"yeah." i was willing to bet there were a lot of things mom hadn't told dad. "she blurred it out of my mind just like she did all the memories of her pregnancy."

shelton's eyes lifted from the floor. "you have a sibling?"

my heart did a double-thump as i realized i'd just let the proverbial cat out of the bag. ivy's existence supposedly wasn't widely known and i'd purposely not told shelton about her due to his low-trustworthiness factor. and now the room was practically brimming with people who didn't know, and at least one in particular i didn't want to know: vallaena.

"a sister. how interesting," vallaena said as my eyes met hers. "daevadius has been a very busy man, i see."

"don't you even think about going after her," dad said.

vallaena didn't turn to face him. "perhaps we have more to talk about than i thought."

the look on her face sent a chill coursing through my back. i was almost glad the conroys had ivy. even vallaena wouldn't have an easy time taking her from them.

"if you even think about going after my sister, you can forget ever having my cooperation." i tried to keep the tremble of anger from my voice. or maybe it was fear. this was the first time i'd met one of my father's family face-to-face, and while she seemed surprisingly nice, i knew it could all be a mask hiding the demon beneath.

"your sister need never come into the equation should you take my offer," vallaena said, sweetening the offer with a dimpled smile. "there is far more at stake here than you realize."

i had plenty more to add to this conversation. but not here. not now. there were too many people, some of whom i didn't know well enough to trust just yet. hell, i didn't even know if i could trust shelton.

"a sister?" shelton shook his head. "damn. talk about keeping secrets. all the research i did on you two and i never caught a whiff."

"i hope you're talking about research before you tried to kidnap us for the bounty," i said.

he narrowed his eyes. "what else would i be talking about?"

smith tapped on his tablet and grimaced. "i made a timeline a while back. i added sandy's death to it, but i don't see anything else in my data connecting her death to my parents'."

"well, it's a start." i sighed and looked at the unconscious figure still resting on the ground. "maybe someone can clear up one mystery for me. who's the dude on the floor?"

"he is my denae, nyles," vallaena said, offering another dimple-cheeked smile. "my bodyguard, ali, was going to evacuate us, but the attack came too soon. still, he managed to hold them at bay so we could escape."

great. another spawn. "was anyone killed?"

"no." she motioned her head toward the exit. "ali is guarding upstairs, however, in case of another attack."

"hard to believe after all that ruckus. the bar looked like a warzone."

"i do not think kassallandra wished to kill anyone." vallaena's gaze found my father where he sat glumly on the bed inside the metallic circle on the floor. "but if her hounds could have captured your father, i am certain a little torture would have been in order."

shelton had the nerve to chuckle.

"i've got some bad news," smith said as he puzzled over something on his tablet. "i don't think i can remove the death mark. at least not easily. and even if i did remove it, it wouldn't stop the assassin from finishing the job."

i wanted to grit my teeth. clench my fists. stomp around and yell. but a sigh was all i could manage. "are you saying there's nothing we can do to stop my dad from dying?"

"this is underborn's mark." smith pushed up his glasses and frowned. "you might be able to buy off a normal guild hit, but this guy operates differently than the rest."

"well, yeah. his fee is astronomical," shelton said with a wry expression.

smith crinkled his face. "yes, and no. he, she, or whoever underborn really is doesn't charge money. his payment is the most precious treasure of the contractor."

"talk about a vague notion," elyssa said. "what if it happens to be money? then you have to give him your life savings?"

smith nodded. "something along those lines."

"how do you know so much about him?" i asked.

"when you're digging for answers about murder, the assassins guild is a good place to start." smith sighed and leaned back into the couch. "i found out a lot of things i didn't want to know and came very close to a personal meeting with underborn himself."

"dangerous," ryland said in a low, almost admiring voice.

"yeah." smith took a deep breath. "i went to the meeting place, a ramshackle little bar in the grotto. the summons told me to pick the table in the far end and to take a seat facing the wall. it also told me not to look back."

shelton snorted. "i'll bet you were about to crap bricks."

