Soter shrugs. “Then send Isolde to help me.”
My eyes narrow. Soter would love to work with the woman he stole from me. But Isolde would rather submit to water torture.
My phone vibrates.
Jaxson
You’re needed in Bardhyl. A group of kids just tried to rob a bank.
“I have to go.” Soter nods and then looks away, but not before I catch his triumphant smile. He knows he’s won. When push comes to shove, Marlowe needs to answer for her crimes. Except I can’t be trusted to handle her trial without bias. “Check the neighboring houses and the Kelpie Racetrack. If Marlowe was here, she didn’t get far.”
I call Jaxson to get up to speed so I can decide how to reprimand a group of misguided kids.
“What exactly happened?” I ask instead of greeting Jax, closing the door behind me.
As I descend the stairs, my mind races with conflicting priorities. I know that the decisions I make in the coming days will shape not only my future but also the future of us all.
“Fuck, fuck,fuck!”
I fumble with my phone, catching the contraband device in my sudsy, gloved fingers right before it lands in the toilet bowl at Little Death. A pungent cocktail of bleach, ammonia, and leather burns my nostrils.
We don’t open for another hour, but the bass pulses through the walls, echoing my frantic heartbeat. Queen Vyvyan has had me on cleaning duty ever since I snuck out of the Nest to warn my brother and Jaxson about Nyx’s attack a few months ago. Wilder had been in trouble, and I might have gotten away with helping him if I hadn’t asked Prince Vane for assistance.
My hands are raw, and my pride is bruised, but I don’t dare complain. Not when Vyvyan can turn my life into a living hell. I enjoy living here—more than anywhere else I’ve ever lived.
“What happened now?” Misty asks from the adjacent stall. She isn’t on cleaning duty with me, but as my best friend, she stays with me for company.
“I almost flushed my phone,” I reply.
Misty’s laughter is like wind chimes. “You’re brave to keep that phone,” she observes as she exits her stall. She’s right; if Vyvyan knew Wilder had given me a way to contact him and Mom, her rage would be apocalyptic. Vampires aren’t allowed to own phones. Period. I need to get rid of it. Soon.
I can’t risk losing my place here, and I fear what might happen if I continue to break the rules. Shuffling out of the stall and toward the fancy sink, I read the text that made my heart jolt. Misty rests her chin on my tattooed shoulder, a feat that would be impossible without her platform boots.
“What did he say this time?” she asks.
I bite my lip as I peel off my gloves. Jaxson and I have been exchanging flirty texts non-stop since Leigh’s coronation. Before I was Turned, Jax was my boyfriend. When he’s being cute and kind, it’s a bit too easy to forget how he left me.
Jax
Can we talk on the phone tonight? It’s hard not hearing your voice.
My smile reaches my ears. Jaxson has always made me feel special. He embraced my jagged edges as if they were soft curves. At least, he did until the day he chose Wilder over me. I had faced rejection before, but never such overwhelming desolation. Jax was more than my boyfriend; he had been my best friend. With Wilder in Aurora and Jax ignoring my calls, in a way, I lost both of them all those months ago.
I felt lost and aimless until a woman whispered the password to Little Death, and I found myself in this bar. Even though I had to wear a mask, I had never felt so seen.
Misty squeals. “How cute! How will you respond?”
I shake my head, yet my grin remains steady. “We spoke last night.”
“So? You’re hot; he’s hot. Forget the call. Video chat. Naked.”
“Your persistence says more about your sex life than mine.”
“I’m a desert, and if I want to have sex, I have to do it vicariously through you. Write back that you want to video chat,”Misty encourages. Her wide smile is as red as her cherry-colored hair. “I’ll scream ‘fire’ to clear the dorm.”
I look at her with wide eyes. Clearing our shared room of hundreds of vampires is impossible. Only Queen Vyvyan and Prince Vane have private quarters. But for those she loves, Misty would move mountains. It’s the same for the people she hates; they better watch their backs because Misty would have no trouble stabbing them.
“I don’t know.” I chew my thumb. “I don’t want him to get the wrong idea,” I admit, tucking my phone into my corset. “I haven’t decided if I want to date him again.”
