by Laney McMann
Kade stood in the palatial entryway, front door swung wide, staring out the French doors onto another body of water she didn’t yet know the name of, while Cole trudged up the stairs past her and put her suitcase in one of the bedrooms and his in the other spare room. Without a word, he marched back down the steps, grabbed her hand, and pulled her back up the stairs in silence.
“I’ll just be running a few errands,” Heru said from the front door. “Food and such. Stay inside.”
Cole nodded, walking into one of the bedrooms he’d disappeared into with Kade’s suitcase, and led her to the bed. She sat down, as he turned and closed the door and returned, sitting next to her. Letting out a breath, he looked into her eyes for the first time since they’d left the Underworld.
“I’m sorry. I don’t want to take any of this out on you. I just don’t know what to say—or anything.”
She glanced down at her hands in her lap. “That feels a little like getting punched in the stomach.”
“God … Kade,” he sighed, “… I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I’m so sorry, Cole. I don’t know what to say either or what to do. I did this to you.” She glanced up at him. “I did this. If you hadn’t met me at Crystalline—if I hadn’t tackled you—or if you’d never have come to my house and found me in the snow that day—none of this—”
He put a finger over her lips, sending a shock of electric warmth through her body that she wanted to be consumed by. “Stop. Don’t do that. I wouldn’t change it.” His gaze pierced hers, the most beautiful eyes she’d ever seen, the most beautiful person she’d ever known, inside and out, and she wanted to cry.
She’d been freed somehow by Euryale’s kind words, and at the same time, had unknowingly caged Cole into an existence he didn’t want. “I can’t not think about it,” she said. “It’s true.”
He shook his head. “I’m just … in shock, and it’s not like I didn’t know this was a possibility. I knew.” He stared at her. “I knew, Kade. I did all the research when the lines first showed up on my hand weeks ago—after we first touched. I know all about amalgamations and Anamolia—or I thought I did. And regardless of the rest of what Euryale told us, I knew this was a risk from day one.”
“What are you saying?”
“I don’t know.” He rubbed his face and stood up from the bed. “That I thought the crystal was Turning me into a Primeva and I didn’t care all that much?” He threw his arms out to the sides. “I don’t know. The lines were supposed to fade, and when they didn’t, I figured Primeva was a possibility. I told Dan that a couple weeks ago, too, but—” He made a growling noise. “It didn’t stop me from seeing you, Kade.”
“I’m confused—you didn’t care that you might be turning into a Primeva?”
“Yes … no. It’s not like I touched your crystal on purpose that night you fell. I mean, I knew the risk after I’d already touched it. After that happened. But it was too late by then.” He shook his head, exhaling, pacing. It sounded more like he was talking to himself than to her. “I don’t know what I’m saying. I really don’t. I …”
“Cole …” She walked over and held his hand, but she couldn’t look at him. “None of that matters now. This is happening. We can talk it to death, but it doesn’t change that this is happening. There’s only one way to stop it,” she whispered, looking down at their hands. “The answer is obvious. I might hate it, you might hate it, but … if we don’t see each other anymore maybe the effects of the fusionem crystal will stop.” The words tasted like acid, and she found it impossible to swallow properly.
His body went rigid, and he let go of her hand like she’d electrocuted him.
“This is a complete mess, Cole,” she said, finally looking at him. “Look what I’ve done to your life. I love you too much to take it away from you. A Primori is who you are. I’d rather face the Eldership and the Daemoneum than do this to you.”
He shook his head, staring at her with pain in his beautiful eyes, and walked to the balcony doors in her new bedroom, staring out.
She willed tears not to fall. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I am so sorry.”
Cole opened the French doors without a word, without looking at her, and shifted into the falcon with a sharp screech, and took off like a bullet from a shotgun barrel into the Venice sky.
Kade burst into tears.
Lindsey knocked on Jake’s door in the Kinship common house after carefully making her way to the boy’s wing without running into nosy-ass Thatcher. Jake swung the door open on the first rap of her knuckles, and peered out.
“You rang?” Lindsey stood in the hall, her voice and expression neutral, pointing at the raven wings on her neck.
