Page 130 of Break Out the Girl

“Of course I would,” I reply, rushing over to hug him. He looks a little rough around the edges. “Are you doing OK?” I ask, lowering my voice so only he can hear.

He blinks a couple of times. “Just had to get the worms in order, Kitten. All good now.”

Standing on tiptoes, I press a kiss to his cheek. “Good, because I want to introduce you to my stupid brother, and his less-stupid friend.”

Cosmo watches the kiss, looking distinctly unimpressed. Whatever.

Hey—what the fuck? How am I only just noticing? “Your eyes have changed color!”

Instead of a cold-blue, like mine, my brother now has almost lilac irises.

“Long story, but the short version is…I died, fighting our father. But now I’m not dead, and I have these eyes. And a dragon that is slowly healing.”

He died? “What? I can’t even begin to unpack that, but—are you OK?”

Cos gives a lop-sided smile. “Honestly, Rory, I’ve never been better. The toll on dying has been a little wearisome, but I can feel my dragon getting stronger every day. And my arcane magic didn’t suffer at all. Which is one of the reasons I’m here.”

Cosmo turns his gaze toward François, leaning against the kitchen counter. “Alexis said you were failing to learn the ward matrix by phone conversation. Honestly, de Vaux, the cast you have around this place is pathetic. I’ll show you the proper steps before you accidentally lock yourselves out of this, er, home that you’ve got going on.”

François narrows his eyes, but I bat a hand at him before he and Cosmo can get into a spat. “That’s great, but not the priority right now. Did you get the rest of the kids from the Ménage Manor? And what about the traffickers?"

I watch as Cosmo and Ludo exchange speaking looks but no words.

“We sent a hand-picked WMO task force down to the island,” Cos tells us. “Made a dozen arrests and found a paper trail extensive enough to permanently dismantle the Grieves operation in Havengard.”

Good. Excellent even.

“And that creepy Director’s place? Who was that bitch anyway?”

“The hunting estate has been taken care of—the slaves are freed, the kids are rescued. The woman running it was Carol Wingfield. The manor was founded by her father, Barton Wingfield, and was originally a countryside brothel destination. After Barton died, Carol transformed it into something far more warped.”

François snaps his fingers. “Wingfield! Now I remember. He would come and visit my father, but at least a dozen years ago.”

Ugh. Thomas Crankshawe.

Of course he was mixed up with the loathsome Wingfields.

“That’s not all the news I have,” my brother smirks. He’s so fucking annoying.

“Well? Don’t be a dick, Cosmo.”

“Yeah, what she said,” London adds.

Cosmo’s grin widens. “We moved on Quo Reformare this morning. We put a rush on the judgement. The legal verdict came in late last night—the prison is being permanently shuttered. The ruling will go into effect in the next few weeks.”

The room goes dead quiet.

Then erupts into cheers. “FUCK, YES!” Tally bellows. London starts tap-dancing, and me and Basil high-five.

“The WMO is working to get murderers and rapists to a system in south Havengard,” Cosmo announces over the hubbub, “but everyone else will eventually be freed on a community release decree. No jail time.”

My breath catches. “All of them?”

Sky speaks from the bedroom corridor, white-faced and trembling. “Even Layla?”

Everyone swivels in her direction.

“Oh—hi, kid,” Cosmo says. “I don’t know who that is but if they were in Quo and not a serial killer, then most likely yes.”