“What are you doing in the mountains?”
I hesitate.
“Sophia? Sophia, are you there?”
“Visiting a friend.”
“Oh… I…” She sobs on the other end of the line.
“What’s wrong?” I ask. “You sound upset. Has something happened?”
For several moments, she seems to hesitate. She starts and stops but can’t get the words out.
“Where are you?” I ask.
“I’m at Seven’s apartment,” she says. “He’s back. You need to come right away.”
“Well, let me talk to him.” I can’t understand why Seven wouldn’t have called me himself.
“He can’t right now, Sophia. Oh gods, this would be easier to explain in person.”
I am already jogging for the door. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
ChapterFifteen
Ireach Seven’s building just after ten, where a security guard I don’t know—the place is crawling with them—ushers me up to his penthouse. Evangeline lets me in, looking even worse than the last time I saw her. The circles under her eyes are even darker, and she locks the door behind me before pulling me into a hug.
“What’s wrong? Where’s Seven?” I ask, extremely worried now.
“He’s in bed.” A tear trickles from the corner of her eye. “I found him, badly injured and barely breathing, in my office. I don’t know how he got in there. I’ve already called a doctor.”
Without so much as a word to Eva, I run for the bedroom, suddenly unable to breathe. All my thoughts turn to Seven. I burst through the door and it’s as if someone has punched me in the gut. All my breath rushes from my lungs, and my knees threaten to give out.
He looks dead. His complexion is almost gray where it’s not covered in blood. His white shirt is soaked with red. He’s still in his suit, but the dark material is torn and discolored with scuffs as if he was dragged behind a truck on a gravel road. I climb onto the bed and start examining him close up.
“How long has he been like this?” I ask Eva.
A sob cuts through the room and she answers, “Since I found him. Jericho helped me get him here.”
“Why didn’t you take him to the hospital?” I ask, annoyed.
She looks at me like I’m an idiot. “We have a private family doctor. I’ve already called him. He’s on his way.”
Of course, like everything in their family, discretion is key. After we battled Yissevel, I spent weeks in the hospital but Seven recovered here. That’s how the Delaneys work.
“Help me get him out of this suit. I’m going to clean him up.” It will be easier for the doctor to examine him anyway.
With Eva’s help, I roll him onto his side and ease his arm from the sleeve of his jacket. I wince when a sickening pop comes from his opposite shoulder, and I quickly roll him onto his back again.
“Fuck, I think his shoulder dislocated.” For a moment I just stare at Seven, his shallow breathing, pale skin, frail body. “Oh my god, he’s negative, Eva. Why is he still negative?” For a fae, luck is like a bank. We only have so much stored up, and if we overdraw our account, the forces of the universe take the luck back from us by cursing us. When we’re negative, walking across the street could be deadly. We attract bad luck and bad circumstances.
“I don’t know,” she says. “I gave him some on the way over here.”
“Well, do it again!” I bark at her.
The look she gives me is positively offended, but her expression morphs quickly from defeat to determination. I feel her luck rise in the room like a great feathered beast. It’s fiery, like her brother’s that always reminds me of a dragon, but feminine. Instead of wrapping around me like a hot, muscular serpent, what brushes my skin is like a duster warmed by the sun. It soars through the room and fizzles as it reaches her brother. She moves closer and places her hands on him.
“Sophia… there’s something wrong. I’m sending luck into him but it’s just… dissolving. It’s like… It’s like…”