“Where’ve you been?” His light blond brows screwed up over his blue eyes. He was like a Ken doll with attitude. And Lindsey hated to admit it, but she could see why Giselle had dated him. He was good looking. Granted, they’d only gone out for a few weeks. Not that Lindsey would ever have done that.
“Are you like my supervisor now?” She leaned against the side of the door frame. “Because I already have one of those. You can ask Thatcher how well I respond to her authority.”
“Thatcher’s an idiot.” He bit the edge of his too-short thumbnail.
“Oh …” Lindsey perked up. Maybe they could get along after all. “You’re not a fan?”
“No.” He let out a breath. “You gonna tell me what’s up?”
“With?” Maybe she’d been hasty about the getting along thing.
He grinned, his blond hair all spiked up over that cowlick that never sat down on his forehead. “Cole’s gone.”
She didn’t respond.
“Kade, too.”
Nothing.
He smiled wider, all too-white teeth. “Like I said, you gonna tell me what’s up?”
When Lindsey said nothing, Jake shoved his hands in his jeans pockets, broad shoulders squared. “The Eldership showed up a little while ago looking for Kade. They’re questioning all the kids in the Brotherhood—even the youngest. They took Plumb into custody. Not sure if they’re taking her to Stella Urbem or if she’s still at the Brotherhood or what, but the rumors are running like wildfire.”
“Oh, shiiit.”
“Spill.”
She waved her arms out to the sides with a groan. “I have about ten more minutes before I’m leaving. In which time I need to avoid Thatcher—”
“Yeah, you do,” he cut her off mid-sentence. “She’s already come knocking looking for you. Where is it we’re going?”
“There’s no ‘we’—that’s I’m trying to say—”
“Unfortunately,” he cut her off again, “I guess for both of us at this point, as your Alpha, there is definitely a ‘we.’” Jake opened his door all the way, ushering her inside. “In the three minutes it’ll take me to pack, you can tell me where we are going.”
Chapter 28
Danny parked the Jeep about a mile away from the Kinship in a cluster of snow-covered trees off the side of the road and waited for Lindsey. Giselle had made herself into a cocoon in the passenger’s seat. Only her head popped out of the top of the blanket she’d rolled her body up in.
“Does something feel … off to you lately?” he asked her as they sat in the cold silence.
“We’re officially hiding from Plumb and Thatcher at this point, Dan. The Eldership is after Kade, and now probably Cole, and a baby picture from when I was two years old was in Dracon’s psycho lab,” she snapped, “which means I’m as screwed up as Kade, probably, which sadly, is the only thing that makes any sense to me, so yeah. Things definitely feel off.”
“I didn’t mean it like that. I mean energy. There’s an energy that feels off.”
She stared at him, her big green eyes glowing in the dark. “I feel it, too.”
“There’s something I need to tell you. I didn’t because I’m still not positive myself, and you might not want to know, but you need to.”
She prodded him alo
ng by waving a hand in the air.
“When Cole, Lindsey, and I were in the tunnels underneath Crystalline and Bangerang a few days ago … there was something down there, in the pit.”
“Yeah … I know, you told us when you showed up at the bunker covered in black soot, reeking like a rat’s cage.”
“Well, we went back and found more evidence, which is now gone somehow. The Principals checked it out.” He looked at her. “G … it was Dracon. We found him. He’s alive. And now it looks like he’s hauled ass. I don’t know if that’s the energy shift I’ve been feeling or what, but—if it’s him, or—”
“Why would say that?” Her voice shook. “Why would even think that? Cole killed him.”
Danny shook his head. “We thought Cole killed him, now I think Cole hurt him really bad.” He held his sister’s stare. “Cole and Kade had a run-in with a gurgulio in Verona who told them Dracon didn’t die. Which confirms our suspicions.”
“What am I supposed to say to that?”
“Nothing. I just thought you should know. Cole thinks Dracon’s been hiding out in his house since the Principals found no trace of him in the sewer tunnels. That’s likely what the fresh blood was from. Him.”
