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“Youhave no business dying for an officer.” Bryce was scowling at me now. “That’s when I realized you saw me as a replacement for Mu, and I couldn’t take on that role or that responsibility. What would Bianca have done if something happened to you?”
I stared at him in stunned silent, the wheels in my head coming to a temporary halt, before I finally was able to manage, “Are you stupid?”
I had to ask, but I already knew he was.
I pulled back from him and his blank expression, stalking across the room. “Fucking fae.” I punched the brick—the same hand I’d hit Bianca with—and the wall shuddered under the force of it. I’d been using most of my strength against Miles, only pulling back slightly at the last minute when I realized it was Bianca in my path.
But it still hurt her. She’d been tossed through the air, for God’s sake.
Idiot fae and their idiot sense of nobility and self-sacrificing natures.
It was no wonder she was scared of me now.
I didn’t realize I’d continued hitting the wall until Bryce’s hand closed down over my shoulder.
“Enough,” he said, grip tightening as he tried to pull me back. “You’re bleeding.”
So I was. I stared at the broken skin across my knuckles. My chest ached, and a prickling started low in my throat.
This was about so much more than broken promises and my anger being unleashed on Bianca—although both of those things needed to be addressed.
I still hated him. We still had unfinished business.
We’d been best friends. We knew everything about each other. And helied.
He might not have known where she was, or what was happening, but he’d been proactive enough to realize I’d been becoming too dependent on him.
When I was finally able to speak past the lump in my throat, I asked, “Why didn’t you tell me about her?”
Bryce’s sharp inhale sounded loud in my ears, and his touch vanished. I turned before he could run, twisting the front of his shirt in my fist.
“Were you making fun of me the whole time?” I shook him, but he hardly moved. Instead, his glower deepened as his eyes flashed.
It’d been a long time since I’d seen him losehistemper.
“I thought you were better than this.” He grabbed my wrist, squeezing it. “Or are you really as selfish as everyone thinks you are?”
I opened my mouth to respond, temper flaring, when he interrupted. “It’sneverbeen aboutyouand your feelings. It’s abouthers.”
“What?” That was the most asinine thing I’d ever heard. “How can you—”
Bryce continued, “If you’d known she was alive, out there somewhere, what would you have done?”
“Gone after her.” There’d been no hesitation.
“The monarchy and their lines are dying and they’re more than happy to bring the rest of us down with them. That ‘incident’ with the King is only a sample of what the fae world has to offer her.” Bryce’s frown deepened. “Not to mention the individuals ofall our raceswho want to see her dead, just because of a prophecy. Our enemies outnumber our friends right now. She wouldn’t have stood a chance if she’d stayed, and you know it.”
“She didn’t have a chanceout thereeither!” I released him, waving my hand in the air. “Justlookat what happened!”
Even more than Eric Richards was now Jason mother-fucking Patterson.
Their ring was the largest, longest-standing organization that we’d never seemed to be able to bring down. It was during the first undercover operation, when it was run by Elijah Richards, that my Uncle Michael had died. The trail went cold for a while before Eric Richards popped up, and Abigail Geier left retirementjustto try to help.
We’d thought they’d just died off—because of a new threat: the Patterson ring. Titus and I had been after him, in particular, foryears. We’d spoken to some of his victims and seen the remains of the others.
I didn’t even want to think of Bianca being anywherenearhim.
But it was thanks to her that we now knew they were related. It was a serious break that we needed, and now evidence from all three cases might be able to be used together.
