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“By then, you’ll have finished the spell, the estates will be at his doorstep, and Cam will have presented himself to Westcott’s followers as the better alternative, so it doesn’t really matter. But if it really came down to it, I could convince him I switched sides.”
I scoff. “How? How could you possibly do that?”
“I could,” she insists. “I can get him to believe me. I could spin some story about how you weren’t there for me after Calla disappeared, that ever since then we haven’t been close. Calla and I were always closer anyway, so if she’s siding with him, she must have a good reason, and I trust her enough to hear her out. I could tell him how you’ve changed since getting paired with the prince and your feelings for him have blinded you, that you’re willing to go along with the vampires’ atrocities because of him—like killing Connor.” She looks down at her hands. “Or how you attacked me in the bunker.”
The following silence threatens to swallow me whole. I stare at my sister, her words ravaging my chest cavity with blades and barbed wire, leaving my heart raw, bloody.
A story to spin for Westcott it may be, but the words came from somewhere. Somewhere she may have been burying them for a long time, but how easily she could list them off, all the ways I’ve failed her. Hurt her. Betrayed her.
And she’s not wrong.
Everything she said is true. I wasn’t there for her. I let us grow apart. I hated the things I saw the vampires do as I went through initiation, but I went along with it. Ihelped.
Cam steps up beside me, and I don’t know what he could possibly say. I can’t even look at him, my face hot. At this point, I don’t know if it would be worse to let her go or for her to stay. I don’t want her anywhere near Westcott, but I also don’t want her anywhere near this spell.
And she’s made it abundantly clear what I want in this situation holds no weight.
“I’ll take care of her.”
My head snaps toward him, my mouth actually falling open in shock.
“I’ll give you two a minute,” Adrienne murmurs, slipping back into the hall.
“You and I both know there’s no talking her out of this,” he says. “It’ll be a lot harder for me to keep her safe if I say no and she runs off on her own later. And if she can keep me from getting my head blown off before I even make it in the door, the least I can do is look out for her, okay?”
I know he’s trying to lighten the mood, but the words make my throat tighten.
My shoulders deflate as it sinks in this isn’t a battle I can win. “You don’t even try to get through that door until—”
“Take a breath, princess.” He offers a half smile, then claps his hands on my shoulders. “You’re going to need some of that energy for our next stop.”
CHAPTERTHIRTY
“You can’t go in there.”
Two Marionettes sidestep to block the door in front of me, arms crossed over their puffed-up chests like they’re expecting me to cower at the sight of them and offer a meeksorrybefore scurrying away.
“I need to speak with Auclair.”
“You can’t go in there,” the one on the left repeats, emphasizing each word like I didn’t understand him the first time.
“I really don’t have time for this.” The emergency meeting is in less than an hour, and this can’t wait.
Unfortunately for this guy, his arrogance makes this a whole lot easier for me. Definitely settles my conscience, at least. I open my fist, blood already coating my palm, and they both drop to the floor in an instant.
“Damn, princess.” Cam pokes his head around the corner.
“They’re not dead.”
Cam eyes their limp forms on the ground but says nothing. I cut off the oxygen to their brains long enough to knock them unconscious, and I try not to dwell on how much easier it was than any time I’ve done it before.
The magic buzzes along my skin like it’s waiting for another task. Eager for it.
“Come on.” I nod for Cam to follow as I shove the large wooden doors aside.
I don’t know what I’d been expecting for a monarch’s office, but there’s nothing impressive about this space. If Auclair weren’t sitting behind the small oak desk in the back, nothing in here would point to this office belonging to him.
There are no windows, no decorations. Just piles upon piles of papers and books. His Marionette is so still in the corner he nearly blends in with the wall.
