Emerald Blaze

Chapter 15

I was floating in the soft happy place between sleeping and being awake when Alessandro moved next to me. I dragged my eyes open. The roof was empty. The light glowed with soft yellow against the night sky.

“What is it?”

“It’s okay,” he whispered. “You’re safe. Go back to sleep.”

I shifted, my head on his arm, and shut my eyes.

My phone rang.

Alessandro swore under his breath.

I groaned and rolled onto my stomach, looking for the phone on the floor with my hand. My fingers finally found it. I pulled it up and peered at it. Bug. I swiped to answer.

“Tell that cockalorum he owes me a new drone.”

I raised my head. Remnants of a drone sagged off the stone rail. A huge knife thrust out of the metal and plastic mess. I glanced at Alessandro. He shrugged.

“Why are you flying drones over our territory?”

“I was doing a security sweep. How was I supposed to know the two of you decided to sleep naked on the roof?”

“You are not supposed to do security sweeps over our territory. We’ve talked about this. Patricia is handling the surveillance. She’s got this.”

“Catalina . . .”

“Privacy, Bug!”

I hung up. Alessandro sighed, slipped off the couch, gloriously naked, walked over to the crippled drone, and tossed it off the roof.

The phone told me it was 10:39 p.m. We must’ve barely dozed off.

I rummaged through the pile of clothes, looking for my underwear. Alessandro pulled on his pants. I finally found the white scrap of fabric, put it on, and looked for my bra. He was holding it. I reached for it and Alessandro pulled it out of the way.

“Really?” I reached for the bra again, and he moved it back.

I stepped closer. Alessandro pounced. One moment I was on my feet and the next we were back on the couch, tangled up in the blanket, the bundle of my clothes in his hands.

“What are you doing?” I whispered.

“Don’t go.”

“I have to go. If I don’t go, Patricia and Bug will fight. There will be hurt feelings.”

“They’ll sort it out.”

“We have to get dressed anyway. He never sends just one drone.”

Alessandro wrapped his arms around me. “Screw him. Stay here with me.”

I gave up. I didn’t want to go anywhere or do anything anyway. I just wanted to lie with him on this couch and drift off to sleep.

“Give me my clothes back and I’ll stay.”

He pretended to think it over and handed me my shirt.

“That’s it?”

“Yes. Shirt and panties, that’s all.”

I slipped my blouse on. “So you’re okay with my butt barely covered by underwear splashed all over nine screens in Bug’s situation room?”

“You have a blanket.”

“And my bra?”

“I’m keeping it.”

“What are you, fifteen?”

“No, that’s crazy. More like eleven. Maybe twelve.”

I opened my mouth to reply.

Nevada screamed.

I jumped to the rail. In the window Grandma Frida sprawled on the floor of the motor pool on her back, Nevada on her knees beside her. Oh no.

Alessandro leaped over the rail. Magic flashed with orange around him and he landed on the street like it was nothing and ran into the motor pool.

“What’s happening?” I yelled.

“Poisoned!” Nevada screamed back.

The word scorched me. I whipped around and sprinted to the door and down the stairs, taking them three at a time. Not Grandma Frida. No, no, no . . .

I hit the third-floor door with both hands, throwing it open, and charged down the hallway. Bern’s door loomed in front of me. I pounded on it with my fist. “Runa! Runa!”

Nobody answered.

“Runa!”

The door swung open and Bern blocked my way, naked except for boxer shorts. “She isn’t . . .”

“Grandma Frida’s been poisoned!”

The clump of blankets on Bern’s bed exploded and Runa jumped out, in a tank top and underwear, her red hair sticking out of her head in all directions. “Where?”

“Motor pool.”

We sprinted through the hallway and down the stairs, out of the building, across the street, and into the motor pool. Grandma Frida lay unmoving. Alessandro bent over her, doing chest compressions. Her skin was grey, like old parchment. Oh God.

Runa dropped to her knees and grabbed Grandma’s hand. A green glow streamed out of her, wrapping around the two of them. Runa jerked Grandma’s sleeve back and licked her wrist. “Batrachotoxin derivative with a synthetic additive. I’ve got this. Keep doing CPR.”

Magic poured out of Runa. Nothing changed. Alessandro kept pumping Grandma’s chest.

A moment crawled by.

Another.

No. Just no. Not Grandma Frida. No more hugs. No more funny jokes as her eyes sparkled. No more teasing Mom, no more making me eat, no more smell of engine grease . . .

