“The girl that Peanut has supposedly been hanging out with.” I turned to where Zayne leaned against the back of the couch. “He told me her name is Gena, and other than things being weird with her parents, he’s been really vague about her. I wanted to check in on her to see if everything is on the up-and-up, but apparently she’s not real?”
“Or he gave you a fake name.” He crossed his legs at the ankles. “But why would he do that?”
“I have no idea.” I shook my head. “Usually he’s into oversharing about everything, but he’s been acting weird since we came here. He’s been disappearing for longer and longer times.”
“He didn’t come and go when he was with you in the Potomac Highlands?”
“He did, but he was around more.” I thought about what Peanut told me when I saw him last. “He did say something weird happened to him, roughly around the time I think you Fell. He said he was sucked into what he thinks was purgatory for a few moments.”
“Okay. I wasn’t expecting that.”
“Neither was I.” I rose from the bar stool. “And I have no idea if what happened to him was somehow related to your Fall.”
“I don’t, either.” Zayne brushed his hair behind his ear. “But maybe my Fall created some kind of momentary pull?”
“Maybe,” I murmured, lifting my gaze to his. He watched me closely, and I exhaled loudly. “We need to talk, don’t we?”
He nodded. “Yep.”
“Do I get to pretend that I have no idea what you want to talk about?”
One side of his lips curved up. “I’m surprised you’re not already yelling at me for not backing you up on your poorly thought through plan.”
I stared at him blandly. “I wasn’t going to yell at you, but now I’m rethinking that.”
“It’s too much of a risk, Trin. Even if there was no chance of you being pregnant.”
There was a whooshing motion in my stomach. “And like I said before, everything we do is a risk. Using myself as bait is the quickest way to get to Gabriel.”
“And stupidest—”
“Do you want me to yell at you? Because I’m getting pretty close to that happening.”
“Sorry.” He didn’t sound sorry at all. “But too many things could go wrong with that.”
“And too many things could go wrong with Danika’s idea, starting with it not working at all.”
His brows lowered. “You sounded like you were on board with her idea when she talked about it.”
“I’m not against it. I just don’t think that’s the fastest way to get to Gabriel. How many demons will we have to kill to find the one who will carry the message back?” I folded my arms across my chest. “And while I do think Gabriel is arrogant enough to rise to the challenge, I don’t know if any demon we leave alive will actually risk Gabriel killing them to deliver the message. They’ll probably run for the hills.”
“That might happen, but Gabriel has to come for you before the Transfiguration. If we end up killing every demon or they end up running, he will get desperate enough to come for you himself,” Zayne reasoned.
“And you’re not worried that will be cutting it real close to the Transfiguration? All he needs is my blood, Zayne. He manages to get me near that portal and draws my blood? Then what?” I lifted a shoulder. “We need to take him out before the Transfiguration.”
“I agree with the latter, but I can’t get behind letting you get captured.” Uncrossing his ankles, he pushed off the back of the couch. “And it doesn’t have anything to do with you possibly being pregnant.”
“It really doesn’t?” I lifted my chin as he stopped in front of me. “Are you sure you’d be this against it if there was no chance of me being pregnant?”
“Yes.” There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation there. “The mere idea of you being in Gabriel’s hands or anywhere near Bael makes me want to destroy something—something very large.” Slowly, so that I saw him, he lifted his hand and fixed my cockeyed glasses. “And if you think it’s because I believe you can’t handle yourself, you’re wrong. I know you can, but—”
“You do realize that anything that comes before the word but is basically nullified, right?”
“But,” he repeated, lowering his hand to the nape of my neck, “Gabriel knows that, too. He knows you can fight. He’ll be prepared for that.”
“Will he be prepared for it being a trap? Doubtful.”
“Would you be okay with me being used as bait?” he asked instead. “If it were me who was being tagged with a tracer that can fail and being taken only God knows where?”
I opened my mouth, but I couldn’t get the word yes out of my mouth.
Zayne’s eyes searched mine. “You wouldn’t be. Not because you think I can’t defend myself, but for the same reasons as me. You couldn’t bear the idea of me being in the hands of a being that could kill me, because you love me, and because of that, you would want to try every other avenue first before you put my life in jeopardy.”