“So far, all the guests we’ve been able to identify—including now Pomeroy and Florentine—are connected to that organization. There are only about thirty or so more guests we haven’t confirmed names on, but I’d bet this entire library they’re allForsytheguests.”
“Westlyn certainly didn’t invite anyone. And her father had no friends left to invite. According to West, he alienated everyone in their circle.”
“Right. And Eloise? You can’t convince meshemarried for love. At this point, I’m counting her as a Forsythe guest, too.”
“Which means everyone at that wedding is either part of or deeply connected to the shadow magic society. Even the high priest.”
“Explains why no one tried to help her when things took a turn for the worse during the ceremony.” The realization sets my blood to boiling again. “They were all fucking in on it.”
“Starting long before the wedding.”
“Right. So now we’ve got the Forsythes, including their son Hunter, who seems to be a vessel for Zorakkov. We’ve got three men who terrorized West as a teenager, which was a decade ago. And more than a decade beforethat, we’ve got Hunter getting some kind of mysterious medical treatments at the same hospital where West was born and her evil stepmother worked in pediatrics.”
“And those treatments started the day after our girl was born.”
“Now there’s another doctor from their circle—also a Garrison Hospital employee—visiting his apartment, and we haven’t seen him leaving at all since the wedding.”
“So where do we start, Rook? The way I see it, they’re all going down. Question is, who goes first?”
I toss the stacks of papers on the table in front of him and reclaim my seat on the bench. “There’s everything you need to track down Pomeroy and Florentine. I’ll let you know when I finish with the socials—shouldn’t take me too long to find this Full Metal Jacket douchebag.”
Jude looks over the paperwork and nods. “And Pomeroy’s bitch of a mother?”
“Same address.”
“Oh, I love it when you make my job easier.” He grins, the wheels turning behind his eyes. “Nothing like a two-fer to give an event that extra special something.”
“How is this all playing out, then? You planning to take care of it offsite?”
Jude likes to work from home, but when there’s more than one perp involved, that complicates things.
“Auggie and I still need to nail down the final plan, but the way I see it… Yeah. I’m thinking the old Ryker Meat Packing Plant for this one—that’ll work out nicely. So, we pop on down to Hell’s Kitchen and grab Pomeroy and his mum, then zip down to Chelsea for Alonzo. The plant’s just a stone’s throw from there. Once you track Full MetalJackoff, we’ll figure out where he is on our route and plan accordingly.”
“You flying?”
“Nah, too complicated with all those bodies. We’ll take Draegan’s Escalade.”
I laugh. “Oh, he’ll love that. Better not get any blood on the seats.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Swirling my untouched bottle of kombucha, I say, “You sure it’s not too complicated with the mother involved? Maybe you should bring her in separately.”
“What’s a complication but an opportunity in disguise?” He glances up from the paperwork, his grin manic. “Since their brutalization of our little scarecrow was a family affair, their…interrogationswill be, too.”
“You’re going to eliminate them, I presume?”Hope. I don’t say that word out loud, but I know he can read it in my eyes.
“Not right away, no.”
Again, the rational part of my mind kicks in, begging me to talk him out of this. Three men and one of their mothers, all members of the shadow magic society, all with extremely powerful allies, all connected to the botched wedding and the Archmage’s gruesome plans for West… We’re in dangerous territory here. Far more than we’ve ever faced since the fae cursed us to this life.
But now, when I hold his determined gaze across the table, all that rational thought evaporates.
Once more I think of West, hanging out with me here in the library, asking me a hundred and one questions about fae and demon lore, her inquisitive eyes bright. I think of her laughter, and her raven companions, and the way she feels like she’s always been part of us, and the way my heart skips whenever she walks into the room.
And then, in a voice so dark I barely recognize it, I say, “I want you to make them fuckingbleed.”
Jude nods. “You know I will, brother.”
