“And what will you give me in return, love?”
“The opportunity to prove that your word is worth something, to prove that you are capable of seeing a deal through to the end.”
“In exchange for doing what you want me to do,” Rohan summarized, “you will give me theopportunityto prove… that I can do what you want me to do?”
“That sums it up. Yes.”
If Gigi hadn’t been trying to avoid getting caught, she would have laughed. Or maybe cried. Or maybe both. It was the most Savannah thing Gigi had ever heard.
“It’s rarely a good idea to put your biggest weakness on display so brazenly, love,” Rohan advised Savannah, his voice going silky and low.
Her biggest weakness.Gigi flinched.Me.
“Nonetheless,” Rohan continued, “you have my word.”
Gigi wanted to fling the door open and object, but she didn’t. Shecouldn’t. She’d only just gotten Savannah back, and she didn’t want to fight with her, especially when no amount of fighting would change the fact that Gigi wasn’t the formidable one, the strong one. She wasn’t the one that anyonewanted, ever. Gigi was smiley and endearing and good at loving people and believing that everything would be okay, and that was all.
But hey, it wasn’t nothing.
No moping, Gigi told herself as she retreated to the loft bed.Not even a little bit.She pulled the covers up around her and rolled over, staring through a crack in the boards out into the darkness of night.This is me, not moping.
“I know you’re out there,” she whispered instead. She’d said those words many times before. As she said them, Gigi pictured Mattias Slater’s dark eyes, the scar through his eyebrow. She knew now that some of the times she’d called into darkness, hehadbeen out there.
Do you want to play a game?The memory of his voice washed away everything else.It’s called You Don’t Need to Prove a Damn Thing. To anyone. It’s called You’re Already Strong.
Gigi tried to believe that. She steeled herself and thought about calla lilies and warnings and Calla’s fleur-de-lis necklace.
I know you’re out there, she thought, and this time, Gigi wasn’t just silently addressing those words to Slate. She imagined herself throwing down a gauntlet—for the universe, for the Watcher.
One that said:I’m already strong.
One that said:And I don’t need anyone’s permission to prove it.
Chapter 16
LYRA
In Greek mythology, Pandora had unleashed death, sickness, and assorted evils onto the world the moment she’d opened the box. No amount of slamming the lid down could undo it, just like Lyra couldn’t take back what she’d revealed to her mother on the phone.
You remember?Her mom’s initial, shocked response still echoed in Lyra’s mind hours later, as Grayson turned onto a long, winding dirt road. The BMW he was driving had been waiting for them when they’d landed at a private airstrip in northern Kansas.
The farther down the dirt road they went, the more clearly Lyra could hear her mom in her mind:You remember?
Oh, baby—come home.
Either you come to me, Lyra Catalina, or I’m damn well coming to you.
Grayson hadn’t even hesitated. He’d called Alisa, who had arranged for a jet. And now, in what felt like the blink of an eye, Lyra was sitting in a BMW on a gravel drive she knew all too well, Eve’s file on her lap. It was one in the morning, but the porch light was still on. Lyra had always loved that wraparound porch, loved the white rocking chairs and the blue porch swing that looked out on Kane land as far as you could see.
Mile’s End.
Lyra opened her car door, and Grayson followed suit. He was wearing shoes that almost certainly cost more than some cars, but he didn’t seem to give dirtying them in gravel a second thought. By the time he and Lyra reached the stairs up to the porch, the front door was open.
“You came.” Lyra’s mom flew down the steps and engulfed her in a hug.
No matter what else she was feeling at the moment, Lyra could never shrug off her mother. She hugged her back, breathing in the familiar smell of lavender and coffee andMom.
“And…” Her mom pulled back and shot Lyra a look. “You aren’t alone.”