"oh yeah," smith said, sweat breaking on his forehead. "i don't know how long i sat there expecting a dagger in the back at any minute. after a while, a man with a missing arm sat down to my left. he asked me if i was adam nosti. his question surprised the hell out of me because i thought i'd been really clever, keeping my identity secret. then he told me to look at him, so i did, thinking the whole time it meant a death sentence because i was sure this guy was underborn, and nobody knows what he really looks like. but instead of seeing a stranger, i recognized the man."

"you knew him?" shelton asked.

"not so much knew him as knew of him. it was aston beaumont."

shelton's mouth dropped open. "the guy who won the arcane tourney all those years in a row?"

"that's the one. he told me to take a good look at him, and just sat there for a minute like i was supposed to take in every detail. he looked rough. unshaven, bloodshot eyes, and that damned missing arm. then he gave me a scrap of flash paper and left."

i didn't have a clue who aston beaumont was or where this was going, but it was interesting. "he didn't tell you anything else?" i asked.

smith shook his head. "i looked at the paper. it said 'aston gave up his treasure to destroy his better. should you continue to seek the truth, it will be your sister who loses that which she values most.'"

"what does that mean?"

"aston was an amazing sorcerer," shelton said. "one of the best, until he lost his arm in an accident." he held up a hand to keep my next question at bay. "when we practice magic, it's just like playing baseball or anything else-we get used to using a certain hand. sure, i can switch it up, but unless you're ambidextrous, you'll lose some power and focus."

"so underborn took his arm, his most valued possession."

"yeah. that year there was a new kid on the block named folder reeves. he was a friggin' prodigy. everyone expected him to be the next aston beaumont. except he died in an accident two weeks before the arcane tourney."

"and aston lost his magic arm as the price," i said. "i'll bet he didn't win first place."

"nope. matter of fact, he came in dead last by a long shot."

shelton whistled and gave smith an accusing look. "man, now there's a story you could've told me over coffee."

"no way in hell was i gonna talk about that encounter to anyone. it took me a year to stop looking over my shoulder every two minutes. i didn't have a clue what felicia valued most, but i didn't want underborn to take it."

"you're kidding me, right?" felicia said in a scornful tone.

"maybe your boyfriend, maximus?" smith said. "on second thought, maybe i should've let underborn wipe that skid mark off the planet."

tears pooled in felicia's eyes. "you're such a stupid bastard!" in one smooth motion, she pushed herself from her sitting position on the floor and stormed into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

"that son of a bitch, maximus," smith said, punching his palm with a fist.

"men are so daft," stacey said. "you bloody fool. your life is her greatest treasure, not that mental vampire, maximus. you're the last family she has on this earth and you've wasted years ignoring her so you could solve your parents' murders. and look where it's gotten you."

smith went white as her words sank in. i felt surprised myself because i sure as heck hadn't seen that one coming.

"you have quite a way with words, stacey," he said. "you're obviously as intelligent as you are beautiful."

she blushed and blinked her eyes quickly as if trying to figure out why he wasn't yelling at her for her bluntness. "you are too kind, sir." a smile lit her face. "but if you're looking for more advice, i suggest you go apologize to your sister and start things down the right track from here on out."

"wait, a minute," i said. "what about my dad? what about the death mark? can't we do anything?"

"i've isolated the frequency for the tracker," smith said. "the circle won't be necessary to cut it off any longer. but the only way to stop the hit is to appeal to underborn."

"and offer him my most valued possession?" i cast a worried glance at elyssa.

smith got up and tucked his tablet into a wide pocket inside his dark overcoat. "i have no idea. best i can do is tell you how to initiate contact with him. then you're on your own. that's just how he works."

"it's not worth it, son," dad said, his face screwed up in anger and misery. "block the tracker and i'll put good use to whatever time i have left."

i wanted to argue with him. tell him we'd find a way. but i couldn't promise anything right now. i was tired as hell and in no shape to do a damned thing. smith gave me a sympathetic look as he went into the bedroom to talk to his sister. stacey looked from my father to me, her eyes glistening. vallaena looked troubled, but i didn't think for a moment she'd shed a tear for my dad.