‘Where’s Gray?’ she asked.
I followed her through the back entrance and towards the private lifts, where I took the opportunity to throw on the cloak I still had from the previous night. I knew it was now a futile disguise, but that didn’t stop me from clinging to it. I could already feel Lincoln nearby and my insides were flipping like a fish out of water.
‘He and Onyx bonded over bourbon. I tossed a glass of water on his face before I left this morning. He won’t be far behind.’
‘Got it,’ she said with a snicker.
I noticed as we walked through the halls that no evidence of the damage caused the day Lilith and Phoenix blew up the majority of the Academy remained. It all looked new.
Pity you can’t cover up memories with a fresh coat of paint.
When we reached the entrance I wasn’t surprised to see that the infirmary was well-guarded by Grigori. I didn’t, however, expect them to immediately stand aside as we neared. At first I wondered if Josephine had informed them I would be coming down, only to remember they wouldn’t be able to recognise me beneath my black hood.
It wasn’t me for whom they stood aside so quickly. It was Steph.
‘I see Lincoln isn’t the only one who’s moved up in the ranks,’ I said. ‘Last time I was here a human would never be allowed any authority.’
Steph smiled and I didn’t miss her pride. ‘Griffin gave his seat of power to me a while back. He didn’t want to leave our city unprotected but the Assembly kept pushing for him to play a part here.’
I tried not to react to her mention of our home city and all the memories it stirred.
‘In the end he sent me as a kind of proxy until he could find the right Grigori to take over from him there. Spence had already left to bring Chloe here for her training and I knew Sal and Zoe were keen for us to all stay together. I didn’t have anything else holding me to home, so …’ She shrugged. ‘Here I am.’
‘What about Jase?’ I asked, knowing that she might not have stayed behind for her dysfunctional relationship with her parents, but she and her brother, Jase, had always been tight.
Her smile slipped. ‘After everything that went down, he knew too much to leave it alone. In the end I gave in and told him and he … he just couldn’t accept it. He didn’t want to be part of this world and he didn’t want me in it either. He gave me an ultimatum: him or Grigori.’ She shook her head. ‘I tried to explain that it wouldn’t make any difference to just pretend exiles and Grigori didn’t exist and I told him how I loved Sal completely and that meant I couldn’t ever leave him.’
My eyes dropped.
Steph briefly covered her mouth with hand looking mortified. ‘Oh, Vi. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. You and Lincoln are different, I know that.’
I shook my head. ‘I know. So, what happened?’
‘It was gradual. He called me less and less. I spent more and more time staying with Sal, and Jase spent more and more time avoiding home. Finally, one day I called him and he didn’t answer. He never called me back.’
‘Oh, Steph, I’m so sorry. Why didn’t you tell me?’
She grimaced. ‘I don’t know. We’ve spoken so little and I never really knew what you did and didn’t want to hear. I guess I just tried to stick to the good stuff, hoping it might make you want to come back.’
Guilt gnawed away at me from the inside. ‘I’ve been such a terrible friend. To you and Spence.’
‘Don’t, Vi. Spence and I above anyone else understood you did what you had to do. We’ve never blamed you for anything.’
I nodded, feeling ashamed anyway. ‘So,’ I said, reverting to our original subject. ‘How did Josephine react when you showed up in New York?’
‘She went nuts, of course. She called an Assembly vote to veto Griffin’s decision, but Griffin has a lot of support and the votes in his favour won out. So much so that he’s been approached more than once to consider moving for a seat on the Assembly, but he insists he isn’t interested. Anyway, since then Josephine has had to accept my position here.’ Steph grinned. ‘We have our run-ins every now and then but I think I’ve grown on her.’
I absorbed all of this. I was so proud of Steph for standing her ground and carving out a place for herself in this reality. Mostly, I was impressed to see she really believed in her position within this world and not because I’d brought her into it, but because of her own endeavours.
‘Do you ever regret it?’ I asked. ‘Wish you could go back to that day I told you everything and just not know?’
‘Never. Not even for a fleeting moment,’ she answered. And her sureness left me envious.
CHaPteR NINe
‘God sends meat and the devil sends cooks.’
Thomas Deloney
as we approached Chloe’s room, a closed door to our right drew my attention. Holding my coffee in one hand, my other rested flat on the door, but I made no move to open it. I looked over my shoulder to where Steph watched silently.