“You can’tmarkGemma fucking Crowne,” Lock said, reading the look on my face.
Of course not.
I rubbed the back of my neck, trying to release some of the tension.
It was never supposed to have gone this far. It was easier when she was betrothed. Not only was that guy like her brother—there was no possible path forward.
“The entire Underworld would want her dead,” Lock continued. “It would be really fucking easy to find the Reaper’s girl when she’s the most famous girl in America.”
“You think I don’t know that?” I said.
Lock raised his hands, eyes flashing pointedly to his smashed phone, likeDo you?
Fuck.
He was right.
“Gemma said something interesting to me,” Lock said. “Wasn’t gonna pay much attention to it, but?—”
I arched a brow. “But?”
“But then you tried to take my fucking head off.”
Lock stared, cocking his head.
He knew.
He knew I’d lied. He might not know the details, but he’d figured out enough.
Maybe that was why I spoke. Or more likely, it was because possession burned inside me, threatening to turn everything I cared about to ashes. For the first time in my life, I’d lost control.
I exhaled. “She didn’t want it.”
They stilled, not fully believing what came out of my mouth.
“Gemma didn’t ask for a contract,” I continued in their silence.
Raze dragged two hands through his hair. “Dude, what the fuck?”
“It wasn’t all a lie. I did save her, but she didn’t ask to be saved. She didn’t want…” I dragged my hand along my jaw. “She didn’t want any of it. She wanted to die.”
“You’ve been lying for five years.” Raze spoke without emotion, processing. “We’re stuck because of you.”
I dragged a hand down my face, nodding.
A tense moment passed. I felt Raze’s and Lock’s eyes on me as the song changed from some up-tempo EDM bullshit to something heavier with a metallic, industrial beat.
Then it shattered.
“We can’t shield a weakness until you acknowledge it!” Lock roared, the effort stretching the stenciled hemlock on his neck. In the decades I’d known Lock, he’d yelled a handful of times. Max. Now, he was loud enough that people on the dance floor turned their heads, looking for the source.
“She’s not a weakness.” I worked my jaw. “I can let her go anytime.”
Lock and Raze shared a look, likesure.
“Are the rumors true?” Lock asked. “Are you killing people?”
I dragged the hand on my jaw up and down the side of my face. That was all the confirmation Lock and Raze needed.
