Page 130 of Love & Heart Braking

She set the box down, feather in hand. “Could you help me? The bottom left.”

Her gold wings spread through the interrogation room. She passed the single feather over her shoulder, and I crouched. There at the bottom was a gap in the neat rows of gleaming feathers.

I slotted the quill into the gap, and her siren magic took over. Gold burst out, and when I lowered my arm, the feather was already fixed in place.

Soleil beamed at me, her Apollo shimmer blazing.

“Enter court proceedings,” I urged her. “Stay here. Let us help you.”

My friend gripped my shoulder and pressed a gentle kiss to my cheek. “You’re the friend of my heart, always. This part of the fight is mine. I know what I must do. I’ve known for a while.” She pulled away to look at me. “Look after our Yearning babies.”

Whirling away, she rapped her knuckles on the door.

Devereaux opened it, and she sauntered out. “Please place a call to my father immediately. This entire shituation is a farce. A Hucs sitting in a commoner’s jail? My grandmother would be disgusted.”

He slid a look my way, cool gray gaze picking up the tears and running nose.

“I’ll be fine,” I assured him.

For the first time since this started, I didn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth.

“I’ll see you tonight.” Devereaux followed Soleil.

I grabbed the white box she’d left and my tote. Sniffing hard and wiping my face, I left the station in a worse state than I’d entered.

The walk through Nepos back to Yearning Hearts had never felt lonelier. Was I late for my next client? I had no idea, and I really didn’t care. My heart felt sick. I wanted to curl into a ball.

A glance down confirmed that the thick purple and white ribbon shooting out of me and back toward the station to connect with Soleil was pale and a little gray. Which wasn’t always from damage as I’d been relieved to learn from the tome. Right now, our bond appeared gray because of how much we ached inside on the other’s behalf.

I pushed inside Yearning Hearts and checked the clock. Soleil had cut our conversation short, so I had another ten minutes.

“Is she okay?” Enzo asked.

Don’t fall apart.

“Soleil will be fine. She said hi to all of you and that she hopes to be back soon. Her legal team is making inroads.”

The lie wasn’t for her or them. It was entirely for me.

Walking to her desk, I grabbed the phone, dialing one of the five numbers I knew off by heart.

“You lucky thing,” a werewolf said. “You’ve reached Nails Before Males.”

“Lucee, it’s Cerys,” I said through numb lips. “I need to cancel our appointment today with Jedda.”

The werewolf sighed. “Hey, girl. I saw the article in the paper. Just so you know, everyone here is aware it’s totally bogus.”

“Thanks. We appreciate that.”

“Do you just want to cancel this week? Or a few?”

Tuesday night nail dates were at an end. I should cancel them all. I bit my lip. “Next week as well. Tell Jedda sorry for the late notice.”

“Don’t worry about it. Give that siren a big hug from all of us.”

A lump rose in my throat, and I couldn’t say the word goodbye. I hung up and fought to keep control as a client entered.

Not mine.

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