Rogue Descendant (Nikki Glass) - By Jenna Black Page 0,40
that the woman he’d loved and married had set a condo full of people on fire. I had to be in control of my emotions, because Anderson might well lose control of his, and that would be bad.
I no longer felt on the verge of tears when Anderson stepped into his office, but I still wasn’t as put together as I’d have liked. Anderson had donned one of his endless collection of wrinkled shirts, and if he’d combed his wet hair at all, it had to have been with his fingers. He dropped into his desk chair looking even more safe and ordinary than usual, and though I knew it was an illusion, I grasped hold of it to help steady myself.
Wordlessly, I tossed the manila folder across the desk, still not trusting myself to talk. Anderson raised an eyebrow at me, but opened the folder and read the article while I averted my eyes to avoid the pictures. I heard the pages flipping as he read, but I didn’t look up. An unfortunate, whiny voice in my head kept asking why everyone was so eager to blame me for everything that went wrong in their lives. I tried not to listen to it, because feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to help the situation one bit.
I heard the sound of the papers being tucked back into the folder, then the soft groan of Anderson’s chair as he leaned back in it. Safe from the worry of catching another glimpse of the pictures, I raised my head and tried to interpret the look on his face.
The best word I can come up with to describe his expression was neutral, and I realized he was making a concerted effort to hide his feelings. He was doing a much better job of it than I was. I hadn’t a clue what he was thinking or feeling behind that mask.
“In case you were wondering,” I said, though I was sure he’d figured it out already, “that was my condo.”
“So I gathered. Have you made any progress in your hunt?” he asked, his voice as neutral as his face.
“Depends how you define progress,” I said. “I thought I was on his tail last night when the rain came in, but I have no way to be sure.” I braced myself for trouble as I took a tentative step into dangerous territory. “I was on his tail right about the time the fire seems to have started, and he was nowhere near my condo.”
Anderson kept his neutral mask firmly in place, though I was sure he knew what I was implying. “A man like Konstantin never does his own dirty work. He has people for that kind of thing.”
I was certain that was the truth, but I still couldn’t shake the uncomfortable suspicion that Emma was the true culprit. She had a much more obvious motive, at least in her own twisted version of reality, but Anderson wasn’t going to believe that unless I came up with actual proof, and I didn’t have it. At least not yet.
“It doesn’t really matter who’s behind it,” I said, although it did matter, quite a lot. “Whoever it is, it’s an Olympian, and Cyrus should be able to put a stop to it.”
Anderson shook his head. “I don’t care that Cyrus has supposedly taken Konstantin’s place at the top. He doesn’t have the kind of power that Konstantin does, and there’s no way in hell he can control Konstantin’s actions. Even if he wanted to.”
I mentally cursed Anderson’s stubbornness. If he’d only acknowledge the possibility that Emma was behind the fires, he’d probably have set up a meeting with Cyrus already. Cyrus might not be able to stop Konstantin from coming after me, but I’d bet good money he could stop Emma.
“So what you’re telling me,” I said through gritted teeth, “is that you’re content to sit back and do nothing while whoever it is kills babies and old ladies.” Anderson’s narrowed eyes said he didn’t appreciate my tone, but I was pissed enough not to care. “You’re not even going to try to negotiate with Cyrus.”
“I didn’t say I wouldn’t try.” Despite the narrowed eyes, he sounded calm enough. “I was merely pointing out that it’s not likely to work. We have no leverage.”
No, we didn’t have leverage. Not unless Anderson was willing to go to war with the Olympians for my sake, which he wasn’t. And to tell you the truth, I was just as happy