Page 60 of Blood Currents
“Protect us?”Raven’s laugh held no humor.“While you trust Cyrus Raynoff and Elio Lightford—the same people who made your life hell for months?That’s your excuse?”
I’d never seen her this angry.Boris chittered anxiously on her shoulder, his tiny legs tapping a nervous rhythm against her coat.
“Maybe we should take this somewhere private,” Lucas suggested, glancing around the open quad.
“No.”Raven’s voice was firm.“I want answers now.What happened to Keane?Why have you been sneaking around with Cyrus and Elio?What were you doing in the forest, and why did Aurora Raynoff look like she’d seen a ghost when she ran into us this morning?”
“Aurora saw you?”My stomach dropped.“What did she say?”
“Nothing,” Lucas replied.“She practically ran away.Which only made us more determined to find you.”
The wind picked up, carrying a few stray snowflakes, and Scout pressed closer to my neck.I looked between my oldest friends—the people who’d stood by me when no one else would—and made a decision.
“Okay,” I said quietly.“You deserve the truth.All of it.But not here.”
I led them to the abandoned greenhouse where Elio and I had spent so many secret moments.The irony wasn’t lost on me—bringing my friends to the place where I’d hidden one of my many secrets.But it was private.
Raven looked around with narrowed eyes.“Cozy.You come here often?”
I ignored the barb.“Sit down.This is going to take a while.”
For the next hour, I told them everything.About finding Keane corrupted and hidden in his suite.About discovering the torture laboratory beneath the auditorium.About Elio’s parents working with vampires, Cyrus’s mother being murdered for getting too close to the truth, and the council’s systematic corruption of wellsprings across the magical world.
Their expressions shifted from skepticism to shock to horror as I explained Project Cornerstone, the master vampire, and our desperate plan to rescue Parker and expose the conspiracy.
“So all this time,” Raven said when I finally fell silent, “while you were pushing us away, you were building your own little resistance movement with the heirs.”
“It wasn’t like that,” I said.“It just… happened.Keane needed help.Then we found the lab, and everything spiraled from there.”
“And you didn’t think we could help?”Lucas asked.“You didn’t trust us enough to include us?”
The hurt in his voice made me wince.“Of course I trust you.But the council already killed my father for getting too close to the truth.They tortured Keane for months.I couldn’t stand the thought of putting you in danger too.”
“So instead you put yourself in danger,” Raven said.“With people you barely know.”
“I know them better than you think.”The words came out before I could stop them.
Raven’s eyes narrowed.“How well, exactly?”
I felt heat rush to my face.“That’s not what I meant.”
“Isn’t it?”Her gaze was piercing.“You’re sleeping with them.Aren’t you?Not just Keane.The others too.”
“Raven,” Lucas murmured, a note of warning in his voice.
“No, I want to know,” she insisted.“Because if this is about you hooking up with the rich guys and leaving your old friends behind—”
“It’s not about that!”I stood, frustration flaring.“Yes, there are… feelings involved.But this is about saving the magical world from corruption.About stopping the council from destroying everything magic is supposed to be.”
“And we weren’t good enough to help with that?”Lucas asked.
My heart hurt.“It wasn’t about being good enough.It was about keeping you safe.”
“We don’t need your protection, Mari,” Raven said, standing to face me.“We need your trust.Your honesty.”
“I’m giving you that now,” I said quietly.
“Only because we caught you,” she countered.
