Page 107 of Throwing Shade
“To Laurent’s place.”
“Tangentially.” Jude elbowed me. “You are so full of shit.”
We parked outside Hotel Terminus. Laurent hadn’t returned yet—not that I’d expected him to beat us here—so Jude and I had a very long–overdue conversation about our magic, and everything that had happened since Friday night.
She listened to the events with Emmett and Poe with a serious expression. “When I made Emmett, I assumed Zev would ask him business-related questions, not existential ones. I didn’t realize at first that his magic was wobbly and these prophecies randomly came out. The question is, now that you know this, can you unknow it? Won’t everything be colored by his pronouncement?”
“That’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”
Jude took my hand. “I really fucked up. I’m sorry.”
“I tried to show Eli my magic and he couldn’t see it,” I said. “If the first domino was the reclamation of my powers, what if the darkness is my inability to share this part of my life with him and Sadie? I don’t want to hide who I am from them. Or worse, what if I convince them and they’re horrified?”
“Then you find a good Ohrist therapist and do family counseling, but I guarantee those two won’t be horrified. They aren’t uptight Ohrists bottle-fed on stupid prejudices.”
“Well, even if Sades does think her mom is a freak, if Aunt Jude gives it the seal of approval and shares her own magic, she’ll come around.”
“The girl has good taste in role models. Don’t worry, I’ll be next to you the whole time.” Her voice wobbled a bit when she said that and I squeezed her hand.
“You bet you will be,” I said.
Jude paused. “So, not a house fire, huh? Does Eli know your parents were murdered?”
“Not even Goldie knows. And there was a house fire.” I shot her a pointed look.
“Lonestars. Shit.”
“Yeah. When it was all over, I was so scared that someone would come after me that it was safer to let it be a tragic accident than figure out how to spin the truth without including magic.”
Headlights swept up behind us. Laurent, once more human and dressed in different clothes, got out of a pick-up and spoke to the driver.
I scrunched down in my seat until the truck was gone, both because the driver was Nav and, if I was being honest, because I’d abandoned Laurent.
“If I can face the wolf,” Jude said, “you can too. Besides, after everything I just went through, I could use a little fun.”
I slid farther down in my seat. Shoot me now.
