“How?” Mia asked, clearly not feeling it.
Violet took all of them in. “You have to leave me alone with him.”
“No way,” Jessup said. “I know you, Vee. You’ll soften up and release him. And he’ll kill you. He won’t mean to, but he will.”
She glanced at Kade. “Last time he felt in his gut that killing me was wrong. And I feel in my gut that this is the only way I can reach him, pull him back.”
Ryan said, “She’s got the look again?—”
“Yeah, I see it.” Jessup furrowed his brows at her. When she thought he would argue further, he said, “Whistle if you need help.”
She smiled, full of gratitude that he trusted her. “I will.”
Mia turned her heavy gaze to Kade. Tears glazed her cheeks, and her mouth turned down in a frown. She had lost her mother and her father at such a young age. She looked like that young girl again. “Please save my brother.”
“I will,” Violet said again. Then words floated into her mind: Or I’ll die trying.
19
Ferro knew Drakos had saved his life by shoving Violet out of the cell and locking him inside. As much as he hated to admit it, Violet had been a threat. He’d seen the murderous rage in her eyes. His salvation was small comfort. The woman had bested him. Two women, including one of his own Arguses. First Kade had joined forces with Violet, and now Mia had.
But what did they have? Kade, who would be mental mush, and Violet’s suspicions, with no way to prove them.
Still, he wanted her dead.
He sat in his office while other officers investigated how the jailbreak had happened. Officially, it looked like a desperate sister broke in to save her mentally ill brother. Clearly, psychosis ran in the family. Once Mia was captured, she too would be treated with the Black Bore Orb. She would now have her suspicions, tainted by Violet.
He called Onyx. “Violet and Kade Kavanaugh’s sister broke Kade out of the psych ward. I imagine they’ll be returning to Castanega land to try to nurse him back to health. Fortunately for us, that will never happen. Not mentally, anyway, and he may be more dangerous to them than to us.” He told her about the Black Bore Orb. He had bristled at the idea of having Purcell, whom he knew only as a member of the Concilium, coming in and taking care of his problems. But Ferro had to admit that the orb had been a brilliant idea. Kade went crazy within sight of witnesses, and even with him out there, he was harmless. To Ferro, anyway.
“The idea of it gives me the creepy chills,” she said. “Remind me never to piss off a Deuce of his order. Can I finally take out Violet? You know I so want to.”
He crossed his ankles on his desk. “We’re too close to have anything happen to us. We’re Drakos’s lifeline. But we do need to ignite the clan wars. They’re already on alert, ready for attack. One more murder, clearly committed by the Castanegas, and they’ll be out of the picture. Then you can swoop in and take those who have killed and Breathed the others, thus gaining more power than you would taking one at a time.”
“But I want to kill Violet,” she whined.
“If she survives, take her after we’ve fed Drakos our power. We can’t afford to risk your safety when we’re this close. Remember what’s at stake. You’ll never again have to fear for your life. When you come for Violet after Friday, no one will defeat you.”
Violet waited for everyone to completely vacate the premises. Her chest was so tight she could hardly breathe. She had an idea—if things worked out well—and ran outside to turn on the hose by her workshop, laying the end in the soggy area where they had fought. She returned to Kade and sat on the bed again, putting herself only an inch from his face. He stared past her with a fierce intensity.
What scared her most was that he had no mist in his eyes. Just moss green, normal as a Mundane’s. And blank.
“Kade, look at me.”
He slowly shifted his gaze to her. “You.” He wasn’t seeing her, not by the vicious tone in his voice.
“Kade, I want you to kiss me.”
He frowned, both disgusted and puzzled. “What?”
“Kiss me,” she ordered. She straddled him and leaned forward, only a hair’s breadth away from him. “Now.”
He closed the distance and complied. To feel his mouth on hers…she closed her eyes and put her hand against his jaw.
“Kiss me like you did this morning,” she said. “You opened your mouth, touched my tongue with yours.” She ran her hands over the front of his chest. “Do it again.”
“Last month,” he said. “I…we…”
“No, this morning, with me. Violet Castanega.” Even if he was remembering a fragment with someone else, at least he wasn’t being hostile. She could live with that. “You made love to me this morning, touched me, pleasured me, made me come over and over.” She opened her mouth and sucked his lower lip into hers. Her lip ached, but the pain was nothing compared to the joy of feeling him again. “Remember, Kade.”
