Everything. We had to tell them everything. They were the only allies we had left.
“Yes. I did.” The words tasted like crap in my mouth. “Selena had nothing to do with it. She was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
Because of me. Because I’d dragged her into this nightmare.
Selena blurted, “I told him to give theLapis Umbraeback to Costin.”
I shot her a look. Thanks for that. As if I didn’t already look bad enough without her announcing to the room that I’d ignored the one person trying to save me from myself.
Rose sighed, and the sound was heavy with something that looked like pity. “Well, you have another problem. Costin knows that Rocco stole the shard.” She paused, her gaze settling on Selena. “And he thinks thatyouhelped him.”
Selena’s breath hitched. I felt her stiffen beside me.
Crap, this was my fault. All of it. I’d ruined her life just like I’d ruined everything else.
I took the blood bag from Valentin. “Angelo said Steve Dupont fed him the lie about me selling the shard. But that doesn’t make sense. Steve’s not the type.”
Valentin and Rose glanced at each other. A look passed between them—the kind of look that saidthis was going to hurt.
“Steve’s been acting strange for weeks,” Rose said quietly. “Joy’s noticed it too. Gaps in his memory. Mood swings. Saying things that don’t sound like him.”
Selena stiffened beside me. “That sounds like?—”
“Possession,” I finished, the word like ash in my mouth. I knew what that looked like better than anyone.
“Then Dimitri found Steve passed out in front of the gates of Red Rose Academy. He suspects he may have been possessed. He saw smoke come out of his mouth.”
The room tilted.A demon.The same kind of thing that had crawled inside me and used my hands to beat my mother half to death. And now it had been wearing Steve like a suit, pulling strings, setting me up — all while I’d been too blind to see it.
My hand crushed the blood bag so hard it nearly burst. “If that’s true, then why doesn’t Angelo fucking believe him?”
Valentin snorted. “Angelo wasn’t in the listening mode. His daughter’s life is on the line. He wants blood, and right now, you two are targets in sight.”
Selena sagged beside me. “And Costin?”
“He’s in the same foul mood…if not worse,” Valentin said. “Balthazar kidnapped his wife once and dragged her to hell. Costin vowed nothing like that would ever happen again. The shard was his insurance—his way of protecting her. And now it’s gone.” He paused. “He thinks you crossed him just like Rocco.”
Selena flinched. I felt it like a knife in my ribs. She’d had a life — a career, a home, respect. And I’d burned it all down in one night. She should have been safe at the Academy, teaching Julienne’s class, living the life she’d built without me. Insteadshe was sitting in this fucking condo with a target on her back because I couldn’t leave her out of it.
“Meaning we’re both dead,” she said softly. Her voice cracked on the last word.
I wanted to reach for her hand. Tell her I’d fix this. But how could I promise something I wasn’t sure I could deliver?
What I could promise — what I swore to myself right there — was that no one would touch her. Not Angelo. Not Enzo. Not Costin. I’d put her in this mess. If anyone was going to pay for it, it would be me. Not her. Never her.
“Maybe,” Rose said. She uncrossed her arms and moved toward us, her expression thoughtful. “If you can get the shard back. Perhaps it could be split and both of them could have it.”
I blinked. I’d never even considered that.
But if it worked — if the shard could be divided — Costin keeps his wife protected, Angelo gets what he needs for Noelle, and neither one has a reason to come after us anymore. The war ends before it starts. My mother stays alive. Selena goes home.
Something loosened in my chest. Not hope, exactly. More like the first full breath I’d taken in days.
“You think that’s possible?”
She walked over to the table near the window, where a thick leather book sat open, its pages yellowed with age. “I’ve been researching this book since we got here. Yes, I think it’s possible.” She traced a finger along the ancient text. “The shard is extremely powerful—even a fragment of a fragment would retain its protective properties. But we have to find out who took it first.” She looked up at us, her blue eyes sharp. “It could be a demon or someone else completely different. We don’t know.”
My mind raced. Who could have gotten onto that houseboat without me hearing them? I’d been... distracted, yes, but I was still a vampire. I should have sensed something. A heartbeat. Afootstep. A shift in the air. Whoever took the shard had moved like smoke — in and out without a trace.
