Page 14 of Incoronate
“That’s not good enough,” said Trace, his jaw muscle pumping. “What happens if the voices come back and shecan’t snap herself out of it this time? How are we supposed to stop her when we couldn’t do a single fucking thing about it tonight?”
Neither had an answer for him.
I looked between the three of them and saw right through to the fear they were trying so hard to keep buried beneath the composure and the practicality and the careful, measured words. It showed in the way Trace finally pulled out a chair and dropped into it like his legs had made the decision before he did, in the rigid set of Gabriel’s shoulders, in the way Dominic’s fingers tightened around his glass until his knuckles paled.
None of them were going to admit what needed to be done. They cared too much about me, or maybe they just couldn’t bring themselves to be the one to put it on the table. But I knew what we needed to do, and I had to be the one to say it.
“We can’t risk anyone getting hurt,” I said, my voice holding better than I expected. “I have to be locked up.”
Dominic’s head snapped toward me, his expression darkening immediately. “Absolutely not.”
“Why not? It’s the only thing that makes sense right now and you know it.”
“I know nothing of the sort,” he answered flatly, his eyes never leaving mine as he took another purposeful sip of his drink. “That cell is no place for you.”
“What difference does it make? Everyone else has been in it,” I argued without giving him a chance to answer. “Besides, it’s not like I haven’t been chained up before. It’s only until we know for sure the voices are gone. I don’t want to be able to freely walk out that door, and I’m not putting any of you in the position to have to stop me from doing it. Not again.”
The image of Famine raising that blade over Trace flashed through my mind before I could stop it, and my stomach turned. I couldn’t go through that again.
I wouldn’t.
Gabriel shook his head. “The cell isn’t an option until Jaqueline sobers up. We can’t risk setting her loose while she’s still in the throes of bloodlust.”
The reminder of my mother’s dire condition sent another wave of guilt through me, adding yet another thing to my never-ending list of problems.
“Then what do we do?” asked Trace, his arm braced on the table. “What’s the plan?”
Dominic slowly set his glass down on the island, his dark eyes fixed on me with a ferocity that made my pulse quicken without my permission. “We watch her tonight.”
Trace stiffened. “That’s it? That’s your big idea?”
“No.” Dominic’s heated gaze slid down my body, taking in every detail like he remembered exactly how I looked when I came undone for him. “We restrain her.”
“How?” asked Trace, wetting his lips as his eyes cut to me briefly.
“Chains,” answered Dominic, his mouth curving into something that wasn’t quite a smile. “Handcuffs if needed.”
Heat bloomed low in my stomach at his words, unbidden and entirely inappropriate given the circumstances. I buried it quickly, forcing my expression to remain neutral even as my heart rate picked up.
Now wassonot the time.
Gabriel looked between Dominic and Trace, something apprehensive moving across his face. It was the look of a man who had just handed a loaded weapon to two people he didn’t entirely trust with it.
He seemed to think better of saying whatever had come to mind, and instead, pressed his lips together and nodded once. “Unfortunately, it appears to be the best option we have for tonight.”
“And what happens tomorrow?” I asked, the question sitting like a lump of coal in my stomach. “What if this isn’t over and we’re right back at square one?”
“Tomorrow, we bring Caleb in.”
My stomach tightened at Gabriel’s words. The name alone was enough to make my chest constrict with a complicated mix of emotions as the memory of everything he’d ever done for us pressed up against the possibility that he’d also been the one to help tear it all down.
“Hopefully the Caster can work some kind of spell to lessen the ritual’s effects,” continued Gabriel. “Providing it’s still at play.”
“And if he’s the one who helped the Order breach the wards,” added Trace, his voice dropping low enough to make the back of my neck prickle, “we'll find that out too.”
“Let’s hope for his sake that he didn’t.” Dominic’s smile was slow and dangerous, the kind that promised violence wrapped in civility. “Because if he did, it’ll be the very last thing he ever does.”
The threat came down on the room like a verdict, dark and absolute and entirely without bluster. No one argued with it or tried to soften it.
