The Sorcerer Heir (Heir Chronicles) by Cinda Williams Chima

responsibility for handling it to someone else. Someone who wasn’t in love with a murderer.
    Except for this one thing: she still couldn’t bring herself to believe that Jonah had killed Grace Moss. And if he didn’t commit those murders, maybe he wasn’t responsible for Tyler’s either.
    I need more information, she told herself, before I begin accusing Jonah Kinlock of anything. She tried to dismiss the notion that she was just postponing the inevitable.
    But then, just as she turned toward the door, Gabriel called after her. “One more thing. We still need to get you evaluated.”
    Emma shook her head. “No. I don’t go to doctors. They just find things that are wrong with you.”
    “Did someone tell you to avoid doctors sometime in the past?” Gabriel asked.
    “No!” Emma blurted. “It’s just—my grandfather Sonny Lee—he never went to doctors. If you don’t have insurance, you’re better off not knowing you’re sick.”
    Gabriel entered a few notes into the computer. “I’m not talking about seeing a doctor. Natalie will do the evaluation. It’s nonnegotiable, if you want to maintain a connection here at the Anchorage. I’m responsible for you, whether you’re here or in Trinity.”

A s he had five nights previously, the physically gifted, quick, and agile Jonah Kinlock prepped for the hunt. T-shirt, jeans, leathers overtop, Nightshade amulet—the amulet that enabled him to see unhosted shades. He missed the reassuring weight of Fragarach between his shoulder blades. But it couldn’t be helped. On these hunts, he was serving as bait, and a massive sword would send the wrong message.
    Charlie, Mike, Thérèse, and Alison were gearing up, too, only, unlike Jonah, they were armed to the teeth. All carried the shiv-launchers Jonah had first seen during the sweep of the Flats. They made Jonah uneasy. In the hands of a trigger-happy slayer, they could give the game away. If Lilith showed up hosted in a physical body, they wouldn’t do any good until the cadaver was out of the way.
    He hoped that Lilith would once again leave the cadaver at home. Then she’d be vulnerable to a quick strike from Jonah. And he could avoid the blowback pain of a shiv kill.
    Alison still seemed moody and withdrawn, even pricklier than usual.
    As if to compensate, the other three were joking around with a kind of forced cheerfulness, as if to say, This is serious work, but we shadeslayers, we’re full of camaraderie. And we love you, Jonah, even though you went a little crazy for a while and called us murderers .
    Jonah guessed they all had a little bit of that old bloodlust. Each of them longed to put the Lilith Greaves notch in their belts. Once she was out of the way, they hoped the shade army would disperse, and the slayers of Nightshade could go back to business as usual.
    Jonah wasn’t so sure. The murders had opened a wound in Trinity that wouldn’t heal up any time soon. Whoever set off the bomb at Safe Harbor would be incentivized to try again. Jonah could sense trouble brewing, but had no idea how to put a stop to it.
    You’ve kept too many secrets, Gabriel, Jonah thought. If mainliners knew what we were up against, if we’d told them the truth, if we’d partnered with them back in the day, we’d have some credit to draw upon. Maybe even allies going forward.
    Thérèse put her hand on Jonah’s shoulder, squeezing it through the leather. “I know this is hard, to go out there unarmed. But we’re glad to have you back on the team, Jonah.” She smiled, the light illuminating her faded brown eyes.
    “Should we try a different part of town?” Mike said. “Maybe they’ve moved their headquarters elsewhere.”
    Charlie shook his head. “The Flats and the Warehouse District are still the hotspots for shade activity. We’ve been pushing pretty hard in downtown, and yet they keep hanging around. Maybe it’s because there are so many people on the street late at night.”
    “Should we try somebody