Page 145 of Heart of Thieves

“No, I can’t say she has,” Nic admits. “You’ve got me there.”

“Laurel?” a voice croaks nearby, and we turn to see Estelle pushing herself onto all fours and crawling over to where Laurel lies, life-less. “Laurel!”

Though Estelle and I do not share a heart, I feel the pain in that exclamation down to my toes. I stumble over to her, gather her in my arms, and hold her as she sobs.

Laurel stares, unseeing, at the morning sky. The light is gone from her skin, the rage vanished from her eyes, and for a moment, I see the girl Nic once loved. The friend Estelle gave up so much for.

There may be no gods in the sky, but I find myself hoping, for Laurel’s sake, that there’s something beyond them. That she’s somewhere out there, finally free of all that fear.

Once Estelle’s tears have slowed, Nic and I help her hoist Laurel’s body down to the street, where Paol still lies, cold and alone. We settle them side by side to be picked up by medical personnel from the nearby hospital, and Estelle sits to wait with them, twining her fingers through Laurel’s.

Then Nic, Enzo, and I set about searching for the rest of the Tentacles. We find Soren first, who was crushed under a pile of my father’s goons. He’s got several broken ribs and a bullet wound in his leg, but he should pull through.

Next, we find Arden, whose arm appears to have been slashed by a blade. Emergency medics gather him onto a stretcher and rush him to the hospital.

“Jade?” I call, picking my way over gables and ducking under electrical wires.

“Over here!” Nic calls, and I rush to where he’s trying to lift a beefy St. James bloke. A hand sticks out from beneath him, a small pile of glowing voratium pebbles in its palm.

“No.” I help Nic heave the man up and off her.

A bullet wound in her chest is drenched in blood.

“Lola?” she gasps.

“I’m here,” I say, grabbing her hand. “We’re going to get you out of here.”

“Keep my extra poppers,” she says. “There’s more”—she coughs, and blood spatters her lips—“under my bed . . .”

“Let’s get her down to the medics,” I tell Nic. “Can you lift her?”

But when he pushes aside another St. James guard, we both catch sight of just how extensive the pool of Jade’s blood has become.

She sucks in a rattling breath. “Take my gran a cake, will you?”

“Don’t talk like that.” Tears sting my cheeks all over again as I press my hands to Jade’s wound. If I could save Nic, I could do it for Jade, too. I pull in as much magic as I can all at once, but I’m so weak it’s like trying to breathe underwater.

“Just make sure . . . ,” Jade wheezes, going very still. “It’s not . . .” A slow exhale as her eyes empty. “. . . poppyseed.”

“No!” I shout, pulling magic harder, but my head swims, and I pitch sideways.

Nic catches me. “You’re going to burn yourself out.”

“Help me!” I rasp, reaching for Jade. “I have to save her.”

“I . . . think she’s . . . gone . . . ,” he says softly.

I break down sobbing all over again.

Nic does not try to stop my pain, does not try to explain it away. He pulls me to his chest, holds me as I cry, and stays with me until Enzo and Isla find us.

The three of us lean over our fallen Tentacle, mourning until the sun is high in the sky.

And then, finally, Enzo croaks, “If we let the city lay claim to her, she’ll be put in some grave downtown.” He meets my gaze. “Your father, too.”

I nod, immediately catching on to what he’s not saying.

Jade and Magnus are not like the other victims here. Considered a criminal by everyone in Aethera, she will not be given the dignity or love and care she deserves.