I wanted to do something, to scream, to punch, to help somehow, but there was nothing I could do. I just stood there and stared. The look on Nevada’s face tore me apart.

The door banged open behind us and Mom and Arabella ran into the motor pool. Mom didn’t say anything. She just stopped, looking as if she had been punched.

Leon burst in from the back. “What . . . ?”

Grandma Frida wasn’t moving. I couldn’t even tell if she was still alive.

I clamped my hands over my mouth and paced back and forth. I couldn’t stay still anymore.

Seconds ticked by. A count started in my head on its own. One, two, three . . .

Fifteen, sixteen . . . twenty.

I’d killed my grandmother. I should have moved us to a location we could secure, but I kept waiting for the right property. It was my fault.

Forty-two, forty-three, forty-four . . .

Fifty-five . . .

The green glow around Runa dimmed. “Mrs. Afram,” Runa said, her voice chiding. “You should tell him to stop.”

Grandma Frida opened her eyes and looked at Alessandro.

Alive. All the strength went out of me. I crouched and clamped my hands together into a single fist.

Alessandro raised his hands in the air.

“Everybody is mean to him,” Grandma croaked. “I wanted him to feel he was helping.”

Mom cursed and slumped forward. Arabella buried her face in her hands. Her shoulders shook. Nevada turned white as a sheet. Leon stared at Grandma, then at Runa, wild-eyed.

Runa landed on her butt and hung her head back. Bern crouched by her, his hands around her shoulders, murmuring something.

Runa nodded. “No, no, I’m okay. I just need a minute. Nasty stuff.”

Grandma Frida squinted at Runa, then at me. “Somebody help me up.”

Alessandro gently sat her up.

“What happened?” Mom growled.

“A spider bit me.” Grandma shook her head.

“What spider?” Arabella asked.

“A metal spider.”

“Where did it go?” Mom demanded.

“I don’t know, Penelope. I hit it with the wrench, it bit my wrist, and I passed out.”

There was a chance it was still here. I spun around scanning the floor. “How big was it?”

“Three inches across,” Grandma said. “A fat little bugger.”

Bern picked Runa up off the floor and looked around. All of us stared in different directions.

Nevada’s gaze locked on something to the right and above us. “Got you, you fucker.”

A toolbox streaked off the side table and smashed into the wall near the ceiling. An eight-legged shape skittered across the wall. The toolbox had missed it by a hair.

What the hell?

The metal spider dashed along the wall toward the exit.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Nevada snarled, punching her palm.

The toolbox chased the metal bug, thudding into the wall in rhythm with Nevada’s fist.

“Intact!” I yelled. “We need it—”

The toolbox crushed the spider.

“—in one piece.” Too late.

A tall man strode up and loomed in the open bay. He was huge, dark haired, and built like he snapped people in half every day. Nevada pivoted to him. The toolbox and what was left of the spider slid off the wall, hurtled through the air in the direction of her gaze, and froze a foot from the man’s face.

Connor Rogan regarded us with his blue eyes.

Nobody spoke.

Silence stretched.

Connor looked at Nevada and pointed to the toolbox, still suspended in midair.

Nevada straightened. “Hi, honey. You know how we were worried about our son not having magic? Good news, we don’t have to worry anymore.”

The whole family piled into the kitchen, except for Leon and Alessandro, who joined Patricia and the security team to sweep the grounds. She’d asked for Leon, and Alessandro volunteered. Regina came in to examine the spider, and the metal and electronic wreckage now lay on the table, under the bright light. Bern sat opposite her, engrossed in his laptop and the plethora of security cameras and sensor readings. Connor had levitated three padded chairs out of the great room. Nevada took one, Grandma Frida the other, and the third stayed empty, because Mom couldn’t sit still and kept making circles around the island. I couldn’t sit still either.

Arabella brought two pairs of Nike shorts for Runa and me.

“Clearly, I’m the only one around here who cares about modesty.”

That was too much. “You wear shorts with half of your butt hanging out.”

Arabella wrinkled her nose. “The operative word here is shorts. You two don’t have any. Don’t blame me for being emotionally compromised. Hussies.”

“Oh grow up.” Grandma Frida raised her head from her puke bucket. Runa had purged the poison by breaking it down and the byproducts induced nausea.

“Why don’t you lie down?” Mom said.

Grandma Frida retched and gave Mom the evil eye. “I don’t want to lie down. I want to be where the action is.”

