Perching on the edge of her bed beside Hades and patting the purring bobcat runt’s gray head, I chirp, “I said I left Brontë a note.”
From her lamplit desk, Emi’s mouth gapes wide open. “Have you lost your goddamn mind?”
Maybe.“No.”
“Do you have a death wish?”
Probably.“No.”
“Let me get this straight. You broke into Brontë’s house. Uncovered his plan tomurderyou, turn you into a book, andsell you on Etsy.Then you left him a fuckingnote.”
My lips purse. “When you put it like that, it sounds like a terrible decision.”
“That’s because itisa terrible decision, Poppy!” Emi explodes, startling Hades. He jumps as if she shot him in the ass and bolts for the stairs leading down to the café. “What on earth were you thinking?”
“I was thinking I need allies rather than enemies, Emi,” I snipe, growing tired of defending my rash decision. I didn’t regret it for a single moment these past few weeks. Until now. “I was thinking I would at least try to avoid bloodshed. I was thinking I have much,muchbigger problems than a spiteful coroner with a very questionablehobby. I need friends, Emi, and you’re supposed to be one of them. Do me a favor and act like it.”
“Iamyour friend, Pops. I’m just”—she nibbles her bottom lip and idly taps her keyboard to light up the reactive keys with bursts of bright red—“I’m worried about you.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“Of course you can.” She scoffs flippantly. “Because you’re a Morgenstern, which automatically makes you invincible.”
“Remiel.” I lance her with an icy glare. “Don’t.”
Emi hisses out a defeated sigh. “So, what did you write in this suicide note to the psychotic coroner?”
“I gave him my number and threatened to turn him over to the feds if he doesn’t assist me.”
“Judas Priest.” She drags a hand through her long, raven layers. “Do you think he can actually help?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know.” I flop onto my back and stare up at the angry clouds dumping their torrential tears onto the world. “I wanted to get ahead of him. Offer an alliance to keep him off my back so I can deal with this sabotage shit in peace.”
A pause. Then: “Still no leads?”
“Nope.”
“Anything I can do?”
“No. My cyber team is on it. The further you remain away from this, the safer you are.”
“That’s not necessary. I can take care of myself, too.”
“I know.”
Emi, like Fiona and Cas, doesn’t work for me or my family. She does know how to defend herself, though. How to kill, if needed.
As her shoulders droop, I add, “You could look into Cas and Fiona.” I highly doubt they’re involved, though; Castor isn’t the conniving type, and Fiona is too busy to rip her nose from her phone for longer than two seconds.
Emi blows out a slow breath. “So, I may have already done that.”
I close my eyes, sighing. “Of course you did.”
“I didn’t find anything, if that’s any consolation.”
It’s not.“Mhm. Top notch initiative, Emi.”
Fabric rustles, and the mattress shifts with added weight as Emi lies beside me. We didn’t grow up together. I imagine if we did, we would’ve shared countless hours like this. Lying beside each other and whispering in the dark.
