Page 146 of Fallacies

“He’s dead, Cal.” Devon’s voice snaps me back into my body.

My hands are still wrapped around the Rogue’s neck. I’d squeezed so tight that I broke skin, dark blood spilling through my fingers. His skin is grey, and his eyes are wide and unseeing, faded to a muted yellow.

Yes, dead.

Peeling my hands away, I stand, wincing as I’m made aware of my injuries again.

“What the fuck?” Devon curses, snatching my arm and lifting my shirt. The glare he cuts me with is sharper than the blade that stabbed me. “We’re going back. Now.”

I don’t fight him on it, stumbling down the altar steps and shrugging off the hand he has wrapped around my bicep. The night air is cool against my sticky skin as Devon leads us out, checking both directions before deciding it’s safe to move forward. I fill my lungs with the breeze, letting it cleanse the anger and adrenaline and violence still buzzing beneath my skin.

The city surrounding the Estate is quiet and dark—ideal for us to slip through—and before long we’re over the border, approaching the illusion the bunker hides behind.

Before I can take another step closer, Devon blocks my path. His dark eyes are narrowed, and his expression is stern. There’s blood on him too, matted to his dreadlocks, but it isn’t his.

“You know that I respect you, right?”

I shrug. “Sometimes.”

“No. All of the time. I respect you as our leader, and I’ve believed in you from the start. I always will. But you’re treading the line between courageous and careless, and we can’t afford that. Lucina can’t afford that. So respectfully, Captain, please get your shit together. If not for your sake or ours,” he juts his chin in the direction of the Streatham, “for hers.”

Certain that I heard him, Devon dips his head and turns, stalking off to the bunker.

I’d love to lie to myself and claim I don’t know what he’s talking about, but that would make me a shitty leader. More shitty than I have been. I did get lost back there—I’ll admit it. I slipped into an old habit, and Devon witnessed it. If the roles were reversed, I’d call him out on it too.

I’m just agitated and exhausted. Out of every Rogue mind I siphoned through, I caught nothing of the Hound. Everything except their final memories were blurry or useless, and even the clear pictures I got led me nowhere. Only to more anger and no release of any tension. If anything, it’s gotten worse.

Prodding my wound with my fingers, I wince, cursing myself for having let it happen.

Devon is right. I need to get my shit together.

Pulling my shirt over my head, I take a second to clean the wound with the fabric to the best of my ability. The last thing my coven needs is to see me limping back to camp with a gory mess at my side.

The wound is deep, but the blood is clotting, so I continue to apply pressure with the shirt, hissing through my teeth at the contact. When it’s the best it’s going to get, I straighten my spine and force the limp out of my step as I cross the illusion and approach the fire with my head high.

Easton jumps to his feet. “What the fuck?”

“I’m fine,” I tell him, gladly taking the mender pill Devon holds out to me.

“What the hell happened?” Hunter asks, laying down the cards he and Nix had been playing with. Phoenix throws his down.

“We followed a group to the church,” I explain, eyeing Devon, who thankfully keeps his mouth shut. “I got them, but not before one of them got me.”

Easton glances from me to Devon. “Did you at least get anything useful?”

Devon shakes his head, snatching an empty bowl and silently filling it with his dinner.

The effects of the pill hit almost instantly—skin stitching back together until there’s just an angry red welt where the knife wound had been.

“Pax isn’t back yet?” I ask, changing the subject.

Hunter exchanges a look with Easton, but it’s Phoenix who responds, “Oh, he’s back alright.” He’s grinning from the log he sits on.

My face falls. “What the hell does that mean?”

The bunker door opens, and I turn in time to see Pax emerge. He’s talking to someone behind him, “You’ll be safe down there tonight, and as soon as Callan gets back⁠—”

He sees me then, and his words cut off abruptly.