He rushed after Katherine, using his long legs to catch up to her easily now that there wasn’t a crowd to weave through. “Wait, please.”
She kept walking. He kept following. “We need to talk.”
She stopped just long enough to give him a harsh glare. “Not here,” she said, nodding at a nearby camera crew.
Of course. Silas had never had to hide. Had never had to worry about people recognizing him, piecing together an old face with a new one, old crimes with a new person. He couldn’t imagine the anxiety she must feel all the time, and yet she’d still seen fit to tell him about her background. And he’d taken that trust and thrown it in her face.
He followed Katherine until she pulled him into a mostly empty parking lot. He watched as she checked the street, then pulled him to the side wall, where they were shadowed enough that they wouldn’t be spotted. She leaned back against the wall, her arms crossed over herchest, her expression stony. There was a piece of ash clinging to her cheek. Silas’ hands itched to reach over and wipe it off.
“What do we need to talk about, Silas?”
“That was a magical fire.” He tried to keep his voice soft this time, but it was difficult. The image of those coughing people, the thought that there were probably others who were worse off, sent anger curling in his stomach. An attempt on his life, he could forgive—how much was he worth, in the end?—but not when other people got hurt. “Someone had to be behind it.”
He didn’t say it, but she’d already put it together. “Sylvia doesn’t have that kind of power.”
“She could if she had help. Maybe from someone who wants in on her altum operation.”
Katherine huffed a laugh. “God, you’re more delusional than I thought.”
She tried to stomp away, but Silas got around her, blocking her off. “She has good reason to get rid of me. You have to know about the history between her and my parents.”
Katherine laughed again, the sound hard. “Right. You mean your parents forcing her out of the only home she ever had because they didn’t like her background? Yeah, I know about that.”
Silas bristled. “I’m not defending them, Katherine. I’m just saying that Sylvia has an excuse to hate me.”
“Because the only good reason to hate you would have to be related to your parents, right?” Katherine sneered. “She couldn’t want you gone because you’re an entitled prick who hasn’t earned a single thing in his charmed little life?”
Silas reeled. “That’s not…” He didn’t even know how to finish that sentence. He wanted to say it wasn’t true, but it was. Wanted to say it wasn’t fair, but it was. Wanted to defend himself, but couldn’t think of a damn thing about him that was worth defending.
“Maybe she hates you because you’re useless.” Katherine’s words sped past her lips, like she’d barely been holding them back all this time. Like every moment where she implied he might have value was a front.“Or because everything you have is because of the family you were born into. Because you’ve never worked a day in your life.”
“I’ve never denied my privilege,” he said, the words weak.
“No, but you haven’t done anything with it either. You’ve never stood up for the values you claim to have, because that would make things actually hard, and you’re too spineless for that. You’re trying to destroy everything she gave her blood, sweat, and tears for because your parents told you to.”
Katherine took a step closer to him, her eyes boring into him.
“I don’t care what you think Sylvia did. Stay out of my coven’s business, Silas.”
She stormed off, the piece of ash flying directly at his face.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Katherine was done trying to do the right thing.
Evidence, procedure, proof… What did any of that matter?
She knew what happened to Lily, and she was going to do something about it.
That’s what she’d done with Silas, right? She’d been telling herself that for the whole ride over—that he deserved it. That she was telling him the truth. That she was making him pay for the sins of his awful family.
But that was a lie.
The only thing she’d been making him pay for was her own guilt.
That was who she was. That was what she brought to the world. She might as well turn that cruelty on someone who actually deserved it—the man she was sure was responsible for Lily’s death.
Katherine cut into her hand, a blue rune lighting up on her palm as she turned the wood of the door in front of her to ash.
