Their gazes collided, and so began their silent battle of wills. Julien unflinchingly stared into Darcy’s dismayed eyes—for she knew what was about to come out of his mouth.
“I’m going to try to shadowslip again. To try to find him. Save him.”
“No,” Darcy said. “Absolutely not. Not after last time. I thought I’d lost you.”
He’d known she’d say that—his next words slid off Julien’s tongue. “I’m doing it, Darce, with or without you.”
“Good luck getting hold of the Mortalisfade elixir without me.”
“I didn’t need luck. I only needed the key to your basement, which was hanging on your kitchen wall.”
Darcy’s jaw hit the floor. “You didn’t,” she whispered, horror-struck. Then, far louder: “Julien, what is this madness? What exactly do you think you’re going to achieve? Apart from risking your life?”
“Hear me out.” Julien paced the limited floor space of the small room. “For one, we do it here, in the hospital this time. Then, if anything does go wrong, help will be on hand,oui?”
“Great. I can’t wait to explain to the doctors that you’re seizing and frothing at the mouth as a product of your own stupidity.” She had that stubborn pout on her face now, arms crossed like an angry schoolteacher.
“Next, we have a far better chance of success this time, because we have the ultimate magnet item.”
“We… do?” Darcy’s nose wrinkled, and Julien raised his eyebrows, then gave one smug nod toward Cinn’s unconscious body. “You’re joking. You want to use a live human as a magnet item? Is that even a thing?”
“Well, we’re about to find out.”
Darcy shook her head. “There’s no way Elliot will agree to this.”
“He already did. Yesterday morning. In your basement.”
“Wha—?” Shaking her head even more violently, she continued, “No, Julien. No, no, and no! You’re not doing this!”
Closing the space between them, Julien gently grasped both of her arms. “I have to, Darce,” he whispered. Darcy closed her eyes, and he brought her slight frame to his chest. “I couldn’t save them.Mère. Béatrice.”
“Jul—”
“Shh. I’ve heard it all from you before. I know you mean well,ma chérie. But your kind words will do nothing to change how I feel.”
For a moment, Julien was backthere, the place where hismèredied, with the church collapsing around them because of his failure to control his channelling. His legs were heavy with the weight of his mother’s head on his lap as he screamed and sobbed. Then, Béatrice reached him, dragging one leg limp behind her, her face covered in dust, wearing that expression he would only ever interpret as,what have you done?
“I would do exactly the same for you or Elliot,” he said into Darcy’s hair.
She pulled back to burn her fierce gaze into Julien’s. “Of course you would,” she said. “That doesn’t make it a good idea.”
“Please help me,” Julien begged, taking both of her cheeks in his palms. “Help me try once, and if it doesn’t work, I won’t ask again.”
He’d won—Darcy’s eyes melted into green puddles. “Fine,” she relented. “But I’m in charge.”
Julien kissed her forehead. “When are you ever not?”
Breaking apart, they simultaneously turned to study Cinn, the steady beep of his heart monitor the only sound—his Walkman had finished the cassette.
“We’re coming for you,” Julien said, watching the subtle shift of the blankets as they rose and fell with Cinn’s shallow breathing. “We’re coming for you.”
thirty-four
Cinn
His trousers are muddy.
His trousers are muddy, and he needs to clean them.Needsto clean them.