She stared at her brother. “And we are stupid enough to go over there knowing that he could be there?”
“He’s a dead man walking if I find him.”
Two figures loomed in the distance on the road, and Danny shifted his attention, sitting up in the driver’s seat. Jake’s face came into clear focus, a backpack slung over his shoulder.
“Oh, hell,” Giselle whispered, ducking down in her seat. “He’s coming with us?”
“Looks like it,” Danny said. “He’s not bad, you know, once you get to know him.”
She dead-eye stared. “I dated him, Dan. I know what Jake’s like.”
“Oh, right. I forgot,” he said in a nonchalant way. “When was that again?”
“Sophomore year,” she said in a serious tone, “and he can’t come with us. I’m dating Lindsey now.”
“So?”
“So … Jake doesn’t know,” she hissed, “that I’m … you know.”
“Gay?”
“Yes!”
“He’s Lindsey’s Alpha now. Did you think you were going to get around that fact?”
“I was trying not to think about how it would affect me, to be honest.”
“That’s one tactic, I guess.” He pointed at her window with a slight smirk. “Not sure it’ll be effective, though.”
Jake knocked on Giselle’s window, grinning.
“Dammit,” she said under her breath.
“Oooh. You didn’t tell me he still liked you,” Danny whispered, grin widening. “I guess that is a problem.”
“Shut up, Dan. It’s not funny.” Giselle rolled her window down for Jake. “Hey.”
“We’ve got a whole entourage,” he said, smiling at her. “‘Bout time the Brotherhood and the Kinship started working together. Dan.” Jake gave a nod that Danny returned. “Lindsey filled me in. Cole hauled ass with Kade.” He snickered. “I’ve hated him forever, but lately … gotta give it to him, he’s not afraid of anything.”
“Nope,” Danny agreed with an edge in his tone. No one knew that better than he did. Cole’s fearlessness was something he’d admired since they were young, but it had taken him a while to get used to going along with it.
“The Eldership took Plumb into custody. Jake thinks they might take her to Stella Urbem for questioning,” Lindsey shoved Jake away from Giselle’s window and climbed in the back seat of the Jeep.
“Oh, no,” Giselle hissed.
Jake nodded. “Oh, yeah. Plumb was at the Kinship talking gibberish earlier, and I tried to get some information out of her, but it went nowhere. She was like a live wire.” He climbed in the seat beside Lindsey, and Giselle shut the door, turning to face them. “And the Ward has basically gone silent,” he said. “I went to see Warden Caelius today and met some guy named Cato.”
“He’s one of the Elders on the Council,” Danny said. “The Chancellor now, I think.”
“Yeah, well, the guy was an asshole. Looks like the Eldership has taken over. This is all because of Kade?”
Danny turned the heat up, rubbing his cold hands together. “Yeah.”
“I get it, I mean … Anamolia? It’s insane, but it’s Kade.” Jake’s blond brows raised. “Little thing, pretty face, badass in her own right. Have they even met her? Seen her? She’s the complete opposite of anything the Eldership should be afraid of.”
“Have you seen her true form?” Giselle asked.
“No. She was human when I saw her during the attack with Dracon.”
“Yeah, well,” she laughed a little, “you might change your mind about whether or not anyone would see her as a threat when you see her as a Devil God.”
“You’re not lying,” Lindsey said, digging in her backpack. “Wings, spikes … whoa.”
“Spikes?” Jake glanced at Lindsey sideways.
“She has a demon’s face and hands and an angel’s wings,” Danny explained. “It’s a little—”
“Hot,” Giselle supplied.
“Really …” Lindsey looked up from her backpack with a flat smile.
“Hot, hot?” Jake glanced at Danny.
“If you’re into that, I guess.” Danny shrugged. “It’s not really my thing.”
Jake leaned back. “Spikes.”
“More like barbs.” Danny started the engine.
“Whoa.”
“Please keep your crush on Kade to yourself,” Giselle said, massaging her pink-socked feet.
“I don’t have a crush on her. She’s Cole’s girlfriend.” Jake propped his feet up on the middle console, eyeing Giselle. “I respect that. Just saying—barbs are hot.”
