Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
Sera put down the hand mirror and face powder, stowing them on the seat as the carriage headed for Watchmen Headquarters.
Their first stop had been to a small shop where Sera could purchase some powder for her face.
Kieran had watched her cover the marks along her jaw with narrowed eyes and an ominous cloud seemed to emanate from his corner of the carriage.
Seth had huddled as far into the corner as he could.
“You handled that far too naturally,” Kieran said, voice so quiet that she almost didn’t hear him over the sound of the carriage.
Sera exchanged a look with Seth. “Well, it’s not a habit I’ll have to continue.”
Her words seemed to lift the darkness of his expression, the cloud began to dissipate. “I still don’t understand the need to hide it.”
She sighed. This next stop was not going to be an easy one.
“Because if Gideon sees it, he’ll freak out.
And before you say anything, Gideon losing his mind is not the same as you losing your mind.
He’d do something drastic or impulsive and there’s nothing that can be done.
Not anymore. It’ll make things easier if I keep this small detail from him. ”
“Cole leaving physical marks of his abuse on your body is no small detail, Sera. It has been a very long time since I’ve had a sibling, but I would not have wanted Jerica to conceal such a burden from me.”
“He’s not wrong,” Seth chimed. “You want a fresh start with your brother, you’ve got to be willing to make the first move.”
Unbelievable. Neither of them understood Gideon at all. If she showed him actual proof of Cole’s violence he’d probably march straight out of Watchmen Headquarters and attempt to resurrect the body so he could kill him all over again.
“The first move, is going there at all. I’m taking the initiative. I’m not letting him hear about what happened in Demon Row second hand. That’s plenty for a first step.”
“Suit yourself,” Seth murmured.
The carriage stopped outside Watchmen HQ. Kieran followed her out of the carriage, but she held up a hand. This was something that needed to be done alone. A step forward. Well, hopefully a step forward. With Gideon there was no telling if they’d need ten steps backward first.
Gunpowder was caked in her nails. Her limbs still trembled with the loss of adrenaline. The ride from Demon Row had been hectic when they first left Demon Row. Seth was relieved, but wanted to hear every detail of what happened. He appreciated the over-zealous murder of their tormentor.
Joy, Kieran’s driver, had been happy to see him alive as well.
Which seemed to catch him off guard. He had looked genuinely uncertain by her very minimal display.
A quick ‘glad you’re okay, boss’ and a pat on his shoulder and he had reacted like she had come from space speaking an indiscernible language.
It was more affection than anyone had ever shown him as far as she had seen, aside from herself.
Sera’s stomach was in knots as she approached the entrance. Her fingers twitched at her sides. She just wanted to get this over with before news reached Gideon and he had better fucking appreciate it.
This was the first time she’d entered this building of her own volition, but still, she had not expected an uproar.
A controlled sort of pandemonium had taken over headquarters, with officers rushing this way and that like ants. Sera swallowed down a lump in her throat. It wasn’t a huge leap to guess what had caused the chaos. As she stepped forward, the officer maintaining the front desk stopped her.
“Whoa, can’t let you in today. All appointments are being rescheduled.”
“I’m Gideon’s sister,” she tried.
The officer narrowed their eyes, tilting their head, and Sera crossed her arms and scowled in answer.
“I believe you, but there’s no—”
“Let her through,” Rachel said, opening the gate separating the front waiting area from the rest of headquarters. “I’ve got her, Mack. Carry on.”
Rachel took one look at Sera and set her hands on her hips. “Gods above.”
“What? I didn’t say anything…”
“You didn’t have to. He’s over there, barking out orders.” Rachel shook her head. “Good luck.”
Sera hugged her arms to her chest. A glance out the window showed Kieran hovering near the entrance, waiting for her. She briefly considered rushing back out to him, but thought better of it.
Sera scooted among the chaos, inching closer to her brother. He was in full form, a collected sort of power emanating from him as he delegated and commanded, each officer responding without question.
“We need a second team out there with the healers,” Gideon ordered.
“Wraith’s set his own healers on the scene—”
“I don’t give a shit what Wraith is doing, he doesn’t own this city. I want the medical team, but also knock on some doors to maybe scrounge up a fae healer. Never know when you might need a magical touch.”
“Got it, sir.”
