Page 81 of Speak No Evil

But somehow, Vrahs has made sure the mark of our bargain stayed.

I thought you might want to keep it,he replies, reading into my emotions.

He was right. I definitely do.

I take a moment to center myself and reach out with a thin veil of power to see where and how everyone is.

Vrahs is in his office, speaking with his assistant whose name I should really learn.

Ryker and Thorne are in the basement, and judging by the intense—

Yup. They’re fucking again. OK, moving on.

Chonk is sleeping in my room, peaceful and dreaming about catching peepers.

And V…

V’s awake!

For the seventeenth time today, I break Vrahs’s rule and open a portal within the basilica. Right to V.

“Hey!”

“Hey!” I say, about to hug her but wary of her wounds. She’s up and dressed and has made her bed, so maybe she’s feeling good, but I don’t want to push my luck.

“Give me a goddamn hug, you hag.” She throws her arms around me and squeezes tight.

“I’m really glad you’re OK,” I whisper into her wonderful crown of frizz.

“Me too.”

She sits on the bed, face on the too-pale side.

“Areyou OK?” I ask, sitting right next to her.

She nods. “Yeah. I just get winded and tired more quickly. It sneaks up on me. I’ll be at a hundred percent soon, though.”

Good. That’s good. “How much do you remember?”

Veruca’s pale face goes green. “All of it, unfortunately. What the fuck was that thing?”

I tell her AJ’s story, unraveling the mystery behind the Blackwood murders and my sister’s death. She listens, without interruption, without questions.

When I’m done, she takes my hand. “Did you find your peace?”

I nod. “Yeah. I think so.”

“What else?”

She always knows when I’m keeping something from her, so I tell her about my coven, the incursion on Blackwood, and finally, I tell her about Noah.

“I’m so sorry, V. I can’t imagine what you must be going through.”

Her brow wrinkles and she pulls her hand from mine. “Me? Me?! You’re worried about what I’m feeling? That dickfuck used me, sure, but you’re the one they tortured. You’re the one who had to kill her former coven leader. You’re the one this impacts most, Jade.”

I shake my head, about to rebut.

“No. OK? Just no. Noah was my foray from bone-friend into boyfriend. I chose wrong. That means nothing except I chose wrong, OK? I will not mourn the asshole who hurt you. Do you get it?”

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