Mom’s left eye twitched. She slapped her hand over it.

I leaned to look over Bern’s shoulder at the table. Across from us Regina peered at the mechanical spider leg, the only recognizable remnant of the spider.

“Anything?” I asked.

Regina plucked the leg from the table and held it up between her thumb and forefinger. “It could be a construct made by an animator. It could be made by a metallofactor. A Hephaestus mage. Or a technomancer.”

“Do you think this might be the thing you felt earlier?”

“I don’t know. The smashing makes things difficult.”

“I am sorry,” Nevada called out. “I was emotionally compromised.”

Connor kneaded her back and shoulders. “Your smashing was fantastic.”

“How does that work anyway?” Arabella asked. “Are you borrowing the baby’s powers? Like, is this normal?”

“Yes. I think. It happens if I am really upset.” Nevada spread her arms. “I don’t know if it’s normal. It’s my first time being pregnant with a telekinetic.”

“It’s called prenatal transference,” Connor said. “It means the child is a very powerful Prime.”

Nevada turned to him. “Are you sure?”

Connor looked smug. “I’m sure. Ask my mother.”

“Will it go away after she gives birth?” Mom asked.

“Yes,” Connor said.

Grandma Frida winked at them. “I hate to see what his first temper tantrum will be like.” She cackled and broke into coughs.

Nevada gave Connor a slightly freaked-out look.

“It will be fine.” He rubbed her back. “My power stopped spiking after I was born, and I didn’t really manifest that strong again until I was about five.”

I looked back to Regina. “So there is nothing at all you can tell us?”

“It’s dead.” Regina knocked the metal leg on the table. “I don’t understand how it got past Cinder.”

Runa raised her hand. “Question. How many of you knew that Bern and I are dating?”

“Dating?” Arabella raised her eyebrows.

“If you could raise your hands,” Runa said.

Everyone raised their hands.

Runa looked around, her face stunned. “How? I was so careful . . .”

Connor smiled at her. “They’re private investigators.”

“Oh.” She looked around again. “How long have you known?”

“Since the beginning,” Arabella told her.

Runa heaved a sigh.

I had to fix this before she came to the wrong conclusion. “Bern didn’t tell us.”

Arabella nodded. “We’re just nosy.”

Nevada shrugged. “I asked him.”

“What did he say?” Runa asked.

Nevada grinned. “He lied.”

Mom laughed. Bern shrugged his massive shoulders.

The front door clanged open. Cinder ran into the room, jumped on the table, and spat out the mangled corpse of a metal spider. Regina raised her hand and magic poured out of her fingers. The battered metal construct floated off the table and turned slowly.

“Nice,” Regina murmured. “To answer your question, yes, this is what I felt before. They rode in on Rhino.”

Alessandro walked into the kitchen, followed by Leon and Patricia. He made a beeline for me.

“None of the perimeter sensors were tripped,” Patricia reported.

“It’s well-made,” Regina said. “A sophisticated design, refined. The level of teaching is quite high.”

“Cheryl?” I asked.

“Mhm. I had a look at some of her designs after our chat. This is a modified miniature version of Climber VII.”

“A fail-safe,” Alessandro said.

I turned to him.

“Arkan’s people failed to frame Leon for murder, then the telekinetic couldn’t kill you in the swamp. You keep surviving and asking uncomfortable questions. Cheryl is losing confidence in Arkan’s ability to neutralize you, so she added a fail-safe in case the illusion mage didn’t succeed.”

Arabella frowned. “If these creepy nasties got into our car while we were at Stephen’s, why didn’t they sting us on the way home?”

“You weren’t the target,” Nevada said, her face grim. “They wanted Catalina, but she didn’t make it back to the car, so they rode here, sensed Regina, and took off.”

“Why did Grandma get stung then?” Arabella asked.

“Probably self-defense,” Connor said. “They are likely programmed to hide among machinery and Grandma Frida banged on it with a wrench.”

“It’s a stupid plan,” Leon said. “First, it points straight to Cheryl.”

“She isn’t thinking clearly,” I told him.

“Second, if Catalina died in the middle of this, there would be hell to pay. We would declare a feud on House Castellano.”

“So would House Rogan,” Connor said.

“Yes.” Leon nodded. “House Montgomery would go to war with her. Linus Duncan would go to war with her.”

