Page 95 of A House of Gold
Nat closes the door behind him. Sits on the edge of my bed. "I was hoping you wouldn't find out about them yet."
"You knew?"
"I've been here a hundred years, Raven. I've seen watchers come and go. Usually they're subtle. Quiet. They observe, they report, they leave. But in the last few months..." He shakes his head. "They've been more active. More focused. I thought it was because of the contracts you were breaking. Stealing from other houses. But I can’t know for sure."
"You think it's because of me. What I am?"
"Yes." His truth-seeing eyes are steady on mine. "And I think you should be very, very careful. Watchers don't just observe. When Heaven decides something needs to be eliminated, watchers are often the ones who do it."
"Do you think they killed my grandmother?"
"They probably did. Or someone higher up the chain sent them to verify she was dead." He leans forward. "What are you planning to do?"
"Get warded. Make it so they can't track me. And then I'm going to try to break the curse. Free them. All of them."
I expect him to tell me I'm insane. To warn me it's impossible. To say what Croesus said, that some things can't be fixed.
Instead, he smiles, sad and knowing.
"Good," he says. "Someone should try. Even if it fails, someone should try."
"You think it will fail?"
"I think the odds are terrible. I think Heaven will do everything in its power to stop you. I think you might die trying." He stands. "But I also think if anyone can do it, it's you. Your grandmother was brilliant, but she was alone. Cold. She treatedthis like an intellectual puzzle. You?" He touches my shoulder. "You actually care about them. That makes all the difference."
"Will you help me?"
"However I can. Though my usefulness is limited." He moves to the door. "Be careful with this witch, whoever she is. Blood magic is powerful, but it always costs more than you expect.”
"I know." And I do from sin eating most of my life.
"Do you?" His truth-seeing eyes search my face. "Because from where I'm standing, you're falling in love with an angel who's going to have to let you go in less than a year. And tethering yourself to him permanently? That's going to hurt. For both of you."
He’s not wrong.
"I'm not falling in love with him..." I start.
"Yes, you are." He says it gently. "And he's falling for you too, whether he admits it or not. Which makes this whole thing even more complicated."
He leaves before I can argue.
I sit there on my bed, bag half-packed, and try to deny what he said.
I'm not falling in love. I'm just...invested. Curious. Determined to help.
But my hand goes to my lips, remembering last night's kiss. Remembering how he held me like I was precious. How he looked at me like I was the only thing in the room worth seeing, even with his blindness.
"Shit," I whisper to the empty room.
Nat's right. I'm falling.
And there's no ward in existence that can protect me from that.
22
Croesus holds my hand, necessary, he says, or I'll get lost in the fold, and pulls me through a mirror that shouldn't exist. The glass ripples like water, and then we're between. Not in the House. Not in the mortal world. Somewhere else entirely.
Traveling through the spaces between is like drowning in static.
