Chapter 56
CHAPTER
FIFTY-SIX
Iris
I cough, like smoke’s still caught up in my lungs. I sit in the back of Xavier’s truck, in the bed, watching the fire rage across the street.
Emmie is safe in the front seat with Freya—she was there the entire time—and I can’t even describe the relief I feel. She hugs a blackened Delores close.
After Killian had gotten me out, he went back for Xavier. A sob leaves me as I wait silently for my mates to reemerge.
When two giant shapes appear through the smoke, I jump to my feet.
They become clearer the closer they get, and soon Killian and Xavier rush through, sputtering with every breath.
“We’re here,” Killian rasps. Ash clings to his hair, and his eyes are bright red from the smoke.
Xavier’s soot dusted, and a new cut marks one cheek.
But they’re alive.
Thank god, they’re alive.
Suddenly, the weight of what just happened crashing down on me, and my hear whirls. My legs can’t hold me up anymore, and I begin to crumple.
A strong arm comes around me to hold me up, and I’m surrounded by the warm scent of leather.
Easy there. Lean on me. I got you.
Xavier’s inner voice whispers across my mind.
“I could fucking kill you for going in there. What the fuck were you thinking?” Killian bites out, coming to my other side. “You-you almost destroyed me.”
“I’m… I’m sorry,” I mutter. “I thought… I saw Delores and all I could think about was Emmie.”
His eyes widen. “You ran in… to save Emmie.”
I nod.
Those dark blue eyes flick to Xavier, who signs.
“Yeah,” Killian says, like Xavier signed something to him, “but she could’ve died .”
Xavier signs to him again, and Killian wipes a frustrated hand over his face.
“Just tell the girl,” Freya says with a dramatic sigh from the driver’s seat. “It won’t kill ya.”
“Fine.” He grumbles. “Fuck. Okay. What they want me to say is that fire terrifies me. It changed everything…” He draws in a deep breath.
The orange glow of the fire lights one side of his face.
“You see, my father, as rich as he was, was too cheap to spend any real money on his buildings, even on the townhouse where we lived. It happened early in the morning, when everyone was still asleep. Electrical fire. I didn’t know until it was too late. I…”
Killian squeezes his eyes shut. Pain is etched on his face. “My sister…Amelia, she was deaf. A brilliant girl. And so creative and just…my entire life.” Now he smiles, but it’s only a flicker. “I tried to find her, but she couldn’t hear my calls.”
I gasp, covering my mouth in horror.
Oh no…
“I was dragged out by firefighters before I could reach her. I couldn’t save her…” He swallows. “I’ve tried so fucking hard to forget… So fucking hard. I can’t lose another person like that. I can’t…”
Moving closer, Killian’s hand trembles as he touches my cheek. I take it and kiss it. “Sorry I scared you. I didn’t know.”
He just stares at me for a long moment, before suddenly pulling me in to rest his forehead to mine. His sweet berry scent overcomes the smoke and fire one and surrounds me. “You fucking terrified me. Terrified. Never do that again.”
“Okay…”
“I love you. Understand? I fucking love you,” he says. “I’m sorry it took me so long to see it.”
I bask in those words. They warm me from the inside out.
“Jesus Christ, finally !” Freya says, and Killian glare at her.
But I only laugh. “I…I love you two. Both of you.”
“Iris!” It’s Mom. My head whips to see her, Heath, and Penrith hurrying over to us. “Oh my god! There you are!”
There are tears in her eyes, and Killian steps back to let her sweep me up in a hug. She squeezes me tight.
“I’m so glad you’re okay!” she says. “I’ve been worried sick.”
“Heap!” Emmie’s head pops up from behind Freya, and she climbs over her to jump out of the truck. Squealing, she rushes to him and flinging her arms around his legs.
Heath strokes the top of her head and smiles down at her. “Hi, Emmie.”
Mom finally pulls back and looks me over. “What are you doing down here, at this part of town, anyway?”
I go stiff.
Pen glances at me.
“I…I wanted to help,” I say.
“You could’ve been killed ,” Heath says. Emmie’s still clinging to his leg, so at least he can’t show his full wrath with her around.
“We had her,” Killian says, pulling his shoulders back. “We wouldn’t let anything happen to her.”
Heath eyes him.
Pen clears her throat to draw the attention back to her. It works. “Lucky for the Nightshades, wherever they are, the hooligans who were responsible for this have already been arrested.”
“It ended up being a group of Alphas from the Upper Side, can you believe it?” Mom says. “How reckless and irresponsible of them. So much damage…”
“They’re lucky no one’s dead,” Killian says.
