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Elijah touches my father’s shoulder, and we all take a deep breath, each looking around the group, wondering if this is going to be the last time we see each other alive and well.
Here’s hoping it’s not.
I’ve never been much of a fighter. But for these people? I will fight my way to hell and back if that’s what it takes to keep them safe.
“Here goes,” Ridley says, less than a heartbeat before the ground disappears beneath us.
We reappear in a bright hallway.
“I was wondering if you were going to be stupid enough to show up.”
Metal slides as guns are cocked and blades are drawn. We whirl on Odette and her group of councilmen and women, surrounding us on both sides.
“How—”
“Fae wards,” she interrupts Ridley’s question. “Did you know they can pinpoint exactly where fae are allowed to materialize? It’s rather handy, to be honest; lets me be prepared under any circumstance.”
“You had fae ward your building?” My father chuckles. “And here I thought you needed no one but yourself.”
“Clarance,” she snaps. “How lovely to see you again. You and your half-breed daughter.” She turns to me. “So sad your sister couldn’t be here. I heard she passed recently. So incredibly sad.”
She’s baiting me. I’m not stupid, but damn it if I don’t want to lunge forward and slam my fist into her face. Magic snaps along my fingertips, climbing up my arms as I ready to shield all of us.
My father’s own power wraps up his arms, the shimmering color spectacular in its own right.
Bones pop as Willa shifts beside me, shredding her clothes. She steps forward, her head above Walker’s hip as he stands to my left.
Behind us, I hear an extra intake of breath as the others arrive.
Paloma’s husband’s eyes widen when he sees her. She pushes past me and stops right in front of our group. “Why?”
“You shouldn’t be here.” His expression soft, he stares back at her. “Why are you here?”
“Are you kidding me? That’s what you have to say to me?” She takes another step closer.
“Paloma,” I warn.
Walker moves forward and grips her arm.
She yanks it away from him, but he doesn’t move. “You betrayed me. Lied to me. Used me for information.”
“This is what had to happen so we didn’t have to hide anymore. Can’t you see I did it for us?”
“Did what? Murdered my friends?”
“Rainey would have never been okay with what needs to happen,” he says, softly. “Sacrifice for the greater good.”
Elijah blows past us like a grenade, only stopping when Ridley materializes right in front of him and grips both of his arms. “Where the hell is she!” he demands, tone breaking beneath the weight of his emotion.
“Dead,” he replies.
“You son of a—” Paloma gasps.
It takes us all by surprise, and it’s not until she stumbles back that I realize what’s happened.
Harrie roars in agony and rushes forward, catching her right before she hits the ground. With a massive hole in her abdomen, blood pours from her body.
“You bitch!” I let my own magic loose, sending it straight toward the woman who just killed my friend. Odette throws up a hand, blocking it.
