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Kai clears his throat and we step apart. “Where did you go? I just heard you say my name as you opened the door to my office and then you were just, gone.”
I touch Essos’s cheek gently. “I know. I’m fine. Posey magicked me away again. Her mistake. She showed her hand, at least part of it. She’s desperate for Ellie back. I also saw Cassius and Lucky there, so we may have had Tink in our pocket, but she had her own people spying on us.”
“Who? Posey?” Cat asks as she walks into the room. She’s wearing a red gauzy dress and has an ethereal glow to her skin. The more she practices, the more she sharpens her abilities, the more clear it becomes that she’s right where she’s supposed to be.
“Yes, but I think she’s desperate and sick. Posey wants, no, needs to get Ellie back. Maybe there is a bloodless way out of this. Maybe we just agree to give Ellie back if she promises to give us–”
Helene cuts me off. “Everything we want? You think she’s going to hand all that over for one woman? Even if she is her daughter? Keep dreaming.” Helene rests her hand on Kai’s shoulder, checking him as if he was the one abducted by our enemies.
“I think she will. Her daughter might very well be her only chance at ending this. I think whatever she’s doing to consume the souls is having an adverse effect on her. She looks like a walking corpse. This might be our chance to really end this.” I wish there was a way I could convince Helene. I want her to understand.
“I think you overestimate my ex-wife’s ability for emotion. She doesn’t love, not even a child she failed to officially acknowledge. Ellie is just a convenient pawn in her play for power.” Xavier grinds his teeth, meeting my gaze, trying to show me, what? That he’s right?
But I doubt them all. I doubt they can really understand what I saw. I turn to Essos, cutting out the group. Essos’s blue eyes fall to me, searching my face to see what I want to convey to them. His gaze catches on the cut, and he lets out a harsh breath.
“We have to try,” he announces, turning to everyone.
Galen and Octavia enter, and the conversation dies down immediately. Suspicious glances are cast toward the mother-and-son pair, who ignore the unwelcome climate in the room. Octavia sits primly at the table, pulling apart a croissant she conjures. Essos’s hand snakes around my waist to the small of my back and pulls me against him. One look at my husband’s face and I can see him tracking every step Galen takes.
“We also don’t have much time to come up with a plan,” I admit sheepishly.
“Care to elaborate?” Finn prods when I don’t say anything more.
“I told her to be here tomorrow so we can settle this once and for all.”
Everyone erupts at once. Even Octavia pales at this admission. Everyone is talking over each other except for Essos, who is patiently watching me.
“I suppose you still want me to put the veil back into place today?” Octavia asks. As if she needs to but in all the different things we have to do on this short timeline.
Zara walks in, holding another book and the vial in her hands. “Ignore Octavia. It’s actually a much simpler ritual than she wants to make it sound. We could even do it without her if we had some of her blood.”
“Someone’s been a busy little bookworm,” Galen taunts Zara.
She glares at him for a fraction of a second. “Maybe if you tried opening a book once in a while, it would help your IQ. You certainly have nothing else going for you.” She turns her back on the God of War and Suffering, dismissing him.
Essos is focused on me, and not the verbal sparring between Zara and Galen.
“I don’t think you need stitches,” he admits, gingerly pressing on my cheek. The bruise from Ellie’s strike has finally faded, but this will serve as another reminder to him of my fragility, and I’m frustrated by it.
“I stabbed her in the chest. I should have stabbed her in the heart.” I don’t admit to him how she choked me, how she cut off my air so thoroughly, so completely, that I thought I was going to die.
“If you had stabbed her in the heart, you would have had to take her place and we might have lost Pom.”
“We might have a plan, though,” Zara tells me excitedly. “See? Book smarts over brawn,” she throws at Galen over her shoulder.
“And it would seem just in time,” Estelle announces, followed by Sybil, who rounds out their trio.
Hope blossoms in my chest, and I want them to give me an easy solution, one that we can handle tomorrow.
“Well, don’t keep it to yourselves. Out with it,” Xavier orders.
What remains of the Fates sits at the table across from Galen and Octavia.
Bria braces a hand on Finn’s shoulder, and I don’t miss how he threads his fingers with hers. Even Dion is standing a little closer to her now, and I wonder if they’ve started to sort out their problems.
Callie and Tink are the last to join the group and the table. Galen watches his wife move with confidence to the farthest point away from him, placing herself between Tink and Kai. Helene is perched at the farthest point from Essos, even if it puts her next to Galen. Xavier sits on the opposite head of the table from Essos and me, surveying our motley crew himself.
“Our plan is not just for how to handle the veil but how to handle Posey. We just need a new blade,” Zara says with excitement.
