Страница 64 из 90
Brantley
Fire burns through my veins as I lean against the wall. It has been four hours since she was taken. Four hours. I move through the rubble with Ophelia behind me and the rest of The Kings outside.
“She’s not anywhere close, Brantley. I’d feel her.”
I nod, aside from the ever-burning rage that’s swimming in my gut, Ophelia is one of the good ones and I know she wants to find Dea as much as I do. She was lucky to survive the explosion herself, with a broken arm and a bruised head.
I look up to the ceiling and pause. “Who else was home?”
Ophelia steps up behind me and follows what I’m staring at. “Just us.”
I shake her off and turn toward the door when I hear Bishop’s footsteps. “I just got off the phone with Madison. She’s not fucking happy and she said if we don’t find her in one hour, they’re both flying back.”
“Fuck.” I grind my teeth, unable to contain my anger. I shove them all out of the way as I make my way outside, stepping over splintered wood and the garden that Saint spent years flourishing. It almost breaks me right then and there, seeing her flowers and greenery burned to ash. I step over them with my heavy boots, unable to bring myself to step on them. Reaching for my phone, I pull it out and dial Hector’s number.
He answers instantly, “I know. I’m working on it.”
“Well, work fucking harder!”
He sighs, closing a door in the background. “You know when I gave the gavel to Bishop, it meant I didn’t have to deal with this anymore.”
“Bullshit,” I snap at him, dropping down onto the stone bench seat. “You love Saint and you know it.”
“I do,” he says, and I hear a flick of a lighter. “Which is why—and you’re not going to like this much—but it’s why I put Sam in.”
I fly off the bench, just as Bishop and Nate walk in behind me. “You what?”
“Put me on speaker.”
I do, squeezing my phone in my hand.
“I put Sam in as soon as I noticed that she was gifted. I knew Veronica would come for her eventually.”
“How would you know that?” I fume, squeezing my phone.
“I didn’t want to have this conversation now, but Veronica has always had her eyes on Saint. Your mother is so caught up in the riptide to the delusions in her head that she actually deems them true.”
“What are you talking about?” Bishop’s eyes fly to mine, his jaw set and his shoulders straight. I know that look. I know if it came down to it, he would probably do what we have to do when it comes to his father, but I also know Bishop doesn’t rule like Hector. He has a conscience.
“She has had it in her mind that Saint could break a curse that has existed within The Daughters of the Night since she gave birth to you. It was a punishment, you see, for her sleeping with someone who was not a witch.”
“Why?” Bishop questions. “Why is it not allowed for them to be with another man?”
“Just one of their laws, son. On top of her with another man outside, she went with a King. When The Coven first moved into Riverside to live and work with The Kings, we drew up a treaty. If the treaty was broken, the witch who breaks it would ignite a curse that would live within her coven forever, until—”
“—until what?” I grind out. “I’m getting impatient.”
“There’s a riddle…”
“Of course there is,” I seethe.
“The only way the curse could be broken was by a Swan born by a Hayes.” Hector clears his throat. “As you can imagine, that would never have happened, and if it did, she would die because of our own laws. Until recently.” He pauses. “A Swan and the Devil. One pure, one evil. Neither can exist with the other, until one is born with wings that fly.”
“That’s a shit riddle. It doesn’t make sense.” Nate pulls out his pack of smokes and I have to fight with myself not to take one.
“It’s not when you think about it.” Hector pauses. “I’m trying to get in touch with Sam and have tried for a couple of weeks now to no avail.”
I squeeze my fist. “Is there a chance he could have flipped?”
“Not a single fucking one,” Hector a
“Tracking?” I grit.
“I’m on it now.”
“Good. Call us when you’ve got something.”
Rage burns through my veins like lava as I end the call. I find myself having to do something. Anything to keep busy. I move through the rubble and find Ophelia and Ivy on the front doorstep. Ophelia is holding Ivy in her arms, sobbing. Guilt weighs down on my shoulders. Saint fucking loves these two. For her, I’d do what I need to do.
I reach into my pocket and take out my keys. When I’m on the last step down from the front door, I turn and toss the key to Ophelia.
She swipes the tears from her eyes. “What’s this?”
“A key to one of my rooms in the city. Both of you go stay there.”
“But what about Saint?”
I bring my eyes to her. “Saint will be home within the next twenty-four hours. That’s a fucking promise.”
Ophelia scrubs her eyes with the backs of her hands. “I’m sorry I passed out and didn’t help her.”
“Not your fault,” I mumble. “It was probably a good thing you did. Veronica would have killed you otherwise.” I hear a car pull up behind me and turn over my shoulder to see a black Range Rover.
Be
I turn to face Ophelia. “You can take these two, the dogs, and Medusa to my penthouse and watch them until we have Veronica in fucking shackles.” Thank fucking Christ the explosion didn’t hit our half of the house and the animals are safe.
Be
“Aye!” I shake my head, glaring at him. “No. Not right now.”
“What? I don’t know what you mean.”
“For the record, Nate is inside, and I don’t know if you haven’t noticed, but he’s still not over the little kidnapping act you pulled on Tillie.”
Be
“Be
He rolls his eyes. “Fine. You have my word.”
“I mean it.” I shove his chest a little. “Those two are important to Saint, which means they’re important to me.”
Be
I turn and watch as Be
“Still hate him.”
“I know,” I say, turning to find Bishop on his phone, his eyes ablaze. “What?” I mouth.
“Yeah, we’re on our fucking way.” He hangs up his phone and grins at me. “Fire up the jets. We’re on our way to Perdita.”