My vision blurs hazy red. I can’t even begin to think straight.
I feel myself being helped out of the chair. Jonah says something, but I’m not hearing him. I’m thinking about my childhood friend, on the verge of death, her essence—what makes Cora Cora—stripped away until she was nearly dead. Of how she’d been left on the side of the road, bleeding out and unconscious. Of how she’d been a message to me: We can find you. We can take what you love.
And Bios had been the one to deliver the message. Here he is, my gift.
Enlilkian must have known we’d figure it out. That I’d discover the person, no, thing that protects me was responsible for nearly destroying the closest person I have to a sister. Cora had been there for me all my life, giving love and understanding, when my parents failed to do so. And because of me, she’d nearly lost her life. How did I repay her? By rewarding her would-be murderer with his old body, a replica of his home, and the promise of a swift and merciful death.
Every glass on the table explodes.
People are shouting, wondering what in the hell is going on, but I round on Bios immediately, fury pulsing through my veins.
“Chloe,” Jonah is saying, “you need to calm down. Take a breath. Count to ten.”
Bios holds his arms out wide, offering me no resistance. And then, as if he thinks better of it, extends one arm out to me, palm open. Like he simply expects me to take his hand and erase him.
It pisses me off like there’s no tomorrow.
He totally deserves it. He does. But ... I hesitate once more.
Disappointment swirls through his eyes. To Kellan, he says, “You may escort me back to my room now. I do not think I will join you at your table any longer.” He stands up, then says quietly, “Enlilkian’s rage must be overwhelming by now. Do not let others suffer. You know what must be done.”
And then he leaves.
“What the fuck do you think that accomplished, Kellan?”
We’re back in our room again, with Jonah and Kellan once more arguing. I choose instead to go sit down in front of my window that looks out on Rome. For all my rage at the table, I’m exhausted now.
“A lot, actually,” Kellan throws back. “Because I’m not going to hide anything from her just because it might be upsetting. My singular goal is to keep you two safe and alive. Locking her away in this hideaway can only go so far when we’ve got one of the murderers on the loose down here with us.”
“You are the one who chose to let him live!” Jonah’s furious. “You fought me on that!” He throws one of his stray shirts across the room. “J, we can use him. Talk to him. When will we get this chance again? Think about this logically. This is a golden opportunity.” He comes right up to his brother, sticking a finger in his chest. “Remember that? Remember how you kept insisting I was the irrational one?” He laughs bitterly. “Hypocritical, much?”
They’re arguing in complete sentences because I’d begged them to last night. And now ... now I wish they could go back to their old way.
“You want me to admit I was wrong? Fine, J! I was wrong. I should have encouraged Chloe to take that fucker out the moment we got in that room!”
Their anger hurts so very, very much to hear.
“You were right, though! We have learned things from him we didn’t already know!” Jonah’s hands dig into his hair and pull hard. I can practically taste his frustration across the room. “But Kellan, you didn’t need to make a Hollywood production about what you found out. You could have told us privately!”
“Seriously? That’s what you were worried about? Shit, bro—everyone needs to know that he’s not some kind of fucking rainbow teddy bear. He and his kind are vicious killers who want to take Chloe. And I’ll be damned if I let him lull her into a sense of false security, thinking she can trust him. She can’t. You and I know that very well.”
I’ve just about had enough of this. “Hey now—”
“I am handling the situation,” Jonah growls.
“Right. By keeping her and everyone else in the dark about Bios’ true nature.”
“Stop it.” I stand up, curl my hands into fists. “Both of you, stop it.”
But if they hear me, they don’t act like it. Because Kellan now steps into Jonah’s space, stabbing a finger into his brother’s chest. “I stepped back. I have done everything I can to make things easy for you two. But you do not get to tell me that I have no say in this. She is still my Connection. And even if you like to pretend she and I aren’t linked, we are. I may not be the one she’s going to marry, but I sure as hell am going to be the one who makes sure she stays safe.”
Oh my gods. I stumble forward, desperate to head this off as fast as I can. “Stop this right now.”
Jonah opens his mouth, but I slide my hands in between them and shove as hard as I can. They both go staggering back.