EMBER’S POV
Knox sits up properly now, and there’s something almost careful in how he does it, the way you move when you’re about to set something down that might break.
“We found Devika.” He says it plain. “Your mother.”
The whole world tilts. I’m gripping his arm before I’ve decided to.
“You — what? Where? How? Is she—”
“Found is a strong word.” He covers my hand with his, steadying. “We haven’t got her. But Nathaniel’s been working it since before we left Alaska, and he turned up a pattern. There’s a place she’s been circling. A casino, in the next city over, big and ugly and exactly the kind of golden trap a woman like your mother can’t stay away from. She’s there every Friday, regular as a tide.” His jaw sets. “I intend to go and collect her.”
“I’m coming.”
“And that—” Knox dro
