"She does," Tao said before I could. "Which is why you and I will be keeping a close eye on her until the Directorate has cleaned up the mess."
Exasperation ran through me. "I'm not going—"
"I can taste how much you want to be a part of the resolution, Ris, and I'm more than a little acquainted with your determination." His gaze met mine in the mirror again. "But even if the Aedh weren't out there hunting you, you're not trained for that sort of work."
"Nor would you really want to witness it," Ilianna murmured. "Death is never a pleasant sight, and execution even less so."
I stared at her for a minute, then said, "You've seen someone executed?" God, we were closer than sisters, and yet this was something she'd never, ever even hinted at.
She shrugged, like it was nothing, but the flash of horror in her gaze gave the game away. "It's the reason I walked away from the Brindle, but this isn't really the time to get into it."
Wow, I thought, surprised. Who'd have thought the Brindle would have such a bloody skeleton in its closet—especially given the witch creed and threefold rule?
"Okay," Stane said, "Information sent—"
The rest of his words were lost under the sudden squeal of tires. The Jeep slewed sideways, skidding on the wet roads as Tao battled for control. We half spun, then came to a rest hard up against the side of the truck that had rocketed out of a side street.
"Fucking idiot!" Tao yelled, hanging out the window. "Watch where you're going next time."
The man in the truck gave us a one-finger salute. Tao flung open the door and was half out by the time I lurched forward and grabbed his arm.
"Don't," I said, voice urgent with the fear that was growing inside. "It doesn't matter. We need to keep moving."
"But that idiot could have killed us!" He ripped his arm free from my grip, but nevertheless climbed back into the car. "Get his license plate. The least I can do is report his stupid driving."
"I will. Just get mov—"
The rest of the sentence died in my throat as I stared through the windshield. There were things coming at us. Half-human, half-animal things.