AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rose wrinkled her nose as she rolled her shoulders. “Why don’t we go out and grab something on the way to the park? I don’t like how long we’ve been hanging out in the same place.”
“I haven’t seen any creeps out there,” I said, jabbing my thumb toward the window.
Kyler looked up from where he’d been sitting at the table with that damn phone of his and a couple other pieces of equipment I didn’t understand that he’d picked up yesterday. “Have you gotten a sense of the Assembly people’s magic again, Rose?”
She shook her head. “Nothing more than before. But they’ve obviously got techniques we’re not sure of. At least while we’re on the move they can’t surround us. Has everyone gotten enough sleep after all that driving the last couple days?”
“I’m good,” Jin said, arriving at the bottom of the stairs. He smiled languidly, but his eyes looked alert enough. His damp hair was rumpled as if he’d just rubbed a towel over it. “Nothing like a shower after a long time on the road.”
“Is Seth up?” Rose asked.
“He’s washing up right now.” The artist ambled over to Rose and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, tucking his chin over her shoulder with a contented sigh.
Yeah. Contented. That was definitely the word for the glow that seemed to fill the room with all of us here in her presence. I let the warmth of it sit in my chest for a few beats, just absorbing the sensation.
It was hard to remember when I’d last felt content in the past several years before Rose had returned. Even with those assholes still on our backs, I wouldn’t have given this up for anything.
But damn if there wasn’t an ache in my chest too, remembering that short time when we’d really thought everything was okay. When we’d had a place that could have been a real home for all of us to share, at least some of the time.
Fucking bastards. They’d taken that from us. They’d taken it from Rose. All because of their stupid prejudices about guys who hadn’t happened to be born into one of their exclusive families?
If they thought they were taking anything more from us, they had another thing coming. My gaze dropped to the backpack I’d stuffed my own recent purchases into. If those “enforcers” messed with us again, they were sure as hell going to regret it.
When Seth had joined us, we headed down to the street. I kept scanning the area as we walked, one hand on the strap of the pack I’d slung over my shoulder. Summer was coming up fast, and even in the middle of the morning you could feel it in the sunny warmth rising between the buildings. The smells of fresh baking drew us into a café a few blocks over.
We came out full of scones and croissants, still an hour before the scheduled meeting time. Rather than hail a cab just yet, we ambled on down a few of the quieter side streets.
We’d just crossed the road when an unsettling prickle ran down my back. I glanced around at the same time Rose slowed.
“Where did everybody go?” I said in a low voice. There’d been other pedestrians scattered along both sides of the street a minute ago. Cars cruising past. Now all of the street in my view was empty. Quiet. In a totally unnatural way.
We all stopped, gathering close together. Rose made a quick gesture with her hand. The air vibrated with a hint of the spell she must have cast closing around us. The wooden pendant under my shirt quivered against my chest.
A man stepped out of a side-street, tall and boxy-shouldered, with a hawkish nose and a few streaks of silver in his copper hair. He wore a suit, as if he were going to some fancy business meeting. But I could tell with one look at him that he was part of the Assembly. The bastards practically stunk of snide condescension when they looked at any of us.
“Stop right there,” Rose said, her voice firm but with a tremble she couldn’t quite quash. I brushed my hand against hers as if to reassure her we were all there with her. My gaze darted along the street.
Several more figures had emerged at either end—mostly women in the athletic-wear I was starting to associate with the Assembly’s enforcers, but also a couple other men in similar clothes holding thick batons I guessed held some kind of attack spells.
The hawkish man who’d been approaching us stilled. He clasped his knobby-knuckled hands in front of him.
“I request a parlay,” he said.
“A ‘parlay’ while your attack dogs creep up on us?” I said.
“Just let us go,” Rose said. “I don’t want to fight you, but you know that I can.”
“I don’t want to fight either,” the man said. “I was simply hoping for the chance to talk with you. To help you understand our position.”
Kyler snorted, expressing the disbelief I think we were all feeling.
“I already understand your position,” Rose said, an edge coming into her voice. “You want us all trapped or maybe even dead. The Assembly, or at least your faction of it, has made that very clear.”
The prick didn’t even try to argue. “Perhaps we could come to alternate terms that are more suitable to both of us.”
“Oh? Like what?”
“The enforcers are moving in,” Gabriel murmured. The circle of figures around us had slunk a few steps closer. My spine stiffened. I eased my hand into my backpack, and my fingers closed around a hard metal surface.
