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Then she was gone.
“Who sends letters?” I mused.
“Chester.” Beatrice crossed her arms. “Those of us who existed beforetextingsometimes remain old-fashioned. That letter is a demand from Chester. Possibly from Chester and our runaway weapon. I will tell the others.”
Once she left, I watched Iggy cross the yard.
By the time Iggy returned to the room where I was waiting, he had opened the envelope without my consent. He read it aloud, “I am not safe. Act soon or we all perish.”
“Who—”
“Gunnora. This is her hand.”
“A real hand?” one of the cousins asked, a bit too excitedly in my opinion. “Is it sliced up or—"
“Handwriting. He means her handwriting,” I clarified because it was a flat envelope, and well, because I couldn’t smell blood.
Iggy was staring at the paper as if there were other secrets on it that we couldn’t see. Maybe there were. She was, after all, an accomplished alchemist. Perhaps there were clues or hints there.
He was sniffing the parchment when Marcus and Beatrice entered the room. I filled them in.
And Beatrice said, “This is clearly a trap. You cannot trust her. Sheattackedus.”
Iggy scoffed. “Who here hasn’t attacked one of the other of us?”
“Present!” one of the cousins called cheerily.
“Same!”
“Yeah!”
Beatrice gave them the sort of endearing look she often gave Alice, glanced at the faery king, and whispered, “I will drink you dry if you hurt Alice.”
“Seconded,” I added.
“The motion carries!” called Harlow from the poker game.
“Time to stop Chester?” Marcus looked at each of us, pointedly ignoring the Allie topic. “I can summon guards as needed.”
We rehashed the plan of attack, but then Iggy let out a shaky sound.
“Blackwood?” Eli prompted.
“This is the spell to remove a heart,” he said, shaking the parchment. He breathed over it again. “Revealed by breath. This is it—the same one used to remove her heart.”
“Can you—”
“No,” Iggy interrupted me. “You and me together? Maybe. Depends on if you’re considered alive.” He glanced at Beatrice and frowned. “Sorry, old girl. No pulse, no spell.”
She glanced at her hand, buffed her nails on her chest, and shrugged. “Heads to sever. Bodies to bleed. I’m sure I’ll find something to do while you do that.”
“Gear up, cousins,” Ike called. “Time to fight.”
Beatrice closed her eyes for a flicker of a moment. Then she announced, “My forces are joining us.”
“Witches, and faeries, anddraugr. . .” I sing-songed. “He won’t know what hit him.”
But none of us really believed that. Chester had mopped the floor with me, with Beatrice, and Marcus had bargained to avoid fighting him. Hell, Iggy had been murdered by him. Nora had lost her heart—literally—at Chester’s hand.