Gideon opened his mouth to issue some other command when his eyes locked on her and he redirected. “I can’t right now, Sera. In case you missed it, there’s been an explosion in Demon Row that I’ve got to clean up.”
Sera winced. “About that…”
Gideon froze. That odd brain sputter that happened sometimes, almost like his brain stopped working for several seconds.
Throwing a quick glance around, he took her by the shoulder. “This way.”
Sera tugged her arm free, thankfully with little resistance, but she did follow him up the stairs and into his office where he shut the door behind them. “Talk.”
Once inside Gideon’s office, she found traces of what she expected in his apartment. A cluttered assortment of disorder that likely only made sense to him. Papers stacked in random places. The surface of his desk invisible under the clutter. He stood near a tower of books, arms crossed.
“I…” She found the words stuck in her throat under his harsh glare. Suddenly he’d become ‘Captain Sanctimonious’ again and she considered if it was even worth his scolding to tell him what happened.
“What do you know about the explosion in Demon Row?”
“A good deal, actually.”
He rubbed his face in his hands. “Shit, Sera, please tell me you did not have something to do with it.”
She raised her hands, “It depends on what you mean by me having something to do with it.”
He clenched his teeth. “Did you blow up a fucking building, Sera?”
“Oh, then yes. That was me.”
“Fuck!” He turned around and set his hands on the desk. “How many casualties?”
“Only one as far as I know.”
He nodded. “That’s something. Was it North? Please tell me you didn’t kill the Winter Fae politician. I can’t exactly cover up the death of someone like that.”
Sera set her hand over her heart as his intent clicked. She did not think he had it in him to do something illegal, especially not for her. “You would cover up a murder for me? That’s very sweet of you.”
“That is what you focus on? Divine above, Sera, you blew up a building. I’ve got reports coming in from ten different patrol teams about fires and explosions and Wraith’s private army lighting up a city block.
Then you waltz in here and tell me you’re in the middle of it?
Then I’m the one who has to call my own ethics into question because I can’t sit around and let them hang my sister. ”
She touched her throat. “I don’t want that either, but it was in self-defense I swear. I was trying to stop Cole from murdering more people. And he is the one that started the fires.”
“Cole Hawthorne?” Gideon asked, his tone less aggressive than a second ago.
“Yes.”
“The body?”
“There wasn’t much of one left.”
He ran a hand through his hair before sitting on the edge of his desk. “Not much of a body, I’m getting the strangest sense of déjà vu. What exactly happened?”
“Well. First, Cole set my old apartment on fire. Seth, Kieran, and I barely escaped. Cole was high on Divinity and Wraith’s forces weren’t able to stop him. So I orchestrated for one of the buildings to fall over. Onto him, it, um, landed on him.”
Gideon blinked. “The entire building?”
“Yes, you see I realized I could take out the support on the—”
He held up a hand. “Save the mechanical gibberish, I don’t get a word of it.”
She pursed her lips, but continued, “And after I caused the building to fall, I underestimated the spread of the fire and, well, a storeroom full of gunpowder caught fire and exploded.”
Gideon was almost smiling as he said, “So, if I’m understanding this, you crushed Cole under a building and then blew him up.”
“So to speak, yes.”
Gideon’s mouth fell open. “Damn.”
Sera sighed. “Listen, I came here to tell you what happened so you would hear it from me. As a gesture. I’m…
I want to handle this differently going forward.
You and me. We act like we’re alone in the world, but we’re family.
” He was quiet, allowing her the floor so she could continue her thoughts.
She meant every word. She hoped that admitting it to him might compel her to actually follow through on her promise to improve.
“I was thinking, does your offer to visit still stand? At your house and maybe not during work hours?”
“Of course,” he said.
“Then, why don’t we make it a habit. Pick a day and time, and I’ll come over each week and we can have dinner. It’ll be nice sharing decent food together for once, maybe go a long way to repairing old memories.”
He paused, scrunching his features like he was deep in thought. Like he needed consider if dinner with his only sister would fit into his schedule of trysts and unending dedication to work.
Minutes ticked by and her patience grew thin. If she knew her brother, there was only one thing aside from work that took up his time and that was filling his nights with pleasurable company.
Sera crossed her arms. “Or, you know, maybe we can just forget the whole thing.”
“What?” His focus returned to her. “I was just thinking—”
“About squeezing me in between one-night stands?”