I rose and met Azriel's gaze. "Are you sure the wards will keep you out?"
In answer, he raised his hand and held it close to the wall. Little bolts of lightning shot toward his fingertips, a warning of what was to come if he pressed closer.
He lowered his hand. "The Aedh is here."
"The bastard is early." I flexed my fingers against the sudden urge to grab Amaya and thrust her sharp point into Lucian's dark heart, then forced a smile and walked around the corner.
He waited in the middle of the three arches that made up the main entrance into the building. "Lucian," I said, voice somehow very neutral. "How pleasant to see you."
Amusement touched his lips. "And said with such sincerity, too. Just as well you're a restaurateur rather than an actress, my girl."
"I'm not your anything." I stopped several feet away and crossed my arms. "It's seven bucks an adult to get into the exhibition. You can pay."
"My pleasure." But his gaze wasn't on me; it was on Azriel. "And it was, many times."
The anger that exploded from Azriel was so strong, it actually forced me forward a step. How he managed to rein it in, to not attack Lucian, I had no idea. But he did.
He didn't say anything, either. Maybe he simply couldn't, lest it break the wall of control.
"Lucian, cut the shit and just get inside," I growled. "We're here to find the key, remember?"
"So we are," he murmured. "But it is infinitely satisfying to know that I have succeeded where he has failed."
"I wouldn't be so certain of that," I bit back, then pushed him up the stairs. Just for a moment, darkness flared in his eyes, yet another reminder that the man I'd spent so much time with was not the person he truly was.
I followed him up the steps and into the shadowed confines of the building's foyer. Old bank-teller-type windows lined one wall, and it was behind several of these that tickets could be purchased.
"I see your father has done his bit to make this place safe," Lucian said, smiling at the woman as he paid the entrance fees.