“If you want to get stabbed.”
Jake rolled his eyes. “So, what’s the plan?”
“This is strictly under the radar,” Danny said. “No one can know. With Warden Caelius gone, we’re flying solo. Like Cole said, I’m pretty sure what we’re doing is close to treason.”
Jake shrugged. “The only people here are Thatcher and the Eldership, neither of which I want to deal with. Alex is gone, so—” He stopped talking.
No one said anything for a beat.
Danny put the Jeep into first gear. “We’re headed to Kade’s house. There’s a ring we need to find. I’ll explain on the way there. Cole seems to think that's where our next leads might be, so we’re going back a second time to scour through whatever we may have missed. And I’ll warn you, we think Dracon is still alive. He might be there, too.”
“What?” Lindsey shouted.
“You're serious?” Jake's brows squeezed together.
“Yeah, I’m serious. And what you’re going to see at the house isn’t pretty.” Dan glanced over his shoulder, pulling out of the trees and onto the mountain road.
The last thing in the world Kade wanted to do was get dressed for the masquerade ball. Her eyes were red and swollen, her nose was stuffed up and raw, and she didn’t even know how she was going to face Cole—what she would possibly say to him—or how them breaking up was going to work. She had nowhere to go. Maybe she could stay in one of Heru’s villas by herself. Even if she was tracked, the Daemoneum wouldn’t be able to get in. Being on her own was the only way to stop all of this.
Cole hadn’t come back to her room after he’d left. She’d stood in front of the French doors hoping and waiting to see falcon wings in the sky afterward, but had finally turned away from the window. An hour later, she wanted to knock on his door across the hall—check on him, see if he was back—but she couldn’t find the courage. What she wanted most was to apologize again. All the same, she’d forced herself to take a shower and get dressed.
Now, she found herself standing in front of a massive gilded mirror in the entryway of Heru’s palatial villa. The villa she’d barely even seen or explored since they’d arrived. Deep gold shafts of late
afternoon light streaming in from the French doors striped the glossy wooden floors, and a crystal chandelier glittered overhead, illuminating the ceiling. Several vanilla, tapered candles in silver holders burned from their spot on the carved marble mantle gracing a large fireplace, a wood fire crackling merrily in the metal grate.
Kade’s black high heel shoes clapped against the floor as she shifted to the side, staring in the mirror. She wondered if they needed tickets to get into the ball. No one had mentioned anything, but she had read that it was one of the largest masquerade balls in the world. Surely they needed tickets. Maybe Cole wouldn’t even go. It would be just her and Heru. She couldn’t blame him if he didn’t—she also couldn’t think clearly anymore.
“Don’t we need tickets?” she mumbled to herself knowing no one was in earshot. She stood alone and heard no one moving around downstairs, only the loud pop of splitting wood from the fireplace now and then. “I read on the train this was the biggest masquerade ball in the world,” she mumbled again, trying to shift the too small, and too tight, waist of her black shimmering satin ball gown, willing herself to stay calm and not start crying again. How was she going to get through this? Any of this? Talking to herself about random things had become a calming mechanism she’d used over the years. Since she was used to being alone, talking to herself wasn’t weird to her. She yanked on the bodice of her dress, but it refused to budge. “How do people breathe in these things,” she whispered.
Heru had called in a favor, and their formal attire had been delivered for them to the villa. Kade’s dress, although the correct size, was cutting off her ability to inhale and exhale properly. It was strapless and snuggly fitted through the bodice down to her waist, and then it belled out slightly and fell straight to the floor, like the red dress she’d worn to the opera. Her long, dark blonde hair was in a tight twist, that she’d luckily—and shockingly—been able to manage by herself, arranged high up on her head. Loose tendrils framed her face.
A choker of black ribbon encircled her throat, and a single white pearl dangled from it against the hollow of her neck. She tried to adjust her masquerade ball mask over her eyes, but it kept scratching her cheek. Finally, she managed to put it on properly and stepped back, staring at herself in the mirror.
