Page 129 of Love & Heart Braking

“It’s just money,” I said. “We’ll rebuild.”

“They have my last feather,” she admitted.

My face slackened. “They do?”

“They’ve had one since the start.”

Sweet Minerva’s knee bone. “That’s what they planned to get you back with all along?”

“I’d say so. They have my notebook too. Bortyss was the one to take it. Well, my second eldest sibling slipped in to do the stealing while he was busy fighting us.”

Bastard. “The feather is a big deal,” I hedged.

Her eyes shadowed. “I was willing to go without the last two of my feathers. I can certainly go without one. Cerys… I just couldn’t live with myself if they tore down what we’ve built. I hear what you’re saying, but while there’s another option, one that protects our businesses and you, I have to choose it. They said they’ll steer clear of everyone and everything I care for if I go with them.”

“No.” I dug my fingers into her arm. “I won’t let you do that. You know this is how they operate.”

“They’ll drop the murder charges.”

“We’ll fight—”

“Yes. From the inside.” Her green eyes searched mine. “Just like you do.”

“That’s a low blow. I don’t stay at the Cinereses’ estate full time.”

Soleil softened her voice. “This is my choice, Cerys, and I’ve made it.”

“It’s not the right one,” I said angrily, scraping my chair back. “You’re punishing yourself. Diana knows why, but you are. You don’t answer to them anymore, Sol. I won’t let you go back to the estate. You swore you’d never go back.”

“I made that oath out of fear. Because I knew that one day I’d have to go back. This is how I’ll do my part now. You need to let me do this.”

My anger collapsed over the sadness it had hidden. “You know what they’ll do to you.”

“Yes.”

“How do you expect me to bear that?”

She pressed her lips together, then crossed the room. “By keeping our dreams alive. We’re going to end this. I don’t know how, but we will.”

“You ask the impossible,” I said in absolute sincerity. “How am I meant to watch you do this?”

She drew me closer, rested her cheek against mine. “I love you, Cerys Concordia.”

My reply was barely audible with the tears clogging my throat and covering my cheeks. “I love you, Sol. Never, ever forget it. I’m going to bust you out of that gory mansion, so don’t get comfy.”

“I won’t. Listen, if you see Bain again, if there’s any way to get word to him, could you let him know I wish we’d had more time?”

“Of course I can. But you two are going to have all the time in the world once this is done.” I wiped my face, remembering the box he’d given me. Walking to my tote, I rumbled around in it. “Bain wanted me to give you this and to tell you that he loves you.”

With trembling fingers, she accepted the box. The siren ran her fingertips over the white wood, then flipped the top open.

Gold shone out, and her gasp had me craning to see.

Her feather.

Soleil picked it up gingerly. “He gave my feather back.”

“I bet he’s been meaning to do so for a while. If you ask me, he only kept it so you’d keep going round there.”

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