Puzzle pieces started clicking in place. “You two helped us just so Luke could get promoted?”
“No, Luke helped because he’s a good person.Ihelped becauseIwanted him promoted.”
Gentry stared at the Weaver, bewildered at the unfiltered honesty and selfishness. “Is that why you hired Kit to kill me? Because you wanted Drayer Netherton to croak and for all the Nethertons’ misdeeds to come to light?All so Luke could get promoted?!” She half-shrieked the last part, standing on her tiptoes so that she could glare straight into Clea’s stupid face.
The Weaver nodded, unperturbed. “And now you have a way to save your man because of me. Consider us even.” She then walked away, leaving a stunned Gentry in her wake.
A way to save my man…She had no clue what Clea meant. She couldn’t save Kit. The bond wasn’t working well enough to glean a location. The vampyre — whose name was Quentin?— hadn’t known where Freya would take Amelia or Kit. But — her thoughts stuttered to a stop. Freya.She had that bitch’s name!
Gentry started to run down the fancy hallway without a clear idea as to where she was heading. But finally she ran into a witch with a Weaver tattoo plastered across his face.
“Find Wren for me,” she panted. “I need the necromancer.”
Thankfully, the witch walked off and returned only minutes later with Wren in tow. The little blonde still looked incredibly guilty. “Gentry, what do you need? Are you ill?”
“No, I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything. What is it?”
Gentry took a deep breath and then made a request she thought she’d never make. “I need you to repair the bond between me and Drayer Netherton. Now.”
fifty-five
Kit
Kit awoke with his hands and feet chained in iron, his body hot with suppressed magic. He was tied to a chair in a swelteringly hot trailer, and a quick look through the window revealed the distant outline of Skadra.
He also heard crying. He looked down.
Amelia was sitting on the ratty, filthy carpet, her hands rubbing at a reddened throat. Kit realized she’d been scratching at her throat in an attempt to talk. “Amelia, honey, please don’t do that.”
The little girl jumped at the sound of his voice and turned around, her eyes wide with relief. She threw her arms around him and then hissed when the chains burned her skin. Only then did he notice that Amelia was also wearing iron cuffs. Anger went through him at the sight.
“Where’s the person who grabbed us?” he asked, looking around the vacant trailer.
Amelia pointed to the door and then made a stirring motion with her hands. Kit understood at once —he’s outside and brewing a potion on a fire.That couldn’t be good. “Okay,sweetie,” he began, “you’re going to have to start looking for something sharp.”
Just then, the door opened and a tall, handsome man walked in. He wore a suit with the jacket off, his sleeves rolled up. If it weren’t for the dried blood on the immaculate white of his dress shirt, Drayer Netherton wouldn’t have been out of place on the campaign trail. He smiled charmingly at Kit.
“Oh look, you’re awake,” he said, “we can’t have that. Good thing I made this.” He showed off a vial in his hands.
The politician kicked Amelia out of the way when she tried to stop him, and then he used a nasty bit of magic to force Kit’s mouth open. He poured the concoction in.
Kit gurgled on the potion, swallowing only when it was clear that Netherton would let him drown before letting him spit it out.
Drayer pet Kit’s hair like he was a dog. “Good boy,” he said affectionately, “you really will make a fine vampyre. For taking my sister away from me, I’ll make you hurt for a long, long time.”
fifty-six
Gentry
Excerpt from Gentry’s personal journal:
Day 50 in Curse Ward
I thought I was crazy for so long. They told me I was cursed when I set off the magical detectors at a mall Mom took me to after Dad dumped me. It had just been a normal Saturday — I’d been reeling from Dad’s abandonment, but resigned to live with Mom and Beckett. I’d just decided tomake amends for years of fucking off, to get to know them again. I was finally ready to give up a life of conning.
But then the government mages had carted me off from the mall to the Curse Ward and then nothing’s been the same since.
