“So someone felt us that night?” I asked cautiously. “At The Eyrie?”
His eyes flickered to mine, incredulous.
“Of course they fucking felt you,” he snapped.
I stared at him, feeling myself pale all over again. My hands tightened on the blankets as my throat went dry. My mind returned to the vortex image I’d seen the night before, the bloody Osiris inside the temple, carving hieroglyphs into his chest. Fighting my expression level, I leaned my back lightly against Bones’s headboard.
“What does ‘tag’ mean?” I asked. “What are they doing to him?”
Bones looked at me, and now the anger and disbelief had leaked into his actual features, not just his eyes.
“Eye of Horus, Shadow,” he said, his teeth still gritted. “You really have no interest whatsoever in staying alive, do you?”
I felt my own hackles rise. “You wanted to know what we were doing. I’ve told you. Is that all you can think to do with that information? Insult me?”
“You shouldn’t be talking to me about this at all,” he growled. “You shouldn’t be telling meanyof this shit. You shouldn’t be asking me about Alaric. Why in the gods would youtrustme with this, Shadow? I as much as told you my family is involved. I told you thatlast year.And here you are, basically admitting to…”
He trailed, as if thinking better of what he’d been about to say.
When I didn’t speak, he let out an exasperated sigh.
“Even if you trustmefor some bizarre fucking reason… and I’m definitely not telling you that youshouldtrust me, Shadow… you’re not trusting me with the right things.” His eyes flickered back to mine. A frustrated, nearly agonized look reached them, startling me with the openness I felt behind it. “Why in the gods won’t you trust me when I tell you to stopdoingshit like this? Do I really need to spell it out for you, why it’s a bad idea to be chasing after Dark Cathedral operatives, given what you are?”
My hands clenched in the blankets. “So Alaric is in danger?”
His exasperation turned back to disbelief. “YOU are in danger!”
“But Alaric––”
“Leave the Alaric situation alone,” he snapped. “Letmehandle it.”
My own anger flared. “Why? Because you’ve done such a bang-up job already?”
“No,” he snapped back. “Because this ismyworld, Shadow. You didn’t grow up here. You don’t know these people. You have absolutelyno ideawhat you’re getting yourself involved in, norhow fuckingluckyyou are to be alive right now, given what you’ve been doing.”
My jaw hardened right alongside his.
“And you’re absolutely in a position to be tackling this yourself, are you?” I cut in, now angry for real.“You’ve as much as told me you can’t… or won’t… do anything against them directly. You won’t do anything at all if it means going against your father. Not even for one of your closest, possibly youronlyreal friends!”
It took maybe a second for my words to penetrate.
Then he paled.
I blinked as I stared at him, a little shocked when I saw how dramatically his color changed. Then, replaying my own words, I felt a sharp pain under my ribs.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
When he averted his gaze, I clasped my hands in my lap over the long shirt I wore, conscious suddenly that I badly needed a shower. And a toothbrush.
“I’m not judging you.” I pressed my lips together, shaking my head. “I don’t know the situation there, and I’m not asking… I’m perfectly aware it’s none of my business.” I fingered a few stray curls behind one ear, then gestured vaguely around the room. “I’m just saying, you might need some actualhelp,Bones. Preferably from someone who isn’t connected to that lot, either by blood or because all their childhood friends are in the exact same position. You say I’m crazy for trusting you, but who on earth canyoutrust with any of this? Apart from me and Alaric,isthere anyone else?”
I watched his face when he didn’t answer.
For some reason, he didn’t look away.
“That’swhy Alaric and I did this,” I added earnestly. “He needed to know what Dark Cathedral was actuallydoing.He needed to know if he needed to run. He knew it was a risk. Ofcourse he did. But he was already in danger because his family is directly involved. Ignoring it wasn’t an option for him. And clearly, from everythingbothof you’ve told me, ignoring them’s not an option for me, either. They’ll kill me whether I go after them or not.”
Bones was already shaking his head.
