All Just Glass - Amelia Atwater-Rhodes [44]
Zachary nodded tightly. “I’ve heard of him,” he said. “My impression is that everyone knows him but very few people like him, and he pretends to have more influence than he does. I doubt he’ll be helpful. And—” He hesitated, and his controlled expression cracked, showing for an instant the fear beneath. “And I’m not sure he’s worth mentioning to Dominique,” he said. “She’s already dealing with losing Sarah. Do you really want to flash in front of her the creature who killed her first love?”
Zachary’s reaction was so unnerving Adia didn’t know how to respond. The fact was Jerome was the only contact they still had, and Zachary and Dominique were just going to have to deal with it. On the other hand, the concept of her having to tell Zachary and Dominique to suck it up was terrifying. These people were the ones Adia looked to for strength, especially now. They weren’t allowed to be shaken by a page in a book.
Zachary jumped visibly when the door opened, admitting Michael, whose arms were laden with a bag full of groceries.
“I brought food,” Michael said when neither Vida spoke for a moment. “There’s one more bag in the car if someone can grab it. Zachary, good to see you up, even if I’m not sure you should be. You’re still pale as a sheet.”
Either Michael was oblivious to the emotion lingering in the room, or he chose to ignore it. Either way, Adia appreciated the interruption.
She decided she wouldn’t mention Jerome to Dominique—or to Zachary again—if she could find a way around doing so, but she couldn’t ignore the only useful contact she had.
Zachary was fraying; he kept lying down and getting up within minutes, as if he couldn’t stop his body long enough to sleep. Michael hid behind a cavalier joviality that was driving her crazy, but when he had to be still, he seemed dazed and unfocused.
This hunt was going to destroy them all if it wasn’t over soon. Adia just hoped that ending it the way they needed to wouldn’t be as bad.
CHAPTER 14
SATURDAY, 9:44 A.M.
ZACHARY TRIED TO help put away groceries, until Adia flat out ordered him to leave and get some sleep. As he retreated to bed, he could hear Adia and Michael arguing behind him about how Michael didn’t need Jay to “babysit” him when he went to New York. For someone who admitted to working with moral-less mercenaries, the Arun put up a lot of fuss when he thought someone didn’t trust him, but it sounded like he might win the argument this time.
Zachary wasn’t feeling dizzy anymore, but it was still a relief to stretch out in bed, alone and, for the moment, unguarded. Technically, he shared the room with Jay, but the Marinitch had commented that he had trouble sleeping inside, so Zachary hoped he could get a few hours of sleep without being bothered.
He lay on top of the sheets and closed his eyes in meditation, trying to relax his body and mind. Hearing Adia say Jerome’s name, he had wanted to throw up.
He looked up, glaring before he could help it, as Jay stepped into the room in his usual birdlike manner. Jay ducked around the door and closed it behind him before sitting cross-legged on the floor, facing Zachary. So much for not having a roommate.
“Yes?” Zachary finally prompted him, when it seemed Jay was perfectly happy to stare at him with those hazel-green eyes, never speaking. Like a freaking raven, nevermore.
Jay would probably be flattered by the description. His line were the only ones who used familiars in their work, raising animals as more than pets. Zachary didn’t know what Jay’s particular companion was.
“Something’s wrong,” Jay observed, tilting his head and studying Zachary in a way that made him nervous enough to sit up and erase any lines of anger or concern or frustration from his face from the force of habit.
“What isn’t wrong?” Zachary replied. “Sarah is gone, and we’re stumbling around—”
“That is not what I mean, and I think you know it,” Jay interrupted. “What is it you’re ashamed of, that you think I will find out?”