She clutched the upholstered armrest of Harrison’s divan, all of her false confidence from earlier smearing like day-old makeup. Because shewasn’tbulletproof. It had only been eight days since Jac died, and she was still looking at the apartment door, accidentally wondering what time he’d get home. She was totally alone, without a single real lead on the Bargainer, bound to a man she feared and a game that could kill her. She couldn’t tell if she had no idea what she was doing or if she was being purposefully, inanely self-destructive. And muck, she wished she had someone to tell her.
While Sophia blinked back tears, Harrison flipped over Jac’s card, revealing his target:DEATH.Sophia didn’t know who that belonged to.
“I know who needs this card,” Harrison murmured, tucking it into his pocket before Sophia could even think to ask for it to keep for herself. “I’ll make sure that he gets it.”
“If Bryce created this game, then why can’t we just kill him?” Sophia asked, making Harvey—if possible—stiffen more.
“You can’t destroy a shade by killing the malison,” Delaney explained matter-of-factly. “I should know—I’m a split shade-maker.”
“You told me you’ve never helped make a shade before,” Harrison said.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t know how it works,” Delaney said tightly. “It’s no wonder Rebecca’s dying, trying to make curses this big.”
And it was no wonder Delaney knew her way around the House of Shadows, being who she was. The thought made Sophia feel even more foolish about venturing there on her own. Delaney probably thought her as silly as she did Poppy.
“I thought you all kept to the House of Shadows,” Harvey said. There was an obvious disdain in how he said “you all,” which struck Sophia as deeply ironic, that he could spurn malisons and shade-makers when he seemed hopelessly, unforgivably in love with one.
Delaney rolled her eyes. “And I thought you kept to Chain Street.”
“Where isyourcard?” Harrison asked Harvey.
Something nervous crossed Harvey’s face, but it was quickly replaced by a smile. And not any smile—the brightest, most alluring smile Sophia had ever seen, the sort of thing she wanted to bottle up and drink. She trusted wounded men even less than she did confident ones, but she now knew that Harvey—certainly—had her best interests at heart.
“Interesting,” Harrison said. His voice was distant, as though behind a closed door. “Your talent doesn’t seem to work on me, probably from the omerta.”
“I can’t always control it,” Harvey said.Hisvoice sounded close—and sweet as lemonade.
“Yes, you can,” Harrison told him. “So stop it.”
Harvey made a choking sound, and the spell vanished, like a splash of cold water to the face. Sophia blinked as the allure faded. She’d never experienced the talent of a Chainer before.
But the Augustine talent was far worse.
Harvey’s dark eyes watered as he lifted a hand to his throat. He opened his mouth to speak, to scream, but no air squeezed out. Delaney looked away, her lips pursed in plain disgust, but Sophia forced herself to watch as Harvey’s face reddened, as saliva dribbled down to his shirt collar. This was the mistake she’d made, just to make a terrible decision since Jac wasn’t here to stop her. Just to break more until she could finally make it hurt.
It did hurt, to watch him struggle.
Then Harrison released the omerta, and Harvey gasped, sagging limply against Sophia’s shoulder. She jerked away from him—his body was feverishly warm. Then, hands trembling, she unwrapped a piece of taffy and popped it in her mouth. She wondered if Harvey regretted his bargain with Harrison, too.
“Where is your card?” Harrison asked again, sharply.
“I...gave the Fool...” Harvey huffed. “To Bryce. I was his target.”
Delaney rolled her eyes, eerily composed. Harrison might have her under his omerta, but she didn’t seem like the type of girl who made mistakes. So how did she end up in the same situation as the rest of them?
“If killing Bryce won’t stop the game, then we need to focus on the biggest threat,” Harrison said. “We have no idea what disaster it could mean for New Reynes now that the Bargainer has come home.”
“But what can we do about the Bargainer?” Delaney asked. “Can they evenbekilled?”
“If there’s an answer to that question, there’s only one place to find it,” Harrison said. He gave Delaney a knowing look. “I know you hate going back.”
“I loathe it,” she corrected.
“And you want to find the Bargainer yourself, don’t you?” Harrison asked Sophia.
Sophia opened her mouth to respond—it was such a simple question. Of course she did. But she’d spoken of her deal with the Bargainer to only two people in the whole world, to Jac, and to Harrison, right after she’d accepted his omerta. But if she explained to two other strangers that she’d given away a precious piece of herself, then all the effort she’d put into her heels and her clothes wouldn’t matter. She’d look pathetic.
Harrison seemed to sense Sophia’s discomfort, so he turned back to Delaney and said, “The two of you will go together, then. Tear apart the House of Shadows if you must. If there’s a way to kill the Bargainer, then we need to know it.”
