Isolde fists her hands atop the table. “You want me to play chaperone for your girlfriend?”
“Is there a problem?”
Sol clenches her jaw but doesn’t fight back.
Soter takes a breath. “So, Isolde gets to play princess while I have to do all the work?”
“Soter, you have a team of Blades at your disposal, which includes Jaxson.” Jaxson’s smile fades at this. “He’s to be your second-in-command while I’m gone. He can search for Marlowe while you run things.”
“My week just got a lot worse,” Jax grumbles with a look at Soter. Soter glares back.
I swallow to force down my annoyance. Jax never wants to take on more responsibility. He had the chance to compete in the upcoming Domna Trials in Glaucus, but he refused to put himself out there, content to coast instead. I thought that with me as commander, he would take more initiative, but I was wrong. I still trust him more than anyone and need him at the center of things while I’m gone.
I roll back my chair to stand. “I need to go to the palace. Jaxson, you’re with me. Isolde, go pack, and meet us there when you are done. Soter, do something productive. And please, try not to burn the place down while I’m away.”
Soter folds his arms. “Why does Jaxson get to go with you? I’m your Domna.”
I frown. “Because he told me about Janus.”
“Idiot,” Isolde mumbles.
As Jaxson and I leave the precinct, an overwhelming weight tugs at my heart, pulling me in a thousand different directions. Leaving Borealis and Leigh is a painful separation, the hardest thing I have ever faced. Yet, the chance to create a real difference in Aurora sparks a determination within me. I know I must embrace this opportunity, even if it requires temporarily sacrificing my happiness.
I just hope that when I come back, there will still be a city left to protect and a woman waiting for me.
It’s late.After what happened with Vyvyan and the Balam, sleep evades me. I toss and turn in my coffin, the velvet lining clinging to my sweat-dampened skin as thoughts of Vane plague my mind. Heat crawls down my neck as I relive my body’s reaction while Vyvyan drank my blood. I wanted Vane so badly—craved his touch—and was ready to say, “Fuck it,” letting him take me right there in the dirt, with Vyvyan dying beside us.
It wasn’t me. Whatever I am still feeling is the result of the blood-sharing. I don’t want Vane—not after how he treats me. How could I when he’s the reason I lost Misty? Vyvyan doesn’t want me either, but she is stuck with me. My blood binds me to her. When she heals, she will sense every emotion I express. If I had her blood, I’d feel just how much she hates me—viscerally, not mentally.
With a groan, I push the lid of my coffin open. It squeals on ancient hinges. Beside me, Misty’s coffin lies empty, and so do dozens of others. She and many other vampires are not back from the club yet. Misty and I haven’t talked since everything went down in Vyvyan’s room. I was giving her space, but now it gapes like a trench.
I pull a sweatshirt over my tiny tank and sleep shorts before creeping into the hall to catch her on her way back. It’s barely past sunrise, but we close the club at dawn.
I wait in the hallway, my gaze shifting each time someone walks past me. A restless energy has me pacing back and forth. After what feels like an eternity, Misty’s familiar laughter bounces off the walls. She appears around the corner, walking with her sire, Zev. They speak in hushed tones. Whatever he’s saying is meant only for her ears—a private bond between sire and progeny that twists my stomach with envy. I’ll never experience that kind of connection.
“Misty,” I call, my voice small with uncertainty. The laughter leaves her eyes. “Can we talk?”
Misty folds her arms across her chest. Her brocade corset, pleated leather skirt, and boots give off a sinful schoolgirl look that probably had the Little Death clientele pining for her attention. “I’m talking to Zev.”
I offer Zev an apologetic look. “It’s important.”
Misty scoffs, but Zev steps in to say, “It’s okay, Misty. I’m tired anyway.” My heart swells with gratitude toward him, even though he’s probably just helping me because he owes my brother for helping him stay in contact with his wife. He must know I lied about Vane siring me. Misty toldeveryone.
As soon as he’s gone, I say, “Vane means nothing to me,” but the words taste like ash.
Misty tucks a scarlet ringlet behind her ear. She is hopeless with an iron, which means she asked someone other than me to help her get ready last night. “Well, that makes sense since you have Jaxson.”
Even though Jaxson and I are in limbo, I nod. He’s had ample opportunity to ask me out since learning I faked my death, but he hasn’t, and I don’t know what that means. I’m not even sure how I feel about it. Should vampires and witches even date? “You’re right. I have Jaxson,” I say anyway.
“You’re a terrible friend and a worse liar,” Misty snaps. “You never wanted me to be with Vane. Is that why Jaxson dumped you? Because you’re a lying, cheating whore?”
I back up a step, blood singing in my veins. “Cheating? I never cheated on Jaxson.”
“How am I supposed to know that?” she asks with a bite to her words. Misty is projecting what happened to her onto me. “You’ve been lying to me since we met.”
“But not about that.”
Misty laughs, the sound harsh and grating. “Too late. You’ve squandered my trust.”
