“Fine. The fuck-you was a secondary reason. But I love taking care of my community and I wouldn’t have that if it weren’t for Isaac.”
“It’s not that easy to write him off,” I said.
“Much as I’ve tried.” He suddenly looked a lot more tired and older, like he hadn’t gotten enough sleep in a while. He turned a weary smile on me. “Does that make me a fool?”
“It makes you human.”
The elevator slid to a stop and the doors silently opened.
I manifested a blood dagger, my blood armor covering me from head to toe. I wasn’t sure what demon of Levi’s we’d face, but better to be safe than sorry. I exited the elevator first, inching forward, and braced for whatever illusion to appear.
Nothing did.
I spun in a slow circle. “Maybe as a House Head, you’re off the hook?”
“You really think the Queen makes exceptions?”
“Only painful ones.”
“I feel so much better now.” He followed me onto the white tiles in the welcome area outside the restaurant.
The revolving door spun lazily, alternating a flickering view of tables covered by crisp linens in full sunshine with a foreign night, its crescent moon an eerie shade of yellow.
Levi stared, rapt. “I had no idea.”
“Wait until you get inside. Hedon seems all exotic but it’s dangerous. Don’t forget that.”
“Grazie,” he said sarcastically. “I didn’t become House Head without one or two survival skills. Or brain cells.”
“Even when I hated you, I didn’t think you were stupid. But you’ve got to admit, there’s a part of you that loves risky ventures. First you went into the virtual reality biz, which no one would consider a sure bet, then after you invented whatever thing it was you did there and made a gazillion dollars selling the company, you went for your next crazy challenge. House Head. Except that hasn’t been as thrilling as you’d hoped, has it? That’s why you’ve been so eager to be part of my Jezebel investigations.” I spread my hands wide.
“Keep telling yourself that,” he said bitterly.
I frowned. What I’d said was maybe a little snarky, but it wasn’t a lie. “I feel like this is becoming a fight. Why—”
“I know exactly what I’m getting into and I will keep them safe,” he snarled. His eyes blazed and his breaths came in harsh rasps.
Huh? He wasn’t making sense and he’d gone from zero to Hulk-rage, which was totally unwarranted. I stepped forward, hands up, but he didn’t react. In fact, on closer examination, he wasn’t looking at me, but rather slightly over my right shoulder.
Cold fingers of dread trickled down the back of my neck. I turned around.
A second Levi stood there. Physically he was identical to my Levi, except he wasn’t. The was an impregnable air about him. A flawlessness. I had the feeling that if he removed his shirt, there wouldn’t be any scars.
I couldn’t hear anything the pretender was saying, but the real Levi’s face was red and the veins in his neck throbbed. I was scared he was going to stroke out from rage. My blood dagger held aloft, I rushed the pretender and bounced off some kind of shield.
“Whatever impetuous action you were about to undertake. Don’t.” Moran, the Queen’s henchman stepped out of the revolving door, holding his motherfucker of a sword. He wore his normal white disco-inspired suit and boots, his white hair cut shorter than the last time I’d seen it.
I pressed against the forcefield I was stuck in. Now I couldn’t even hear my Levi’s side of the argument. All I could see was the anguish on his face. I gripped the blood dagger so hard that my palms burned, but my vicious slashes failed to penetrate the shield.
Dropping my blood armor, I slammed my magic into the forcefield, tearing it down.
Another one immediately sprung up.
Three more times Moran and I played this game until I snarled, “Enough.”
“That’s not for you to determine.” Moran watched the proceedings dispassionately. “Nor is it your place to intervene.”
“How is this Levi’s heart’s desire?”
Moran laughed. “Wherever did you get that idea?”
“Isn’t that the price when entering Hedon for the first time? The Queen looked into my heart, saw my deepest desire, and gave it to me.”
Results not as expected.
“Did she?” Moran’s sword disappeared. “Or did she look into your heart and see your deepest fear?”
That visit with my fake father had brought up my worst nightmare. I’d been forced to trust him—and failed. Then I’d killed him. Was that my deepest fear? That the release of my magic had started me down a path where I’d have to kill Adam?
Impossible. I would never… But what if I had to in order to get the scroll? Not literally kill him, but take his magic? Break him. For all intents and purposes destroy him as definitively as if I had murdered him. Images of the gibbering mess that I’d reduced Mr. Sharp to rose up hot and thick, making me gag.
I swayed backwards on my feet like I’d been punched.
“You’re not entirely wrong,” Moran said. “Often our deepest desires are tightly bound up with our worst fears. You faced yours, and now Mr. Montefiore must confront his.”
I tore the magic out of the force field one final time. There was a slight pull on the air around me, and it dissolved. But it was too late.
The fake Levi was gone.
So was mine.
My blood armor snapped back into place and I stared Moran down with a cold smile. “Technically we’re not in Hedon yet, so you’re not protected by the Black Heart Rule.”
“Correct. Bluster and threaten all you wish, Ashira, but that won’t bring him back.”
“What did you do to him?”
Moran plucked a thread off his sleeve. “Did you know that Mr. Montefiore is the first House Head to ever visit the Queen? Willingly,” he amended.
“That’s no reason to hurt him.”
“The Queen is not going to hurt him.”
“She’s already hurt him.” I’d had to face my father, Levi had to face himself. How many new
