Both he and the Queen were ruthless when it came to the well-being of those under their protection. If I set an alliance in motion, there was no going back, and there’d be no halfway measures.
I was Nefesh now. More than that, I was a Jezebel. I’d accepted a responsibility to keep people safe from Chariot’s global designs to gain unmeasurable power, so how could I turn my back on a fight involving a similar problem in my own backyard?
Talia had chosen her political beliefs over me, tolerating my magic only as long as I kept it hidden and pretended to be Mundane, but she was still my mother. Our relationship was completely different from Levi’s with his father. Not so easy to jettison.
“I’ll take you,” I said icily, “but if any harm comes to my mother as a result of this, I’ll never forgive you.”
Levi’s eyes were troubled and distant, almost lost. “I know.”
He shook off his stupor, his air of invulnerability wrapped once more around him like armor. A very brittle armor. He caught me staring and steeled his jaw, his spine straightening.
“Give us the coins, Miles,” Levi said. “We leave in twenty minutes. Ash, I’ll meet you in the lobby.” He strode out without a backward look.
Miles gave me four tokens. “Keep him safe."
“From the Queen? I’ll do my best.”
He shook his head. “From himself.”
Chapter 8
I left Mrs. Hudson with a delighted Priya, who’d gotten far too attached. As soon as I had a spare minute, I’d take the puppy to the rescue shelter. I’d have to let them know that synthetic blankets made her itchy and not to separate her from her squeaky cow paramour and that her favorite flavor of doggie treat was bacon. But take her I would, because she deserved to have a settled family life.
Levi and I walked over to Harbour Center, a tower that housed both the downtown campus of Simon Fraser University and a revolving restaurant on the top with 360° views of the city. The door to the restaurant also happened to be the entrance into Hedon from Vancouver.
He’d illusioned himself as a blond man so we wouldn’t be spotted together, or his destination tracked.
“Slow down,” I said, practically jogging to keep up with his long strides. “You’re not going out for a night on the town. Best case scenario is trauma and danger in a reality that shouldn’t exist.”
He did this goofy little dance. “Exactly.”
I fell out of step with him, pretending I didn’t know the giant weirdo.
Levi laughed and caught my hand, pulling me along. Most people would be shitting themselves at meeting someone like the Queen. Or at least, they’d be super cautious instead of leaping into the situation like it was the most fun they’d had in a long time.
“You do remember this isn’t a social call,” I said.
Levi sighed, all humor gone and a weight seeming to settle around his shoulders. I wished I could take my words back. “I’m House Head. I never forget what’s at stake,” he said.
“Okay, Leviticus.” I squeezed his hand. “Let’s have ourselves an adventure. You’re welcome.”
“No, you’re welcome for my genius idea of hiring you in the first place.” He winked and pulled the skyscraper door open.
After convincing the woman manning the cash register to take the coins, a basic weeding-out ploy, we were directed to one of the glass elevators that crawled up the outside of the forty-plus story building.
Levi dropped the illusion once we were inside the car.
Unlike my first time, when I’d been wedged in with a boisterous Greek family, Levi and I were alone. This was good, as the menace rolling off him would have scared the bejeezus out of any poor schmuck stuck in here with us.
I crossed my arms and leaned back against the wall, watching Levi instead of the magnificent view of the skyline, water, and North Shore Mountains. “Are you scared?”
“No,” he said. “But it suddenly got a lot more real.”
“My first time involved my father.” Levi coughed a laugh and I winced. “Very bad phrasing. The first time I took this route, the Queen saw into my heart and discovered that what I wanted more than anything was to be reunited with Adam.” I snapped my fingers. “And there he was. It wasn’t enough that he appeared exactly as I imagined he would, or that he smelled of Old Spice and lemon candies. If I wanted to get in to Hedon, we had to play a trust game.”
“Shit.” Levi leaned against the railing with a hard exhale. “Of all the people.”
“Right? I’m telling you this so you’ll be ready for whatever’s coming. As much as you can be.”
“Well, you obviously kept it together and won the game,” he said.
“No. Trusting Adam was beyond me. I threw a knife into his solar plexus and shattered the illusion. Whatever secret desire you’re harboring? Be prepared to destroy it.”
Levi gave me a long measured look. “I’ll remember that.”
“At least your dad won’t make an appearance,” I said.
Levi didn’t answer.
“After everything he did to you? You can’t wish he was in your life.”
“I don’t. But…” He fiddled with his cuff links. “He wasn’t this horrible abuser twenty-four hours a day. He played soccer with me. A lot. Taught me how to handle the ball and told me stories about how growing up he dreamed of playing for Italy in the World Cup. My father is smart. He saw the potential of cryptosecurity and the importance of data when they were still kind of a frontier to conquer. He worked hard and he built up his business. I admired that about him.”
“Is that why you developed that virtual reality tech? To impress him?”
Levi put his hands in his pockets, watching the floor numbers change. “I challenged my predecessor for House Head as a fuck-you to him, that’s for sure.”
“Right. That was the
