“To better yoursoul?”
“No.”
“To get apromotion?”
“No.”
“Tell.Me.”
“Why should I? You just said you never wanted to see my faceagain.”
He nodded to his bodyguards. “They won’t let you out of this house until youdo.”
I balled my fingers. “You shouldn’t use your power to trappeople.”
“Let me walk her out—” Tristan started, but Jarod clapped his friend’s chest to hold himback.
“What should I use my power for then,Leigh?” There he was again, making my name sound sounpleasant.
“You should use it forgood.”
Jarod had the audacity to smirk. “Let me impart a little secret. When I make some people’s lives worse, I make others’ lives better. I restore thebalance.”
“Why don’t you leave restoring the balance to people whose job itis?”
“Let me guess. This is when you tell me about God and how I should try to findhim. . .”
“There is noGod.”
His eyes flashed behind his mask. “What is therethen?”
“Nothing. There’s nothing,” I growled, not about to tell this human with a king-complex about us. Not that I was allowed to reveal ourexistence.
The feeling of something sharp nicking my shoulder blade made me wheel around. Grinding my molars, I readied to tell the guards to back off but found only empty air behindme.
Chapter 10
Something glimmeredon the square of black marble underneath me. Although my lips parted again, no sound cameout.
I’d lost afeather.
Shock washed overme.
My vehemence—or was it my lie?—had cost me afeather.
The silver barbs shivered and then began to blur as tears snaked behind my lids. The desire to retrieve it and clasp it against my chest surged, but four humans crowded me. Crouching to scoop up air would make me seem like the lunatic they already believed me tobe.
I swallowed hard and lifted my stinging gaze off the floor. “I’d like to leave now,” I murmured hoarsely, an unbidden tear rolling down my cheek. I wiped it away with my knuckles. I’d come to earn feathers, and here I was losingthem.
Without taking his eyes off me, Jarod said, “Take her home,Tristan.”
Tristan stared at the young mob boss before nodding and clasping my elbow gently, as though my meltdown had somehow reduced my trash status. Or perhaps, Tristan was gentle with me because he had the organ that was clearly missing from Jarod’s system—aheart.
I whisked away another tear as I retreated into the dark, orgiastic den, tracking the lines between thefloorboards.
I didn’t utter a single word as Muriel escorted me inside the cloakroom and helped me out of my dress. If she was thinking anything, she didn’t let on. I gave her a watery smile that made the wrinkles around her eyes crinkle with what resembled worry, but why would she worry about me? If she’d worked for the Adlers since Jarod’s birth, her loyalties lay withhim.
Tristan was tucking his mask into the breast pocket of his tux jacket when I emerged from the vestibule. “See you in a couple hours,Amir.”
