Chapter 20
Ferro paced his living room. Onyx would kill another Fringer, start the war, and then they would move forward on the last phase of the plan. He couldn’t stand losing. His ego railed and raged. He glanced at his watch. Kade would be insane by now. Violet would not have him as her ally.
She would have her people, of course, and Mia.
He wanted Violet dead. He wanted to kill her.
Onyx had her own reasons for wanting to tear Violet limb to limb, but hadn’t Ferro done enough for her?
He’d taken her in, taught her skills, and now gave her the opportunity to live forever.
He would take this one thing for himself.
He stopped, feeling the shimmering presence of Drakos. His image appeared, a fierce Dragon who did not look pleased.
“I know what you are thinking,” Drakos said. “Do not do it. I grow closer to dying each day. You and Onyx have nearly enough power between you to Breathe into me and save me. If one of you dies, so do I. We are too close to risk it.”
Ferro had said the same thing to Onyx. “I know, I know. I just can’t stand losing. They are all inferior to me, and yet they have won. Violet has won.”
“Calm your ego. Do not let it rule you. Onyx is ready to make the final kill in the Fringe?”
“Yes. She has chosen a target that will ensure maximum outrage. The evidence will point directly to the Castanegas, which will no doubt push the clans over the edge.” And someone else would kill Violet.
Not his fangs tearing into her scales, not his claw sinking into her kill zone.
Not his satisfaction to watch her die while she stared into the face of her killer.
“So, she will die, and you will get what you want.”
Ferro ran his hand down his face, nodding. “Yes. I will go Breathe another Dragon to sate my restlessness. More power for you.”
“Very well. Make sure you continue to choose the once-powerful but now weak. The addicts who should not be out there anyway.”
“Yes, sire.”
Drakos faded away. Ferro grabbed his keys and headed to the door leading into his garage. He called Onyx as soon as he was on his way.
“I’m in position,” she whispered. “I’m waiting for it to get darker.
I can’t afford for them to see me. The Murphys are already discussing how to wreak revenge on whoever’s behind the murders.
I’ve seen members of the Peregrine clan here, too.
They’re still not completely sure it’s the Castanegas.
I have Jessup’s jeans and Gatorland employee shirt, properly shredded.
It’s a shame he won’t be able to grab them up when he Catalyzes back to human and retreats after murdering the child. ”
“That should push them all over the edge, and the whole clan will die.” He glanced at the clock. Her plan would give him time to steal the prize right out from under her selfish snout.
* * *
Kade stirred spaghetti sauce and tried to figure out what the hell was going on.
Beside him, Violet poured pasta into the pot of boiling water.
She caught him looking at her. Her hesitant smile was filled with worry and fear and love, everything a wife would probably feel if her husband didn’t remember much of his life.
Except he didn’t think she was his wife. He had feelings for her, yes. When he woke from what felt like a nightmare-addled sleep and was making love with her, it felt good. Her body felt familiar, her mouth tasted like home, and losing himself with her felt…completely right.
He glanced down at his hand. No wedding ring.
She wore a ring but not a band. Maybe they weren’t traditional people.
He glanced into the living room. He remembered the Jacobsen chair.
Knew their bedroom was down the hall. But he didn’t know what she did for a living.
He only had pieces of his own career. His head hurt whenever he thought about the missing bits, like a drill tunneling into his brain.
He rubbed his forehead, wincing at a sore spot on his forehead.
“You all right?” she asked, giving him her divided attention while she separated the strands of spaghetti with a big fork.
“No.” Might as well be honest. He was an honest person. Wasn’t he?
She moved closer, placing her hands on his chest. He could see indecision on her face, her mouth slightly open, wanting to say something.
She had a cut on her lip, and it was a little swollen.
A memory tugged at him, and he brushed his finger gently over it.
“Did I hit you?” The thought horrified him.
She shook her head. “I tripped and hit the side of the door.”
He knew that was a lie, too. “Tell me what’s going on, Vee. You don’t want me to remember my past. Every time I try, you dissuade me.” He brushed his finger over her lip again. “I feel like I did something terrible. Like I was a bad person.”
“You weren’t. Aren’t. Things are complicated right now, and it’s dangerous for you to remember.
You described your memories being like a broken mirror, and that’s probably accurate.