“And the National Assembly would lose its shit if Catalina died,” Runa finished. “Considering Catalina is a Depu . . .” She slapped her hand over her mouth.

Oh no.

Nevada leaned forward, zeroing in on me. “Catalina, why would the National Assembly lose its shit?”

Connor’s face shut down. “I’m going to kill him.”

“That would be rather difficult.” Alessandro’s voice was cold. His expression turned calculating. A dangerous darkness filled his eyes, and deep within his irises, magic smoldered, waiting to burst into an inferno. The Artisan was back.

An imperceptible shift occurred within the room. My family realized there was a predator in their midst and they rapidly recalibrated to meet the new threat.

“And why is that?” Connor’s voice held no emotion.

“Because he’s Linus Duncan. Furthermore, if you attack the Warden, his Deputy will defend him to her death, and I’m sworn to protect her.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Leon demanded. “Can we all just take it down a notch or two, because I really don’t want to shoot anybody right now.”

Patricia stared at me. “You are the Deputy Warden of Texas.” It wasn’t a question.

I landed into the padded seat and looked at Runa.

“I’m sorry!” She waved her arms. “I’m emotionally compromised!”

“I swear, I will shoot the next person who says that,” Leon growled.

“You can’t shoot her,” Arabella told him. “She’s your brother’s girlfriend.”

“Everyone, shut up,” Mom barked in her sergeant voice.

The kitchen went silent as a tomb.

She turned to me. “Explain.”

“Linus is the Warden of Texas, I’m his Deputy, we investigate magical threats to humanity on behalf of the National Assembly, and we can’t talk about it, or the National Assembly will nuke us from orbit.”

“What was he thinking?” Connor bit off the words with controlled fury. “Warden mortality is seventy-five percent within the first ten years. I turned him down. Why did you accept?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“How long have you been doing it?” Connor asked.

“Six months. There’s no need to be so dramatic. I’m alive, I’m good at my job, and one day I will be the Warden of Texas.”

“Can you quit?” Grandma Frida asked.

“No. Also, I don’t want to quit.”

My grandmother studied me. “Do you like it?”

The mass grave flashed before me. “Not always. But it’s necessary. And important.”

Grandma Frida grinned. “Then do it. Don’t listen to them.”

“It’s not that simple,” Mom said.

“It is.” Grandma Frida looked at Alessandro. “Are you planning on sticking around and helping her?”

“I am.”

Connor opened his mouth, his expression harsh. Nevada rested her fingers on his arm. “You’re not going to talk her out of this. She’s protecting us.”

Connor frowned.

“I’ll explain later,” she said.

Arabella snapped her fingers. “So that’s where the money’s coming from. I was wondering why we’re suddenly bucks up.”

“How up?” Leon asked, suddenly excited.

“We’re making three times what we used to,” Arabella told him.

Leon gave me a thumbs-up.

“So that’s why,” Bern said.

“Why what?” Runa asked him.

“Why her answer is always yes.”

Runa waited.

“When we need something, the answer is yes,” Bern elaborated. “New sensors and camera system, yes.” He looked at Leon. “New Hawk 7 rifle and a new car, yes.” He looked at Patricia. “Additional personnel and upgraded vests, yes. We get all the toys, bells and whistles, because she’s a Deputy Warden and she is making all the new money for us.”

“Okay.” Mom crossed her arms on her chest. “This doesn’t leave the room. You don’t know she’s the Deputy Warden, you don’t know what a Warden is, and you think Linus is an old family friend. That’s all.”

Mom waited. Nobody said anything.

“I need a ‘yes, ma’am’ on this.”

“Yes, ma’am,” we chorused. Even Patricia and Regina said it.

Mom fixed Runa with her sniper stare. “Do you want to be a part of this family?”

Runa nodded.

“Then don’t be a blabbermouth. Moving on.”

We ran through the security measures again. One by one, the kitchen emptied. Grandma Frida decided to lie down after all. Leon took off, Arabella did too, Bern and Runa followed. Patricia and Regina left as well. Patricia had a calculating look in her eyes, which meant she was reshuffling our security arrangements in her head.

The crowd in the kitchen dwindled to just Mom, Connor and Nevada, and Alessandro and me.

“Do you know what you’re doing?” Mom asked me.

“Yes.”

Mom sighed. “I don’t know how to talk to you, Catalina. I always know when your sisters are keeping something from me. Neither one of them is good at it, and eventually it explodes out. You hid this from me for half a year and I had no idea.”

