The outrage of ten years ago surged anew, burning through every vein. He swallowed the violence ricocheting through him, holding himself still with sheer force. Only the presence of humans kept him from unleashing the devastation that wanted to erupt.
He steeled his stance, fingers curling to restrain the mana clawing its way out.
But he failed, his mana unfurling around his hands until a soft gasp broke from a human nearby.
“Why tell me this?” Reagan asked.
“Because Sable is dead,” Madden replied, abandoning any hint of civility, “and you are not untouchable, the same as your kin were not. The hatred you feel now is precisely what you will unleash by placing a half-breed in power. So go on. Tell the court your suspicions. Something tells me your source of proof is...unavailable now.”
Maddenknew. He knew what she could do.
Something molten split open inside Reagan. His flux rose like a storm breaking. He held with brutal focus, so tightly he could barely think.
It gave Madden enough time to recover. “Even if I fall, someone else will take my place. And you will lose everything. Now,” he said lightly, already turning away. “We must be on our way before you attract more attention. Goodbye, Reagan.”
Reagan’s chest heaved with the effort it took not to lunge. For one savage instant he considered it. Stopping Madden here, commanding his battle mages to seize him and exposing them before humans. If it meant finding Jane, he didn’t care. He pivoted and—
Collided with Joy Darling. Her amber-flecked eyes were wide, disorienting him as the Order leader gained distance.
“It was her,” Joy whispered, closer than she’d ever stood to him. “That was her. She lied, but I saw it.”
The Scions were slipping toward the edge of the square, nearly past the ring of his squads.
Reagan’s attention snapped between Joy and the departing group. “What? Did you see her?”
Finn and Gwinifer closed in beside them, forming a tight circle.
“Jane blinked,” Joy said. “She blinked twice. It was her.”
“She says the two of them have a signal,” Finn explained.
“When we had to lie to our father about something,” she went on, “we blinked twice. And she blinked twice. She is lying.”
“Reagan.” Gwin’s voice carried a warning. Their window was closing.
But Joy’s focus pinned him, sharpening every instinct he possessed.
“Where did you see her blinking?” he asked.
“She doesn’t look like herself, but she told me your cousin used that same trick on her.” Joy’s breath hitched, her gaze fixed beyond his shoulder with unshakable certainty. “That woman behind the leader. That was Jane.”
Reagan looked past them, to the glimpse of a brown head disappearing into the mouth of an alley. His access kicked in, brewing the storm above.
Chapter 60
Jane
He was here. All of them were here.
Hope burst through me the instant I saw them, even as I was dragged from the square, even as most of them didn’t spare me more than a passing glance. They knew who had me.
That’s your little sister. Cahir had breathed it against my ear the moment he seized me from the alley, right after I pinned the Scions lining up their aim on Reagan.
A warning, and it had worked.
My body had gone rigid.
Trying to warn them outright would put Joy at risk, along with every adult and child in the square. It had turned into a swarm of Scions, disguised battle mages, and humans. Too many eyes. A few humans had sensed the hostility and left, but most lingered, oblivious to the danger they were in.