I’m afraid that if you try to remember, you might go into those blank spots and not come out.
Or that maybe the rest of the shards will fall out.
” Her hands flattened, pressing gently against him.
“I’m scared to lose you completely. So right now, I want you to stay in this reality. ”
“You’re in danger.” The words came out before he could consider them. He grazed her cheek with the back of his hand. “Someone’s trying to kill you.”
He saw the flash of a memory, a man sneaking up on Violet while she was crying, lifting his dagger.
It rocked through his head, making him jerk back.
He heard her calling his name from far away.
The memory was a tiny slice of mirror in which he could see the fight.
He felt her shaking his body, bringing him back.
“Kade, you can’t go there!” she was saying, studying his eyes as though they might pop out of his head.
He blinked, wobbling on his feet. “Me. It was me sneaking up on you. With a knife!” He held out his arm. “My dagger. What the hell, Vee?” He gestured to his head. “This happened because I was trying to hurt you, didn’t it? I tried to attack you, your brothers beat me…” Nothing more came.
“You’re trying to make sense of things that aren’t going to make sense to you right now. Listen to me. We play…games. Sexy games. Like the mud wrestling. Sneak attacks. That’s all it was.”
She was lying to him. He knew it, felt it. She wouldn’t have been crying if they were playing sex games.
He pulled her hand closer, looking at a delicate gold wire and stone ring that wasn’t a wedding ring, and then released it and went into the living area.
“No pictures of us or our wedding.” He went down the hall to their bedroom and snapped the light on in the closet.
“No men’s clothing.” A dress. He remembered the little girl’s dress though.
Confusion pounded in his head. She’d followed him in, now gripping the doorframe, her eyes wide.
“We’re not married, are we? It was a lie to… what?”
“Keep you sane, Kade. It was a lie to keep you sane.” She choked on a sob, clutching at her upper chest. “If you go to the real memories, you will go insane. You might hurt yourself. Or me. I broke into the Guard prison to save you. Me, Mia, my brothers. We took a huge risk, but we did it.” Her voice was thick with emotion. “I will not lose you now.”
“She’s still lying to you, Kavanaugh.”
They both spun to find Ferro standing behind Violet. She screamed and stumbled away, Catalyzing instantly.
Ferro kept an eye on her as he faced Kade. “You’re right. You are not married to her. As a Vega, marriage is frowned upon. You were assigned to terminate her. Then you lost your memory, and she’s playing you. She’s a very dangerous person. You must take her out.”
The shard that contained the memory of him sneaking up behind her trembled, reverberating in his brain, and fell with a shattering crash. He clutched his head, groaning in pain as he sank to his knees. He got a glimmer of another shard, of Ferro…
“Kade!” Violet screamed.
He bounded to his feet, watching Ferro’s Dragon smash her bed and shove Violet through the window.
Ferro followed through the broken opening, his claws gripping her throat. “You will die,” he gritted out as they landed on the ground.
Kade launched himself out the window too, cutting his hand on the broken glass. Shards, like his memories. He instinctively started to jump into the fight…except he didn’t know what side to fight on. Violet, who lied? Who was a Guard target? His target. He must follow through on his orders.
Violet used her strong legs to shove Ferro off her.
He rolled but instantly got to his feet.
Violet was on hers, too. Blood dripped down her deep amethyst scales.
Her wing was crumpled, probably enough to render her flightless.
Ferro sent a stream of black mist at her, and it wrapped around her throat and dragged her toward him.
She clawed at it, digging her feet into the ground and leaning her weight back.
Kade started to move up behind her but froze.
He knew this feeling. He focused on the shard that had fallen, and it felt as though it were cutting right into his brain with its sharp edges.
He could see all of them now, thousands of shards with a sliver of a memory in them.
His boat. Mia as a child bawling over their father’s death.
How Kade thought he should cry too but couldn’t. So many to search through.
“Kavanaugh, get her!” Ferro commanded.
The command brought him back to present, to Violet running away. Kade jerked into motion, tackling her. As a human, his size was nowhere near enough to stop her. He felt his dagger fill his hand, crackling with magick. Yes, that felt right.
She turned as he lifted his dagger, the point aimed at the kill spot just beneath her chin. All he had to do was drive it up into her brain.