CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
Davien
A KNOCK ON the door pulled me out of our almost perfect little moment, like a blade through silk, and I instinctively pulled the covers higher over Ailsa.
I looked down at her sleeping form for half a heartbeat, and it felt like the world had been suspended.
She was in a deep sleep. She looked peaceful.
Her breathing was slow and even, lips parted slightly against the pillow, dark hair fanned messily across the sheets where I’d tangled my hands in it not long before.
The sight of her did something unsettling to my chest.
I tore myself away before I could linger on it.
The knock came again and I crossed the room in silence, stepping out into the open corridor, pulling the door closed behind me with care, the latch clicking softly into place.
Dawn had only just begun to bleed into the world. The sky sat in that dull, washed-out grey between night and morning, a fine drizzle hanging in the air, clinging to the cracked concrete and rusted railings of the motel walkway.
Marlette stood a few paces back from the door.
Composed as ever.
Copper hair pulled back, coat still damp at the shoulders from the rain, her posture straight despite the early hour. But the moment her eyes flicked past me—toward the door, toward what lay behind it—something shifted.
“Davien.” she said, and I knew already by her tone that she was about to judge and scold me. “Please tell me you didn’t.”
I exhaled slowly, dragging a hand through my hair. “Why does it matter?” I shot back. “It didn’t mean anything,” I said, leaning against the railing, forcing a casualness I didn’t feel. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
She looked at me with pity that struck me like a punch to the gut. “It didn't mean anything.” I repeated, more firmly this time.
“If you say so,” she replied, already reaching into her bag, pulling out a worn brown diary like she’d decided not to press the matter—at least not yet.
I straightened, irritation flaring just enough to cover those feelings I didn’t want to explore. “I don’t want to talk about it, that’s not why I called you.”
“Right,” she nodded, flipping through the pages. “You sounded rather frantic on the phone.”
“They found us.”
That got her full attention.
Her eyes snapped up, wide, alert. “What? How?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted, jaw tightening. “They weren’t wearing standard issue Ninth, but who else would it have been?”
Marlette’s brows drew together. “And you're standing here like this is a minor inconvenience?” she pressed. “How are you not more worried right now?
“We killed them all,” I said, the memory flashing bright and immediate—movement, blood, the way Ailsa had fought beside me like she’d been born for it.
Like she’d always belonged there.
“All of them?” Marlette pushed. “Can you be sure? And what about their bodies?”
“I handled it, it’s fine,” I said, pushing away from the railing, pacing once. “What I am worried about is how they found us in the first place.”
Marlette studied me for a moment, then sighed softly, closing the diary halfway. “And I suppose you want me to do some digging, see what I can overhear?”
“If you could, “ I said, running a hand over the back of my neck, the tension finally starting to settle in. “Discreetly.”
She gave a small nod, then opened her mouth to say something but shut it again, as though she wasn’t sure how to broach the next subject.
“Spit it out, Marl,” I said, rather irritated now.
“Just after you called me, I found this,” she said, pulling out a small envelope engraved with the Ninth logo we all knew too well. “It was left on a stack of my paperwork, somewhere they’d know I’d see it."
She handed it to me and I opened the card within. An invitation to Valerius’s Christmas Extravaganza, addressed to Ailsa. I almost stopped breathing when I read the last line and looked at Marlette.
“I took the liberty of reading it and confirming the information in it. I’m sorry to say that Claire and Dominic have been reported missing.”
Fuck, he definitely knows who she is. But who is she to him?
I knew this was coming sooner or later, but I really had hoped to get her away from here before Valerius made any plays. “We should have seen this coming.”
She looked down, defeated and it dawned on me. If this invitation had been left on her paperwork, they knew she was working with me on this. “You can’t go back.”
Marlette sighed. “I know. Don’t worry about me. But we can’t hide her from our world forever. She needs to learn who she really is.”
“I know,” I said, pulling a hand through my hair. “But she’s only just emerged, her whole life has been turned upside down. We have no idea what she’s capable of.”
“No. I know it’s not fair, but the threat is clear as day. Valerius has summoned her and we both know he’ll follow through on his threat.”
“She’ll insist on going, you know that right? She won’t back down. She’s unpredictable, and yes she’s more powerful than she knows, but there’s a reason Valerius is feared. She’s no match for him. Not yet, at least.”
“You really think he’ll kill a member of his own family?”