“We’ll see,” he replied, giving her an indulgent smile. Not wanting to make her headache worse, he changed the subject. “Weres— when were they made?”
Giving him an odd, sleepy look, she replied, “I— I don’t know. Near the end of the war, I think? What does that have to do?—”
“How old was Antonin?”
“I don’t know.” She paused. Her brow furrowed. “Not too old. If he was involved with that, it had to have been when he was pretty young.”
“The resources and the planning something like that would have taken wouldn’t have come from a man at the start of his career.”
He was willing to admit that Antonin was smart, butmakingone’s own army was very rarely the first step a young man took to taking power. Even if he was fabulously wealthy, even if he was ambitious, that kind of plan didn’t come from nothing.
Petra rubbed her forehead. “I want everyone to be held accountable for their actions — for the weres and Max andeverything —but I don’t necessarily want everyonedead.That’s not always real justice, Silas. A lot of the time people need to live to get what they deserve.”
“What do you want to do with the Temple, then? Do you want to be the new High Gloriae? Do you still want to be High Priestess? Tell me.” He couldn’t let threats to her survive, but he’d make sure she got what she wanted, even if it didn’t look quite like she imagined.
Petra opened her mouth, but it was a long time before words came out. “I… I don’t know.”
“Your assistant said that no one would accept you with a demon for a mate.” He didn’t care what anyone thought, and he found the taboo nature of their union pretty damn enticing, but that didn’t mean he was ignorant to what it would cost Petra. People would have a problem with Glory’s own flesh, her representative on Earth, being mated to a demon.
It didn’t matter that he was only half, and it didn’t matter that Glory and Blight were once mated themselves. There was no hiding it when his shadow would remain around her throat for the rest of her days.
And certainly not after she carved the marriage sigils into their brows.
She would be seen as inviting Blight — his cursed gaze, his disease, his creeping darkness — into Glory’s sacred house whether Silas stood by her side or not. If she wanted to remain High Priestess, he’d silence every critic and force worshippers into the pews at gunpoint, but somehow he doubted she’d be in favor of that.
Petra shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what I want. I can’t go back there.”
He scowled. “Of course you can. I’ll take care of everything.”
“You can’t un-murder a man, demon.”
“No, but I can make sure no one asks any questions. You’d be surprised how many people get away with murder, you know.” Skimming his palms up her arms, he urged her, “Stop thinking about what youcan’tdo. Think about what youwant.I told you I’d make you happy and that I’d give you everything you ask for. So tell me what that is and I’ll do it.”
Her eyes darted, clearly searching for something in his expression. “What about whatyouwant?”
“I have everything I want.” He gave her arms a small, possessive squeeze. “My mate in my bed. That’s it.”
She cocked her head to one side. The small movement sent her hair slithering over his naked chest with a ticklish caress. “What about Tal? The wraiths?”
“Tal will get his body as soon as we get back to San Francisco,” he explained, thinking of the empty shell waiting in his lab. He wished he’d thought to bring it, but those last few days in the city had been too chaotic, and he hadn’t wanted torisk something happening to the delicate internal machinery in transit. “And the other wraiths will just have to wait until I can sneak into Solbourne Tower to get a peek at that generator.”
Petra looked away, her expression troubled, when she said, “I wish I’d known about them before. I would have been able to ask Margot, but now…”
“Now, you’ve just gotta tell me what you want and I’ll make it happen. Do you want to be High Priestess again, or do you want to be Petra? Just Petra.”
Everything hinged on her answer. No matter what, he’d destroy the people connected to Vanderpoel and the Ardeo, but the rest was up to her.
Petra laid her head back down on his chest. She tucked her arms in close, folding herself into a small bundle there in the circle of his arms. She belonged there, nestled between his lungs, far more than his heart did.
“I don’t know what I want,” she admitted in a small, hushed voice. “Or maybe I do. I guess… I know I don’t want anything to happen to my people at St. Emaine’s. I know I don’t want to go to jail for murder. I know I want to still be friends with Margot. Better friends, even. I…”
She trailed off, but Silas didn’t push her. He was content to wait for her as he stroked the bumps of her spine.
“You know, four years ago I was totally happy with what I was doing. I know I wasn’t very high up in the hierarchy, but I liked teaching. I was content to live a little, safe life all by myself. Now I can’t imagine going back to that.”
“Four years is a long time to work at something,” he replied, thinking of all her mad plans and her hunt for justice. “And living like you did for that long will change a person.”
He wondered if he would have been as drawn to that version of Petra — the school teacher, the devoted niece, the quiet priestess content with her work. He thought so. Silas wasdrawn to every facet of her and suspected that wouldn’t have changed no matter when they met. However, he doubtedthatPetra would have ever given him the time of day, so he was glad their paths crossed when they did. It saved him the hassle of kidnapping her, probably.
