a mob boss I pushed out of the territory several years ago when I moved in. When several of his known criminal enforcers and employees started dropping, he knew I was onto him and had cleaned house. He never came back.
But he could use recent events to exploit a weakness.
There were a few others, including my very own resident vampire Mistress.
Then I had to wonder if this was an attack on me as a naga—the last adult female. I got to tack on the adult distinction now because one of the guys revealed their wife was pregnant with a girl. That was a good thing.
In a few more months, I’ll be one of two. Small blessings, I guess. If I die, there’s some hope on the shoulders of a little newborn girl.
I probably shouldn’t get myself killed.
I put up pictures of my people. I had no idea who was behind the extermination of the nagas. I always wished I could just pin it on black market behavior, but it was never just that. Adhar thought I was insane for thinking that, but I knew he was just trying to protect his own peace of mind.
I wasn’t paying enough attention, so when I turned away from my board and saw Raphael, I nearly jumped out of my skin. There was no way in hell Nakul escaped, and no one could get in my condo, so I had let my guard down.
“What are you doing here?” I demanded.
“You were gone, and I got worried. I could hear you mumbling to yourself when I got close. What’s this?” He nodded to my corkboard of pictures, articles, notecards, and string. I hadn’t even thought about putting the string connections, it was just second nature.
“My…mind map, I guess,” I answered, shrugging. “This is how I put things together and see how the world works. It helps me organize my thoughts.”
“Nakul isn’t up there yet,” he pointed out softly. “Should he be?”
I snapped my fingers, then rushed to my computer, quickly printing an old photo I had of my uncle. I put him on the board, connected to me, the prison, and the rest of the nagas, represented by a picture of a snake.
“That’s better,” I said when I was done. “Thanks. He’ll get connected to whoever approached him to kill me once this is over.”
“This is really intense.” He took in every little detail, hovering over my picture, then his. He followed the connections like a professional, though I knew he wasn’t. I was self-conscious about him seeing how I did this, wanting to see something in him that probably wasn’t there.
“I know it seems craz—”
“It’s really helpful. Hopefully, you can keep working on it. I’m starting to see why you can be so…paranoid,” he finished carefully, looking over at me. “Maybe that’s not the right word. Thoughtful? When I met you, I heard you talking about things and people I didn’t understand. Cassius made it seem like you were making leaps of logic, but now I get it. You think like this.”
“I’m always looking for the connection,” I agreed, nodding slowly. “I know it looks batshit insane.”
“It…lends itself to that impression, but I don’t think it is. It’s a good tool.”
You haven’t seen The Board. You’ll think I’m crazy then. You’ll be like everyone else, trying to pretend it doesn’t exist.
That thought hurt more than it had any right to.
“Look, why don’t you head back to bed—”
“I’m not leaving you alone,” he said quietly, staring at the work. “Maybe I can help with this, even if you just want me to put stuff up for you.”
“I’ll be fine—”
“I didn’t mention it earlier because everything was happening, then Nakul…but I think that redcap was trying to kill you, too,” he said, cutting me off again, his words dropping like a heavy stone on my chest.
“Dunter tried to kill me?” I asked in a hushed, harried way. “Raphael, are you positive?”
“He knocked me off you, probably thinking the hit would take me out, but I was already nearly healed from the blast. You were really out of it right after the blast, so you missed it, but he nearly took your head in his hands. His focus was on you, and I was able to pull him away before he got his hands on you.” I watched my not-human roommate rub his hands together before simply staring at them.
“Don’t feel guilty,” I said gently. “Please. He—”
“I don’t,” he said sharply. “I don’t feel guilty. Don’t worry