In a daze, she held out her hands, turning them over to study her palms and fingers. Nothing out of place there. Just a gun. She caught the pulse in her wrist. There. There was the truth. In her blood.
“It’s okay.”
Nightshade glanced up in shock at Reaper. His face exactly the same as before except his eyes… his eyes held compassion.
“You – you –” She couldn’t talk, couldn’t get her voice to work.
He nodded. “Yeah. He’d got my men, too.”
“Why are you helping him?” She wanted to scream. To shoot something.
“Because I needed to find you.”
“Why?”
Any semblance of compassion fled from his expression. “You’re not the cure. You’re the cause.”
Suddenly, Rainier bellowed and tossed Cotter back. Cotter stumbled but didn’t fall.
But that gave Rainier enough time to pull his own weapon and take aim at her father.
Nightshade didn’t think, she just reacted. She leveled the pistol and took aim. Rainier swung around, sensing her movement. As if in slow motion, Cotter dove sideways.
Rainier fired his gun. The loud retort ended in a sick thump and Cotter flew backwards, knocking Nightshade to the ground. She lay there, stunned and gasping for breath. And then she felt the warm, sticky blood soaking into her gown.
Not her blood.
Her father’s.
