as the Grand Library.”
“And we found the second in the altar room through that bookcase there.” Axe utters the sentence as if he’s reminding himself of our previous footsteps.
“Where Sarah Anderton was tortured and murdered,” Elara murmurs.
“By the very dark arts she was accused of practicing,” Cav adds. His breathing seems to slow, his lungs now encased by those very symbols.