“Hel, listen,” Sam began, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath.
“What part of the knife made you think I was interested in your apologies?” Hel said, her voice razor edged. She’d donned the mantle of Lady M again, but this time, Sam wasn’t fooled.
“The part where you missed,” Sam said, refusing to drop her gaze.
Hel stalked over to Sam until she was close enough to kiss, looming over her as she grabbed hold of the knife in the wall. “A mistake I won’t make twice.” Desire shot through Sam. Heaven help her, but she still wanted Hel. Even now, after everything. Hel yanked out the knife and turned away. “Go home, Miss Harker. It’s over.”
This. Us. Everything.
Anger flared through Sam at that. She had made mistakes, to be sure, but she was hardly alone in that. How was it that Sam was the only one being held to account?
“You want to know why I didn’t tell you?” Sam demanded.
“Not particularly.” Disinterest dripped from Hel’s every syllable. It was impressive, actually, or would have been, if Sam hadn’t been furious.
“Thisis why,” Sam said, gesturing at the hole in the wall. They would never be welcomed back to that hotel again. Not after all they’d put it through. It was a miracle they hadn’t been put out on the street. “How could I possibly trust you wouldn’t overreact?”
“Overreact?” Hel bit off a laugh. “Youhidmy brother’s machinations from me. You might as well have been working for him.”
Rage flowered through her, growing thorns. Of course this was why she was angry. Hel had said she would change, but she was exactly the same as she’d always been. Sam was just a pawn to her in the deadly game she played against her family?—discarded the moment she’d made a misplay.
“What was I supposed to do?” Sam said sharply. “Youshotthe first raven we saw?—in a public park!”
“It was mybrother’sraven,” Hel said, as if anyone might do the same. “I meant to send a message.”
“You threatened to pull the veins out of M. Voland’s throat and strangle him with them!” Sam continued. “Which doesn’t even make sense. The man would be dead long before he’d choke.”
“He hurt you!” Hel shouted, her calm sheared through at last.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
“I thought you didn’t care?” Sam said softly. Hel turned away, her jaw tightening. Sam drew in a shaky breath. “This... isn’t why I came. Listen, we got it wrong. It’s not my grandfather.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Sam?—”
“No, that’s not?—I’m not... defending him,” Sam said. “What he did is vile, and I still don’t know how to wrap my head around that. But another man was found murdered, his hat embedded in a tree. Which means it couldn’t have been my grandfather.”
“Couldn’t it?” Hel said. “It wouldn’t be the first time in this case ghosts have gotten past traditional deterrents. So, if that’s all...”
It couldn’t be all. She needed something more, something Hel, who seemed to want nothing more than to see Sam’s back, couldn’t dismiss.
“I pulled this feather out of my wrist where it wasgrowing,” Sam said.
Hel snorted. “You expect me to believe?—”
Sam thrust her bloody wrist and the accompanying feather at Hel, and Hel’s jaw shut. “There was another I pulled from my throat.”
“This... isn’t a raven feather,” Hel said, her gaze narrowed. “It’s a crow feather.”
“It’s... what?” Sam blinked. “What kinds of birds are those, outside the window?”
“There’s more than one of them,” Hel said, as if it were obvious. Then, when Sam stared at her blankly, “Crows. You’d know if they were ravens. They’re big as hawks?—you’re aresearcher, Harker. You really want me to believe you couldn’t tell the difference?”
“Former researcher,” Sam snapped, flushing. But her mind whirled, thinking of all the times she’d seen black birds and thought them ravens. How often were they simply crows? “And I’m not a?—a walking encyclopedia. It’s more that I know where to look things up. Besides which, I seem to remember a certain field agent not recognizing a common grindylow!”
“That,” Hel said, “was entirely different. It was dehydrated and far from its native habitat.”
“Are you going to let me tell you this story or not?” Sam snapped.
