Page 115 of One Shattered Crown
Of course he’s using her. A side door clicks open and Stacia strides in, her heels sharp against the concrete. She has that stupid sparkly purse at her elbow. Cheap glitter falls on the floor as she moves, and I fight another sneeze. So it is allergies.
Wynd lights up like someone jammed a live wire into him. “Hey, baby, things are going exactly like you said.”
My jaw drops. “Stacia?” I turn my head and sneeze, then look back at the purse. The fucking glitter purse. That’s why I’ve been sneezing lately? Wynd has been hanging out near it and bringing cheap glitter into my world?
She glances at me first, then at Corinda slumped near the diamond, then finally at Wynd. She moves against him, leaving glitter on his arm. Her smile is sharp enough to cut. “We’re tired of being second fiddles around here. I’mtaking over TimeGem, and we’re going after Malice Media for Wynd.”
I cough, air jagged in my throat. “You’re going to take out both Justice and Thorn?”
“I am,” Wynd says, lifting one shoulder in that lazy way that makes my stomach twist. “I’m a distant cousin, and I can charge garnets.” He grins. “Justice will think Kaz took you. Not me.”
Fear makes my ears heat. “What did you do with Kaz?”
“You don’t need to worry about him any longer.” Wynd’s tone is too calm. “His body will never be found, unlike yours. Unfortunately, I’ll be the one to find you, and I’ll comfort Justice before I slice his throat.”
“You get to shoot this one,” Stacia says to him, eyes bright. Then her mouth curves in a cruel smile. “Shooting Mother took more out of me than I thought. That bitch fought.”
Corinda stumbles, her knees buckling. She falls into a chair, head rolling forward as if the strength’s been drained from her.
“Did she just pass out?” Stacia asks, tilting her head.
“Yeah,” Wynd murmurs. “We’ve been forcing her to charge for about fifteen hours, and I think she might need a break.” He turns and crushes his mouth against Stacia’s in a hard kiss.
“I want to gag.” The words rip out of me before I can stop them. Every time I’ve sneezed or had my eyes water, Wynd has been around. I didn’t realize it until right now. “I take it you gave Stacia that ugly-ass purse?”
He grins. “Yep. The next one will be diamonds.”
Stacia smirks when she pulls back. “You always thoughtI was the nice one. The funny one.” Her eyes gleam. “But I’m also the one with the brain, and we weren’t going anywhere with my mother, you, and the Beathachs in our way.”
What assholes. I try to make sense of any of this. “Wait a minute. The guy who tried to kill me in my safe house? That couldn’t have been you. You were outside and you saved me from him.”
“Yeah, I hired that guy,” Wynd said. “He was supposed to bring you here to charge the citrines as well as the gems I stole from Justice. I have a couple of beautiful alexandrites for you to try.” He glares. “I felt Sylveria’s guy behind me, so I had to shoot my friend and get hit in the head. Just to keep my cover. It’s your fault.”
Wow. I actually thought he was a decent guy. “You two haven’t thought this out. Charging the gems isn’t that easy. If you somehow take out Justice and Thorn, you won’t be able to handle the garnets, Wynd.” How stupid is he?
He shrugs. “I can charge them for a few years, and we’ll have a bunch of kids. Some of them will charge garnets, some the diamonds.”
Stacia’s smile is thin. “We can make it until then. If we have to keep good old Corinda with a chain around her ankle for the rest of her life to charge diamonds, we will.”
I look at Corinda and can see that she’s more devastated than exhausted now. Her lashes are wet, and there’s a smear of dirt along her jaw that makes her look young and fragile. She’s still out, head rolling to the side. I press my palms to the arms of the chair until my knuckles go white. “How could you kill your own mother?” I rasp again.
“Oh, please.” Stacia waves a hand like she’s shooing afly. “That bitch didn’t want anything to do with me. She thought Corinda was her ticket to a billionaire. I don’t need either one of them.” She snorts. “You know that mother is the one who tried to kidnap you with the big firefight on main street, right?”
“I wondered,” I mumble. “But she wanted me to charge the citrines, so she didn’t send the missile into Justice’s penthouse.”
Wynd smiles. “That was me. I thought to take Justice out first and Thorn later.”
I can’t breathe. “So why send a missile into Alexei’s home?” That doesn’t make sense.
Stacia looks at me like I’m a moron. “Mother did that. She figured Alexei would blame Justice, and they’d kill each other. Or at least, one of them would die. Same thing with the gunman at the courthouse. She truly wanted to take them all out.”
Wynd slides an arm around Stacia’s waist and pulls her into him. “You’re so smart, baby.”
The pet name makes bile rise in my mouth. “Murderers don’t get to be called baby,” I spit.
Stacia laughs, all sharp edges. “I wish we could keep you locked away here like Corinda, but Justice will never stop looking for you, so you have to die.” Walking across the room, she opens a cupboard. “After you do me a favor, of course.”
She pulls out a fat citrine the size of a bowling ball and places it on the desk next to Corinda. The gem throws back a mellow, honey light that makes my vision swim. The sound of the servers thrums underfoot, a slow, steady throb that seems to sync with the gem’s pulse.
