Page 120 of Deadfall

I leaned forward and put my hand over hers that held the gun in a death grip. She looked up, startled, as I eased the metal out of her hands.

“I may not know him very well, but one night I saw him in our war room. He was surrounded by darkness, except for one screen that had your photo on it. The only one we had at that point. He was just staring—” I said reverently as I recalled the image like it was yesterday. “It was like he was willing you to tell him where you were.”

I squeezed her hand and sat back again. “He loves you. I’ve never been more sure of something in my life.”

Emersyn nodded and dashed at the tear that had escaped. She looked up at me warily like she hoped I hadn’t seen.

“You really should try and sleep,” I said. “Now that you know who we are, I hope you’ll trust us a little more, yeah?” I leaned forward like I was about to share a secret. “And I can tell you this now, if me or G did anything to you, North would fucking skin me alive—and probably a whole bunch of other unpleasant things before he killed me.” I shuddered. “No, thank you.”

Her lips twitched in an almost smile, and I winked. “Thanks for helping me with the guns.”

Emersyn nodded. “Yeah. Sure.”

She curled up in bed with her back against the wall and the hood of my sweatshirt pulled up over her head. She tucked her knees into her chest and buried herself into the fabric. The yearning for her to burrow into my chest like that hit me harder than I thought was wise, especially after what I’d just said about North. But, I couldn’t help it. She’d dug her way into my chest and was in danger of hitting my heart if I wasn’t careful.

57

EMERSYN

I smelled bacon. I burrowed further into the warm nest of comfort I currently floated in. If this was a dream, I didn’t want to wake up and have it ruined with cold stone or the rattle of chains. It wasn’t until I heard the sound of someone moving around that my eyes flew open, and I jolted upright.

“Ah, there you are sleepyhead,” Seven called from the kitchenette. “Perfect timing. How do you like your bacon? Floppy? Extra crispy?”

I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I had to still be dreaming. Seven was the picture of patience as he held the tongs and waited for my answer with his lips in a half-cocked smile.

I cleared my throat. “Extra crispy,” I said. “Please?”

It came out as a question, but Seven didn’t seem to notice.

“Girl after my own heart,” he chuckled. “G is in the shower, but he should be out shortly if you need to use the facilities before we eat.”

I climbed out of bed, more rested than I’d felt in a long time. Someone had thrown an additional blanket over me and my nerves kicked at how passed out I’d been to not even notice. I took inventory of myself as I moved over to the table, but nothing felt off.

“What time is it?” I asked as I sat down.

“You slept pretty much all night,” Seven answered.

He set down a plate piled with scrambled eggs and crispy bacon. The door to the bathroom opened and a cloud of steam billowed out as Griffin emerged. This time I knew better than to turn around, even though it took all of my will power not to. I sensed him come up behind me, and a ripped tattooed arm appeared over my shoulder. The muscles glistened with stray drops of water, and I was so distracted by the ink, I barely noticed when he plucked a strip of bacon from my plate. Thank god I hadn’t taken a bite of anything yet or I probably would have choked.

“Hey,” Seven scolded. “I made you some too, no stealing.”

I couldn’t hold out any longer. I looked over my shoulder as the bacon disappeared to see Griffin dressed—unfortunately—in camo pants and a black t-shirt that was plastered criminally tight across his chest. By the time my eyes made it up to his face, he was almost done eating the bacon, an amused look on his face. He looked like he’d slept well too.

“Seven only knows how to make about five things,” Griffin said.

“I heard that,” Seven called.

“His bacon is top tier though.”

Seven came over and put two plates down, one for himself and one for Griffin.

“The secret is a little bit of brown sugar,” he grinned. “But, G is right—my menu is limited. I’ll have to have Nyx show me a thing or two when we get home.”

Home.

The mention of it made the food stick in my throat. I couldn’t let myself hope too hard because the let down would be devastating if something got in the way. Besides, I had to kill Octavius first, and I couldn’t get distracted. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to discuss my plans to kill Octavius with Griffin and Seven yet. I assumed their answer would be no, and they would try and stop me. Luckily, I didn’t think they’d be able to stick with me during the party, so evading them for a short amount of time was most likely going to be doable.

As though he read my mind, Griffin spoke. “We need to talk about tonight.”