“You’re willing to go to jail for life. Possibly have your brains scrambled. What gives?”It was the one thing I never understood. People like Aurora and Fitz Wells didn’t just willingly cart themselves off to prison. Their selfishness was based around surviving and surviving well, at all costs.“You’d really give up a life with your daughter, with your son, for this?”
“They deserve better than either of us.”
“Maybe they do.”I shrugged. There was no disagreeing with that.“But sometimes what we want and what we deserve aren’t the same thing. And I can tell you that the young witch I met tonight would rather see the best in her mother than the worst.”
The hard lines around Aurora’s eyes softened.
“Is there anything you can give me that would help the case but doesn’t mess with whatever it is you’re hiding?”When she hesitated, I continued,“Help with this investigation. Cooperate. Atlas can work to have your sentence shortened. He has sway. We both know he does.”
She exhaled loudly.“Acacia was getting too close to the truth. When Fitz and I realized Hazel had gone missing, I confronted her about it. She’d been watching the street for a long time. Researching.”Disgust coated her words.“She denied it, of course. But we needed to see what she knew.”
“And what did she know?”
“Too much.”Her lips thinned into a straight line.“Though we never were able to get past the wards to where she kept everything, we did try.”
“So you killed Acacia, knew she had Hazel, and did nothing to help her?”I asked, trying not to let my anger rise up at her words. I needed to stay calm to keep this illusion going. Furrowing my brows, I combed through her hair, hoping it still appeared like I was rifling through her mind as Saros.
“How could I explain where she was without tipping people off about what we’d done?”
“You’re horrible,”I hissed.
Maybe I wasn’t as good at being calm as I’d thought.
“It probably doesn’t sound like it, but I really did care about Hazel. I was relieved when they found her.”Her tone was apologetic, but that didn’t negate the fact that she was truly the selfish bitch I’d always believed.
“She could have died if she’d been left there much longer.”
“The bodies stacked on top of my conscience weigh me down below any moral compass you could try to keep me on.”
What did that even mean?“What bodies? Those that disappeared?”
Aurora said nothing more, keeping her mouth clamped shut. I gripped her shoulder, making sure her eyes met mine.“Are you behind the disappearances?”
She shook her head.“No.”
“But you know who is?”
Her tone was clipped.“You’re asking the wrong question.”
“What question should I be asking?”
The sound of the door sliding played in the back of my mind as she responded,“The better question iswhat.”
The illusion fell, a commotion snapping us from the fantastical forest in our minds and into the present. I dropped my hands from Aurora and turned, watching Saros spear his elbow into Festus’s big, pointy nose. Lynx was rushing through the doorway with someone else behind him.
Atlas.
His aqua eyes trailed over my body, as if checking to make sure I was okay. I nodded quickly to him in answer.
Aleander staggered backward in surprise, noting when Saros and I swapped places. “What the fuck did you do?”
Heswishedthrough space, manipulating it however his gift allowed, until his arm was wrapped around Lynx’s throat, cutting off his air supply.
“No!” I screamed, trying to get to him. Atlas grabbed me first, though, pulling me out of the way.
One moment Lynx was gasping for air, the next Aleander’s body had calmed and he released him, eyes glazed, face slack.
“Get what you needed, Midnight?” Saros asked as Lynx disarmed the giant wrath demon who now looked more like a giant cuddly lovebug. His huge meaty arm came around Saros, dragging him into a hug.
