“You heard me. You were fucking him in DC behind my back, weren’t you? I was trying to save the country from annihilation, and you were too busy sucking vampire dick to notice!”
“Me? It was you!” I spread my arms wide, the tangle of emotions I’d been shoving down and down and down refusing to stay buried. “You ruined this country! You sold us out! Not Valen. Not Gregor. You!”
“That’s a lie!” She steps toward me, her feline eyes flashing. “I don’t know what nonsense Valen has been feeding you, but I?—”
“Cut the shit, Juno! Tell the truth for once. For fuckingonce! You wanted to be president so badly that you would’ve done anything to get there. And you did. Just admit it!”
“I admit I did what I thought was best?—”
“No!” I step to her, finally meeting her toe to toe for the first time in our lives. “You did what was best foryou. And you can sugarcoat it and lie to yourself all you want, but I see you. Valen didn’t need to lie to me for me to realize what you’ve done. Candice’s blood was enough!”
She winces when I say Candice’s name, but that doesn’t stop her. “Oh, and you think Valen is who you should hitch your wagon to? Do you have any clue what he’s done? How many he’s murdered?”
“At least he admits what he is!” I throw my hands up. “And he’s the only chance we have of killing Gregor.” I hiss the final words only loud enough for her to hear. Valen’s warning was clear. If anyone learns what I did to Theo—what I’m capable of doing to all of them—I’ll be dead before I can scream.
She laughs, the sound hard and sharp. “You think he’llhelpyou? Help you wipe out his own kind?”
“Keep your voice down!” I snap.
“He’s just keeping you around as a bargaining chip. That’s all. This is politics, Georgia. My realm. My fucking wheelhouse.He’s using you for an easy fuck and a way to keep Gregor in line when he finally makes his move against him. That’s all.”
“That’s not true.”
“Still so gullible.” She rolls her eyes.
“You’re wrong about him.”
“You’re wrong about me,” she fires back.
“I’m not. I’ve seen the bodies to prove it.” My voice rises, my anger right along with it. “The last word on Candice’s lips was my name.Mine. Her blood is on your hands, but I’m the one carrying the weight of it. And not just hers, Vince’s blood, too. Do you have any idea what they did to him? How they tortured him formonthswhile you were safe here? They mutilated him. Destroyed him. Aang, too. Gretchen, Wyatt, Evie—everyone from the lab. More, so many more. The bodies kept piling up, but you didn’t stop. You held onto power for as long as you could, and you sacrificed everyone who ever loved you to do it.”
“I … I didn’t know what happened to Vince. I …” Her eyes water as she stares at me, her chin beginning to wobble. She almost looks human, like the Juno that cried at our mother’s funeral. It only makes me angrier. She can still cry. Our friends can’t.
“If you’re going to cry, cry for them, not for yourself.” I turn and climb the stairs, my feet steady as my insides twist and churn. I don’t look back. I can’t. Whatever remains between the two of us is too wrecked, too mangled to ever become the same bond of sisterhood we shared before. I know that now. It’s like I’m mourning her all over again, but this time a wide ribbon of anger is woven through it.
I return to my room in silence. Juno is thankfully no longer following me. I slam my door and fight back tears. Just seeing her, talking to her—it’s too much. I can’t seem to hold myself together.
“Dav—I mean, Druin,” I call out, my voice shaking.
He knocks only moments later.
“Hey.” I swing the door wide and usher him in. “So they’re not back?” I swipe a few lone tears from my cheeks and take a deep breath.
“No.” His left wing twitches slightly. “I should’ve gone. Coal is my blood, and I let a Dragonis call the shots.”
“The sun will be up soon. Valen?—”
“Can handle it. Coal can’t.” He stares at me.
“And Valen knows that. They’ll hunker down somewhere. I’m sure of it.”
“Reach out to him.”
“What?”
“Listen to your blood.”
“I don’t?—”
