“His parents called him Raphael. His siblings and friends called him Raph. His girlfriends all called him Dom,” Paden informed me, and I could hear the smirk.
“Kinky.” I laughed. “I’ll have to figure out which one I can use without pissing him off. Raphael is too cold. Raph might be too friendly. Dom is definitely too friendly.”
“I don’t know, looking the way you do, you might be able to get away with Dom.”
“Paden!” I was laughing harder, trying to keep my eyes on the road. “I have white hair.”
“You don’t look a day over thirty, and you know it. You don’t even have the beginning of a wrinkle on that face.”
“I’m one hundred and seventeen. He’s, what, thirty-two now? I think I might be a little old for him.” Snorting, I shook my head as I drove. “I haven’t done the whole ‘act sexy and gain their trust’ schtick since I was a kid, like ninety years ago,” I reminded him. “I’m not sure I could pull off the act now.”
“You know you could. This is absolutely going to sound old-fashioned, but you have that exotic look, and the white hair only adds to it, not detracts. My wife is oftentimes jealous of you.” Paden snorted. “Ever since those silver-grey looks came into human fashion, she’s been bouncing back and forth with the idea of changing her hair color for her human form. She wouldn’t stand out with it nowadays.”
“Yes,” I said with some acid. “Exotic is an incredibly old-fashioned way of putting it. I’m Indian. Let’s just call it like it is. I’m Indian, and not the type that Columbus misidentified. Just like every naga.”
“I’m not trying to be…insensitive, but this is a thirty-two-year-old man who probably hasn’t had companionship in a decade or more…”
“I get what you’re saying,” I snapped. “Change the topic. It’s not going to happen.” There was a reason I didn’t play that act anymore. There was a dark, terrifying, nightmare-inducing reason.
The last time I did, it went way too far.
“Fine. Tell me your intel.” His tone went back to professional, the friendly teasing and compliments evaporating. We knew each other well enough to know when a button was pushed.
“I haven’t read through all of it. I’m driving home from breaking into Sinclair’s place and taking photos of everything I could find there. He’s got a couple minions with him, and one of them rented a house in Scottsdale.”
“You…KALIYA!” Paden roared into the phone.
Since it was coming through my car’s speakers, the audio distorted, and I reached out to turn it down before he continued. I barely made it in time before my ears started ringing.
“ARE YOU MAD?”
“He taunted me. He explicitly told me why he was here. Did you really think I wasn’t going to make this personal?” I demanded, huffing in annoyance. “And it’s interesting. There’s something fishy going on here, and I might have a connection to The Board. If Raphael knows a bunch of good shit about Mygi, maybe it could be the break I need.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Paden growled. “Fine, but don’t go dying on me, damn it. Without you, Sinclair would take over Phoenix within a week, and there would be no one able to stand up to him. You do realize, by living in this city, you’ve held him back from properly expanding his criminal enterprise, right?”
“Yeah, I know, which is why I have to win this now. If he comes into my city to do illegal business, what good am I as an Executioner if I can’t even begin a proper investigation into what he’s doing?”
“I don’t know how many reminders you need, but Investigators investigate, Kaliya.”
“You heard him. He knows I’m good at both. I know when I need to hand this off to Cassius, don’t worry.”
“Do you think he might have been baiting you?” Paden asked, and I had to admit it was a good question. I was under explicit orders not to toy around with Sinclair anymore, not after the run-ins we had in our past, which turned dangerous and destructive.
“Possibly, but it doesn’t matter. I would have jumped into this the moment I found out he was in the city, Paden. I don’t need him to bait me.”
“I know, and that’s terrifying,” he replied. “If it comes to the human or you, Kaliya, pick you. I don’t care what sort of gold mine this guy might have when it comes to intel or your fucking board of paranoia; you aren’t going to