It felt like a knife in the ribs. My words shouted at him in the spectral realm, now thrown back in my face. I thought he’d understood.
How could I have been wrong on all counts?
Cliff reached for me with one hand—whether to soothe or capture me, I wasn’t sure anymore. Those hands had once protected me; I’dtrustedthem.
I shot out of his reach, higher in the air. Right now, I wasn’t sure I ever wanted Cliff to touch me again. I kept waiting for any tell on his face to indicate a plan, or a flicker of guilt preceding him recanting it all.
But there was nothing.
He just stared at me like a pathetic creature that would never understand.
“Coward,” Ben said, his thready voice shaking with anger. Cliff turned to face where he hovered near the captives in the glass case. “You’re a fucking coward. Running away the moment it’s convenient.”
Cliff scoffed like Ben’s fury was amusing. “Call it whatever you want. The assholes who survive make the tough calls.”
Eros set a hand on Cliff’s shoulder and squeezed. Cliff tensed, but didn’t pull away.
“Proud of you for finding a healer. Quite rare, their kind.” Eros looked paternal for the first time since I’d laid eyes on him.Proudof his lying, wretched son.
I backed away, pulling myself closer to the ceiling and out of reach from all of them.
The lights flickered, and at first, I thought it was my own emotion-clogged magic affecting the room. But then, I heard it: a low rumble from deeper within the hotel. It rippled outward in a short, brutal burst, sending faint shockwaves through thefoundation of the building. Everyone in the room stood on edge, watching the twin chandeliers shiver and rock overhead.
Three more guards came through the door, watching Eros for direction in response to the disturbance.
Movement surged in the corner of my vision. Shifting her weight carefully on her injured leg, Delilah launched herself at Tammy. Her bound hands became a bludgeon, swinging down to connect with Tammy’s face again and again, until the handgunthumpedfrom her hands onto the carpet. The guards lifted their weapons, taking aim as she reached up to wrench the cloth from her mouth.
Delilah gasped out a single, desperate verse of Latin. She shrank, assuming the form of a white, long-haired cat before our eyes. The zip ties now swam around her paws.
“What the fuck—” One guard staggered back, eyes wide.
Delilah took the briefest moment to acknowledge Ben and me before leaping through what remained of her gag, darting for the door. The guards attempted to seize her, but it was clear they were well-versed in huntinghumanoids, not household pets. She dodged their uncertain movements easily, weaving through and under furniture towards the exit.
It was Cliff who bolted into her path, seizing her around the middle and whisking her off the floor. Delilah yowled, biting down on his hand.
“Fuck!” he shouted, flinging her to the floor.
Delilah bolted through the cracked door. Cliff cradled his left hand, which was dripping blood from tiny, poignant canine incisions. She had gone for the bone.
“We’ll find her, Chandler.” Tammy gave Eros a curt nod, desperate to redeem herself. She was on her feet, weapon reloaded. She gave the two suited guards a disdainful once-over before checking a slim watch worn alongside elegant gold bracelets. “You need to load up and get out of here. We’ll handlethe witch.” As she regarded me with a simmering detachment, I thought my insides might wither.
And here I thought I couldn’t feel anything at all since Cliff had uttered those words to me.
He’s leaving. He’s choosing his father. He’s leaving us—
The panic left me dizzy. So rattled, I almost didn’t register her next words: “Gas them.”
Tammy vanished down the hall with two guards tailing her, shutting the door firmly behind them. The remaining guards moved in sync, obedient as trained dogs. They produced slender face masks, covering their own noses and mouths. I glimpsed Eros offering Cliff an identical mask before pulling his own into place.
The guards produced compact devices hidden behind the holsters that housed their handguns. The design was sleek, refined in a way that terrified me with the sheer preparation that had been poured into this. Of course, a company as well-founded as Evercor would have invested in more effective ways of incapacitating fae than clumsy bullets. They were going to turn the very air in our lungs against us—inescapable, and terrifyingly patient.
Each man thumbed a trigger at the back, and with a low hum, the devices released a pale mist that spilled outward like slow-moving fog.
One whiff, and my body seized with a visceral stiffening that went right down to the sinews of my muscles. I whirled to Ben, flying to his side.
“We have to get out of here,” I panted.
We searched the ceiling for openings we could squeeze through—an air vent, an unrepaired crack,anything.