Xavier signs, and Pen nods. “Yes, they were hoping to blame the Nightshades and make them the enemy.”
A firetruck pulls up in front of the Black Briar, and a horde of firefighters jump out. Giant hoses are pulled out and soon join the Nightshades in trying the control the blaze.
“But it looks like the Nightshades are really the unsung heroes to this tragedy,” Pen says.
“We take care of our community,” Killian says and looks at me, “and of each other.”
There’s a pause, and in the silence, Mom looks between Killian and Xavier and me. Then, she smiles. “I can see that.”
“Let’s get you home, Iris,” Heath says. Freya comes over and pries Emmie off him. “I think that’s enough excitement for one day. Violet’s freaking out, and we don’t need to give her another reason to go into early labor.”
I nod.
Mom places a gentle hand on my back and guides me forward. “The car is parked on the next street, away from all the commotion.”
As Heath, Pen, and Mom lead me away, I glance over my shoulder to see the flames in the bar finally giving way to black, curling smoke. Even when the fire is finally contained and fully snuffed out, it’s obvious there won’t be anything left of the Black Briar to salvage, and my chest aches.
Everything Killian and Xavier had worked for… Emmie’s home and my place of refuge… it’s all gone.
Silently, Killian, Xavier, Freya, and Emmie all watch me go, and I can’t help but think that this might be the last time I’ll be able to see any of them.
That really, I’m leaving half my heart behind in the Lower Side.
The next day, I stay close to my phone and mini tablet for any news of the fires. Phone and internet access had been restored during the night, and emergency personnel were able to get all the fires out before dawn, thanks to the help of the Nightshades and the people of the Lower Side.
But as much as I wished and hoped one of my devices would ping with a message from either Killian or Xavier, they both remain silent. And I can’t bring myself to be the first.
Maybe it’s better off this way.
At breakfast, I sit with the family at the long dining table, but I can barely eat my eggs, bacon, and toast. Heath sits at dad’s place at the head, with Mom on his right and Rue on his left.
Dahlia is next to her, and between me and Mom is an empty seat—Violet’s that none of us could ever stop setting, just in case of an impromptu visit. And then Mari is on my other side.
Everyone is chatting about the excitement from yesterday, and according to Rue, Stitch is going crazy, talking about the Nightshades, the Alpha troublemakers, and me almost being burned alive.
Dramatic much?
But I’ve just been poking around my plate, my appetite gone and my heart hurting.
With all the chatter, I completely miss the sound of Derrick—Reece’s older brother and another one of our servants—enter the room with an envelope in hand. He hands it to Heath. The Council’s seal is printed on the front.
“What’s that, dear?” Mom asks, and a hush falls over the table.
Heath opens it, and after his eyes flick over the words, he jumps to his feet. “Iris,” he snaps. “You’re needed at the Council building immediately. The Monarch is demanding your presence.”
Panic grips me. “Me? Now?”
Demanding? Not requesting? That can’t be good.
“Right now.”
This time, when I arrive at the Council building, there’s no waiting for me. I’m led straight into the grand room where the Monarch waits.
As I enter, Sophine’s hardened gaze sweeps over my clothes. I didn’t even bother wearing something formal or flashy, just my usual fishnet stockings, sparkly silver blouse, and boots.
But to my surprise, she doesn’t comment.
Reaching over to her side table, she picks up a sheet of lined notebook paper and holds it up for me to see. It’s my letter, the one I wrote to her in haste before running to the Lower Side. “If you think I can be bribed with expensive liquor, Miss Gardener, then you’re wrong.”
“I thought it could maybe soften you to human,” I say. I should probably watch my mouth but?—
“You can take this as your official release from my society. You can no longer count yourself among the Upper Class Omegas and a participant in Season.” Standing, she sweeps over to the window.
The outfit she has on is full-on evil empress, complete with a long coat that touches the ground, cutting away at the front to reveal pants and a top in the same material, a bronze that shimmers.
“As long as my sisters and my family are left alone, I don’t care.”
“And,” Sophine goes on as if I haven’t spoken at all, “you’ve admitted here in your letter that you’ve been a member of Nightshade all along.”
Even though my heart thuds I nod. “But you know they didn’t do anything wrong. They helped put out the fires and save the Lower Side. They are peaceful. They just want change?—”
Her gaze snaps to me. “They want to abolish the Council.”
“No, they just want change,” I say. “We want to be able to determine what happens in our own lives. We want to love who we want to love, and we don’t want that kind of stuff chosen for us or predetermined all because of who we are at birth. It’s our lives.”
“It’s not that simple,” Sophine says.