“I think this guy’s dead,” the coroner said, scooting another inch or two, to be safe.“There’s something wrong here,” Tom said. They both looked at him.“No, I’m pretty sure of it,” the coroner said. “That bullet hole, for one thing. Plus, he’s not breathing. That’s the kind of thing we look for.”

“Look,” I said, trying to reason with him despite extensive experience that this rarely worked. “This isn’t a great time. I have my inauguration—” “Coronation.” “—coming up,”

“I think he’s dead,” Caeden said. “No,” I shook my head. Caeden continued like I hadn’t said anything. “And when I get my hands on Travis I’m going to make him suffer through every unimaginable thing before I kill him. And when I kill him I’m going to make sure he begs for mercy. He hurt you and if he’s hurt or killed another member of my pack, none of you will be able to stop me.”

“I looked down at my clothes. They were slashed to pieces and full of bullet holes, but I was fine. Not a mark on me.Nico's mouth hung open. "You just . . . with a sword . . . you just—""I think the river thing worked," I said."Oh gee," he said sarcastically. "You think?”

“He’s being held prisoner on a ceramic-lined cookie sheet in the oven,” Thomas said. “I figured he couldn’t jigger his way out of a bunch of steel, and it would give him something to think about before we start asking questions.”“That’s an awful thing to do to one of the Little Folk, man,” I said.“I’m planning to start making a pie in front of him.”“Nice.”“Thank you.”

“He grinned. “I was trying to remember all the deadly sins the other day,” he said. “Greed,envy, gluttony, irony, pedantry…”“I’m pretty sure irony isn’t a deadly sin.”“I’m pretty sure it is.”“Lust,” she said. “Lust is a deadly sin.”“And spanking.”“I think that falls under lust.”“I think it should have its own category,” said Jace. “Greed, envy, gluttony, irony, pedantry, lust, and spanking.”