The Hour of Dust and Ashes by Kelly Gay Read Free Book Online Page A

them,” as he called it … until it was known that I had the genes of all three worlds in me, that I was the one who’d brought darkness to the city of Atlanta to save my kid from Mynogan, the now deceased Charbydon noble and Sons of Dawn cult member.
    But more than anything else, Ashton hated that I’d taken a federal job, one where I didn’t answer to the department or the reigning chief. Ashton and everyone else in the ITF were on a need-to-know basis when it came to my job. And Ashton
hated
that. He hated even more the fact that I now had the freedomto work on the really big cases, and that my new division had the power to take cases away from him, if necessary. Such was the power of Washington.
    And Liz was right. He’d never let it go. He took every opportunity to insult me, call me out, push me to the edge, which usually involved insulting my daughter somehow. Asshole. “Well, he won’t see me at all,” I said. “I’d rather not deal with him making my life miserable. All he’ll know is that I was here nosing around.”
    Liz chuckled. “You’ll be wanting autopsy details, yes?”
    “As soon as you have them.”
    “Will do. How’s Bryn holding up?”
    Boy, that was a loaded question. “She’s been okay. Under watch at the League. But now …” I dragged my hand down my face, gazing up at the building. “We need to get every
ash
victim under lock and key. This can’t happen again. Not until we know more.”
    “Hey!” Liz shouted suddenly. “Hands off my body!” She mumbled a quick good-bye and then marched over to the detective who’d been about to lift Casey Lewis’s hand from the hood of the car with the tip of a pen or pencil.
    Damn, I’d meant to ask her if she’d heard of any new sidhé fae in the city.
    I walked away from the scene, shoving my hands in my pockets. It could wait.

4

     
    “What do you mean, Aaron moved out?” I leaned against a dresser in Bryn’s room at the Mordecai House—the League of Mages headquarters in Atlanta—cradling a venti Starbucks coffee like it was a lifeline. I’d had very little sleep last night and had gotten up early to check on Bryn.
    Bryn stood near one of her upstairs bedroom windows, one shoulder against the wall, her arms wrapped around her middle as she stared out at some mysterious point beyond the glass. She was so quiet, so enigmatic, and with her blank aura, I couldn’t even begin to guess her mood.
    “Why would he leave?” I went on. “The League is his home.”
    My sister turned her head—the first time she’d visually acknowledged me since I’d arrived justmoments ago. “He didn’t leave the property, Charlie. He’s staying in one of the guest houses on the grounds. Says he wants his
solitude
.” Her attention returned to the window.
    I expected the pale skin, the somberness, the muted-out version of her former, vibrant self, but it was her eyes that thickened my throat and squeezed my chest. Round. Tired. Hollow.
    “I think he just wanted to get away from me. I did”—she tossed an uncaring glance at the guard sitting quietly in the corner—“kill him, after all.”
    I took a step toward her, denial and sadness filling me. But she was so distant. For the first time, I wasn’t sure my sister would welcome my embrace. “You don’t know that,” I said instead. “Aaron knows whatever part you played, whatever happened that night, it wasn’t you in control. He knows you’d never do something like that willingly.”
    “I’m sick of this room. I’m sick of being tired all the time.”
    Her depression dominated the space, heavy and stifling, covering everything like a dreary, sepia-toned picture. It scared me to death. Two
ash
vics had just committed suicide. Could depression, intensified by
ash,
be the cause, and not murder?
    I kept my voice neutral. “You want to get out of here? Take a walk. Go get some breakfast. We can raid the kitchen, make some nachos …”
    A faint smile tugged on her full lips, but