Page 97 of Incoronate
“Come on, Jemma,” he said, closing the distance between us and catching my hand in his own. His thumb traced circles against my palm, anchoring me as his eyes held mine. “You know we can’t let you walk into that deathtrap without backup. That’s not going to happen no matter how you try to spin it.”
“I don’t need backup,” I insisted, pulling my hand from his and stepping back. “I need you both alive.”
“And we need the same from you,” he said, his voice lowering. “What if something goes wrong while you’re in there? What then? Are we just supposed to stand outside and wait to find out if you’re alive or dead?”
I swallowed hard, trying to keep the ache in my chest from climbing any higher. I hated that I was putting them in this position. That I was expecting them to do something I knew very well I couldn’t do myself.
But I didn’t know what else to do.
“I’ve already lost too many people,” I said, tears burning behind my lids. “I can’t…Iwon’tadd you to that list.”
“Look, I get what you’re saying. I do. I would feel the same way if this were reversed. But there comes a time when we have to face the reality. And the reality is we’re stronger together.” He dipped his head to catch my gaze. “You’re not protecting us by keeping us out. You’re only making it easier for them to pick us off one by one when they come for what’s left of us.”
“I…” I shook my head, unable to find a rebuttal.
I hadn’t considered that.
Dominic moved closer, crowding into my space with that menacing presence that always made the blood in my veins course hot under my skin. “As endearing as your resistance is, it’s entirely futile. We’re bonded to you for a reason, angel. And it’s not so you can martyr yourself while we watch from the sidelines. If you fall, we fall. That is how the anchor works. Separately, we are remarkable. But together?” A shadow crossed the dark of his eyes. “We are unstoppable.”
I wanted to keep fighting them on it. To insist they stay as far from Temple as possible. That despite knowing we were stronger together, I couldn’t bear the thought of losing anyone else. But the stubborn set of Trace’s jaw and the immovable certainty in Dominic’s gaze told me I wasn’t going to change their minds. That I’d already lost this battle, just like I’d lost the battle to keep them from the barrier or from every other dangerous thing I’d done since the day they walked into my life and changed everything for the better.
The truth crashed over me with the force of an inevitability I couldn’t outrun. They were right. We were stronger together. The anchor bonds, the way we’d fought side by side at the barrier and every time before that, the way they balanced me when I threatened to tip too far into the darkness. None of that worked if we were separated.
And as much as I knew I couldn’t survive losing them, they couldn’t survive losing me either. It wasn’t fair to ask that of them. To demand they stand aside and watch me walk into danger alone when I knew with absolute certainty I’d never do the same.
“Okay,” I finally agreed, the word coming out reluctant despite meaning it this time. “But we stick to the plan no matter what. No deviating, no improvising, and no throwingyourselves in front of me like a bunch of lovesick, sacrificial lambs.”
“So says the one planning to hand-deliver herself to the Council,” muttered Dominic.
“That’s different.”
“How so?”
I straightened. “Because William is mine,” I said, the cold edge in my voice making both of them go still. “After everything he did to me and to my family, he’s going to answer for it.”
“How refreshingly bloodthirsty of you.”
The voice came from the doorway, smooth and dripping with amusement. All three of us whipped around in unison to find Anita leaning against the doorframe, her sisters Annabelle and Arianna standing just behind her.
None of them had made a sound. Not a footstep or even a breath and certainly nothing that should have escaped Dominic and Trace’s heightened senses.
Anita’s lips curved into a knowing smile as her eyes found mine. “Though I must say, vengeance is such a limited ambition when you have the potential for so much more.”
31. A CROWN FOR THE ASKING
My pulse pounded in my ears as I gaped at the Roderick sisters standing in the doorway like specters summoned from the shadows themselves, their presence filling the room with an energy that made the air feel instantly charged.
“Something tells me my definition ofpotentialdoesn’t exactly line up with yours,” I said, choosing to ignore the fact that they’d, yet again, materialized out of nowhere without so much as a whisper of warning.
At this point, asking how they kept getting into the house undetected felt like a waste of breath. The Roderick sisters moved through the world by their own rules, operating on a plane of existence that clearly didn’t concern itself with locks or barriers or the basic courtesy of knocking.
Anita’s smile widened, showing far too many teeth, the dark of her eyes glinting with something that looked almost like amusement. “Perhaps not yet. But give it time.”
A chill traced down my spine at the strange look in her eyes, but I forced myself to push past it. I had enough on my plate without going down the rabbit hole with the Roderick sisters and their weird, witchy ways.
“If you came to see Ares, he’s not here,” I said, my voice calmer than I felt. “But he’s safe.”
Arianna’s gaze slid over to me with that unnerving clarity that suggested she’d already watched this conversation play out a dozen different ways in her mind. “We know.”
