Her eyelids were starting to slip down. First paralysis, Blake had said, and then loss of consciousness.
If she passed out now, would she ever wake up again?
She was surprised to find that no matter what the answer to that question was, she felt calm about it. She trusted Keith, and if he saved her, she wouldn’t be surprised. And she loved Keith, so if she had to die, she was glad she could die at his side, with him holding her hand. As long as he escaped, she was willing to call this a happy ending.
Keith coughed a little and then said, in a choked voice, “What do you think I’m investigating?”
“Iris’s accident, of course,” Blake said impatiently. “The way I closed the barrier against her.”
19
Iris remembered thescoop of chocolate ice cream melting onto the dashboard. The sugar wafer cone crushed in her right hand. The blood.
The airbag broke my nose. I never even think about that.
It had just been one more part of the hot, pulsing pain. Her face had hurt so badly. She’d felt like she was torn to ribbons.
All year, she’d tried to tell herself that it was just an accident. She’d just hit the barrier the wrong way. It hadn’t been fate. It could have happened to anyone. It hadn’t been the universe punishing her for being such an awful unicorn.
In a way, she’d been right. The universe hadn’t punished her.
But Blake had. Iris could see his life, laid out like a fairy tale:
He was an Abbott, the last of the Abbotts. He’d married the perfect woman, the one the Council had chosen for him, but she hadn’t had the perfect family. His wife had a rebellious, unconventional, inappropriate sister—well, at least the sister seemed to be calming down. If the sister kept behaving herself, her past bad behavior might not count against him. Surely his seat on the Council was secure. So was his son’s or his daughter’s, in their time.
But years went on, and there was no son or daughter. His sister-in-law went back to her old tricks. And then the Council seat that he had been so sure was his went to someone else.
He had blamed Iris, like she alone stood between him and the perfect, respectable life he knew he deserved. Wouldn’t it be easier if she died?
He had waited for her to leave one day, and then he’d used his magic to seal the barrier against her ... and then he’d simply waited for the crash.
Iris living must have been a nasty shock.
He was waiting in the hospital when I woke up. He wasn’t worried about me, he just needed to know if I’d figured it out. He needed to know what I’d do next, and if he needed to arrange another accident.
“But everything worked out,” Blake said. “Ihadto do it, Iris. You were out of control, and Seraphina refused to deal with you. And look how much better you’ve been—”
