“You are not funny,” he said, doing his best to keep a straight face.
“And yet, you laugh.” I thumped his nipple. “You’re only encouraging me.”
About to fist the hem of his shirt and yank it over his head so I could enjoy the view, I froze at a knock on the door. Beneath me, Midas did the same.
“Are you expecting anyone?” I slid off his lap onto the couch. “It’s almost dawn.”
“No.” He rose, bent to kiss me tenderly, then crossed the apartment and greeted our guest. “Ares?”
An acrid stench that had become too familiar to me filled the room when she entered uninvited.
“Hadley.” A tear tracked down her cheek, slicing through soot and grime. “Your sister…”
“No.” I was on my feet before I knew it. “No.”
“Ares.” Midas stood beside me, his hand on my back. “What happened?”
“Matron Pritchard and Mr. Whitaker got into a fight in the lobby yesterday. They were arguing about the service and food at the restaurant Mr. Whitaker chose. Matron Pritchard made it plain she was eating at Michelle’s tonight, and he could starve if he chose not to join her.” More tears fell, carving grooves down her face. “I warned Addie to mix it up, just in case, but she must have caved under the pressure.”
And the mole overheard and made their plans, likely believing I would go out with my family to dinner.
No, no, no.
A clamp snapped shut around my lungs, and oxygen whistled through my teeth. “Who told you this?”
Whoever it was, they were wrong. Wrong. There was no other explanation.
“I saw it for myself.” She bowed her head. “I went to Michelle’s before I came here.”
“You followed them,” I realized, my voice sounding distant in my ears.
“They’re your family,” Midas explained for her. “I had them watched.”
Since the OPA was doing the same on my end, I could hardly blame him, but why hadn’t Bishop…?
Pivoting on my heel, I jogged into the kitchen and located my phone, which I had left on silent.
Bishop had texted me twenty-three times.
Lisbeth thirteen.
Even Anca, Milo, and Reece had touched base with me.
And I had been too busy riding Midas’s hand to keep in contact with my team during a time of crisis.
“This isn’t your fault.” Midas trapped my back against his chest, his hands clasped at my navel. “The bomber has only targeted you. You had no reason to think they would go after your family.”
But we had both known, deep down, it was a possibility. Otherwise we wouldn’t have each assigned them guards to watch over them whenever they left the Faraday. We wouldn’t have moved them to the Faraday in the first place if we hadn’t had concerns.
I had chosen my city over my family, and I had failed them both.
Not enough, not enough, not enough.
No matter what I did, it was never enough.
“I need to go.” I broke free of him. “I need to be there.”
I fell to my knees when I tried to pull on my shoes, and I almost couldn’t get back up, but I had to move.
It wasn’t like Addie would have been alone. Boaz would have been right there with her.
The one person who had loved me unconditionally, who had never hurt me, never hated me, was gone.
Part of me withered and died on the spot. I might not be a Pritchard anymore, but Boaz was my brother.
My brother was dead.
Eight
Midas held Hadley’s hand to leash her, but she tugged against him, blind in her grief and rage. She made it onto the sidewalk before elbowing him, twisting free of his hold, and running straight for the plume of smoke on the pink-and-orange horizon. He allowed her to maintain the lead, but he kept close enough to watch her back.
He wasn’t surprised when Bishop jogged from an alley wreathed in shadows to join him.
“This is going to get ugly fast.” He cut Midas a look. “Can you restrain her?”
His feral half took orders from her, which meant she could free herself, but that abuse of power sat wrong with her. Usually. “Yes.”
“Good.” Bishop frowned at the back of her head. “Poor kid can’t catch a break.”
Hadley was a fighter, but even the strongest could get knocked down until they could no longer rise.
“Will Linus come?” Midas wondered. “Does he know yet?”
“He’s already on his way.” Bishop slowed his pace. “He and Boaz had issues, but he’s worried for Hadley. He doesn’t want her to face this alone.” He came to a stop as they reached the scorched restaurant. “Grier is with him.”
“That means Lethe will come too.”
Grier’s power made her unique, but it also made her a target. Lethe would never allow her best friend to leave Savannah without a guard. Despite their troubled histories, Grier had grown up next door to Hadley and Boaz. She had loved him for most of her life, and she would mourn him. Deeply.
Hadley would need Grier to help make sense of this shared loss. And Addie… Midas wasn’t sure how Hadley would process the loss of the woman who had welcomed her into sisterhood with open arms.
The deaths of Mr. Whitaker and Matron Pritchard left Midas uncertain as to their impacts. Hadley hadn’t been close to her “father,” but she liked him. The woman who had birthed her and then thrown her away rather than deal with the scandal fueled by her crimes was another matter.
It didn’t mean Hadley wouldn’t grieve her, but he had no expectations as to how her sorrow might manifest.
The smoke burned Midas’s sinuses and made him cough as he fought through it to reach Hadley.
As wind teased the edges of the black plumes, Midas understood why she hadn’t rushed the fire.
The restaurant was ash. Nothing but ash. The magical fire had devoured it whole.
Once that registered, Hadley hit her knees, but she didn’t scream as Claudia had done, and there was no sense of defeat about her. No one could see her and not understand she was mourning, but no one
