Julian filled his chest with air, gripping the chair in front of him. “With all due respect, Augustine, people are dying. While Sacred Sea is busy planning a ball, our priority has always been to remove the Shadows.”
“The Shadows haven’t killed a soul in over two weeks,” Viola said, most likely because the ball was mentioned.
“Whatever it is, is still among us. It’s not finished,” Beck countered.
Julian nodded. “It would be a mistake to believe otherwise, and we can’t keep going on like this. We’re all tired. We’ve searched the woods. We’ve read the books. We’ve done everything imaginable and exhausted all of our options. There must be something we’re missing, and there’s only one other place we haven’t looked.”
Julian was straight to the point. No fluff. And perhaps Fable was right, and the Heathens did care about the Shadows. From what he’d said, they’d spent this time trying to find ways to end them. But the mistrustful part of me was determined to believe his request for permission to search the shore had nothing to do with the Shadows. There had to be an ulterior motive.
“Since when did the Heathens start caring?” I asked. Cyrus grabbed my hand, but I yanked it away. “No, the entire town may be too afraid to say something, but I’m not. For years we’ve lost countless lives because of the four of you. Not to mention those who disappeared. We’re not stupid. River Harrison didn’t just vanish into thin air. The least you could’ve done was act like men, own up to what you did, take ownership of the grief you piled on this town, and give the victim’s loved ones some peace. But you haven’t. Weeks have passed since the curse broke, and all four of you are still cowardly monsters hiding away in the dark. Are you telling me you’ve spent these weeks reading your family’s journals while people weredying? Are you kidding me?”
The entire room became quiet.
I was breathing too hard.
The four of them just stared.
“And what have you done, Adora?” Beck asked with a slight lift in the corner of his mouth.
It was a simple question. A difficult question. A reasonable question.
He raised a brow with a smug smile, seeming to know the answer already.
And perhaps he did, but the question was rhetorical, and I was offended that he believed he could speak to me at all. “You have no right—” I started, but Cyrus stopped me. “I think she’s trying to say that it’s been a month since the curse broke and the Shadows came. More than enough time has passed for the Heathens to show their faces and right their wrongs for the community. Instead, they’ve shown nothing.” And I hated how he spoke over me. I hated how he spoke for me. Was this the life of marriage?
Kane tsked. “Their curse broke, and now they think they can run free.”
Phoenix dropped his head back. “Oh, don’t sound so down, Pruitt,” he said, rolling his head to the side to face him. “The bright side—you get to see this pretty face every Friday night.”
“I’ve never wanted to punch anyone more in my life,” Kane gritted out.
Phoenix blew him a kiss.
Julian held out his palm. “We broke the curse. Let’s come to terms with this and figure out how to move on from here,” Julian interrupted. “Starting with permission to search the shore.”
“Broken?” Kane’s head cocked with a dumbfounded expression. “Then explain to me the tall ass problem in the room none of us are discussing.”
All eyes turned to Zephyr Goody. He kept his head forward. Silent.
“Zephyr will come with us,” Julian replied.
“Ha.” Kane smiled, wiping the corners of his mouth with his thumbs. “Mask or no mask, the four of you are a disease. Look what happened after the curse broke. Let’s just lay it out in the open. The Shadows are your fault. Every death is on your hands and your conscience.” He shook his head. “You manipulated that stupid girl into breaking your curse, and now you’re manipulating the Order. We should be locking all four of you in the cell.”
Julian looked at the floor with a grin. It wasn’t that Kane’s comment amused him but that it infuriated him, and he was trying to contain himself.
“Be careful with your choice of words,” Julian said, sending Kane a warning glare, his silver eyes moving to Cyrus, then back to Kane. “I didn’t come here disrespecting your family or women, so it would be a regrettable mistake to disrespect mine.”
“Always so grounded in front of an audience.” Kane appeared to get high from his words. A crazed look in his tired eyes. “I wonder who has to die for you to break, Julian. Certainly not your brother or father, so I wonder—”
“Do not tempt me—” Julian took one step out of line, and Phoenix snatched his arm, stopping him. The sleeve of Julian’s jacket sizzled under Phoenix’s grip, smoke rising between them. When Phoenix let him go, a burn in the shape of a hand hissed on Julian’s bicep, the fabric of the wool coat eaten away.
Kane focused on Zephyr, not sparing a second to allow anyone to speak. “Julian’s rise will be your fall, Zephyr. He’s more powerful than you—always has been, always will be—and was born with every quality you lack to make a great leader. It won’t be long before he takes back high priest from you. My best advice is to get your little bitch under control,lestyou want to make a mockery of your family name.”
Zephyr lifted his chin, and an invisible hand snatched Kane’s throat and lifted him into the air, his toes scraping the floor. The area around Kane’s throat was turning colors. He couldn’t breathe.
Clarence Goody stood from his chair to try to talk sense into Zephyr.
“Augustine,” Agatha Blackwell insisted. “You must put a stop to this.”