I raised my head. “You hid Victoria Tremaine from us for our whole lives and none of us had any idea. I guess I’m like you, then.”

“That’s what scares me.” Mom shook her head. “If you’re in trouble, will you even tell me?”

“I will try.”

Mom sighed again.

Nevada turned to me, gently patting her stomach. “I owe you an apology.”

“No.”

“Yes. My back was against the wall and I made a terrible decision. There is no way to take it back. At the time that was the only way I could see to preserve House Baylor’s future.”

“It was my fault,” Connor said. “I should have found Merritt.”

“We should have found Merritt,” Nevada said. “Catalina, you know how important you are to me. I hate that I made you think that I was mad at you and that you betrayed me somehow. I wasn’t thinking clearly. The flu was real, the collapse was real, and that was the best my exhausted brain could come up with. I regretted it the moment I started doing it. It ate me up inside. I wanted to explain it to you, but during most of the following year I worried that it would somehow surface. It kept me from sleeping. I finally decided it was buried, and I tried to tell you about it.”

“I remember,” I told her. “You started to explain to me that Connor had been accused of human trafficking but didn’t finish because House Ferrer shot a missile at your house.”

“Then there was the White case, and the Hyperion. There was always something. Then Alessandro happened.”

She glanced at Alessandro who was standing next to me, impassive.

“By that point I told Mom,” Nevada said. “I had to tell someone.”

“And I told her to keep it to herself,” Mom said.

I turned to her. “Why?”

“Because you had enough on your plate. I told her to wait. I had faith in you both. You would sort it out when you were in a better place.”

Nevada sighed. “I regret it, Catalina. But if I was back in that moment, knowing only what I knew then, I would do it again. It wasn’t a mistake. I did it deliberately because I wanted to protect you.”

“I know. I don’t view it as a mistake. It was a sacrifice, Nevada. I understand. I would have done the same.”

Tears wet Nevada’s eyes. Connor put his arm around her. “You got this.”

“Something occurred to me,” my big sister said. “At the start, you made a big deal about keeping the family separate from House Rogan. And then in February you made a one-eighty. I pulled your voting record in the Assembly. You always vote with Connor. You sit next to him in the chamber.”

“He’s my brother-in-law.”

“Oh, it’s more than that. I’ve been wondering for months why you made sure that everyone in Houston knew that our two houses are a package deal.”

“Why wouldn’t we want to be allied with House Rogan? They are powerful, dangerous, wealthy . . .”

Nevada smiled at me. “You tied us together. In the eyes of the public, we are impossible to separate. Victoria can no longer target House Rogan without dragging House Baylor down.”

I didn’t say anything. It didn’t seem like a reply was needed.

Nevada tried to get up off the chair and Connor gently helped her to her feet. She came over to me and hugged me.

“I love you so much,” Nevada said. “I know exactly what you’re doing because I did it too for the same reasons. But we can’t do this anymore. From now on, let’s talk. Let’s tell things to each other, because I can’t do it the other way. It tears me up inside and I know it’s hard on you. You have me and Connor, and Mom, and Arabella, and the boys . . .”

Heat built behind my eyes. I held on to her. My nephew kicked me.

“We love you. We will help you. Don’t repeat my mistakes.”

She held me for a few more seconds, then let me go. “I’ll see you in the morning.” She looked at Alessandro. “Do not hurt her.”

She walked away.

“We have some matters to discuss when things settle down,” Connor said. The Scourge of Mexico smiled at me and followed his wife.

Mom sighed, kissed my forehead, and left the kitchen.

It was just me and Alessandro.

“Family,” he said.

“Yeah.”

“I like yours better than mine.”

“Are you leaving?” I managed to keep the desperation out of my voice. I didn’t want him to leave. I wanted him to stay and hold me while I fell asleep.

A shadow crossed his face. “Do you want me to?”

“No. I want you to stay.”

We stood barely three feet away from each other but suddenly the distance gaped between us.

“Do you want to stay?” I asked.

“More than anything.”

“Then stay.”

He faced me. The muscles along his jaw locked.

“What is it?”

“When I said I don’t deserve you, I meant it. I can’t give you anything, except myself, Catalina.”

“That’s all I ever wanted. I already told you I don’t expect anything else.”

He opened his mouth and closed it without saying a word.

“Alessandro, I’ve had an awful day and you’re scaring me.”

The mask hiding his face dropped, torn. He wrapped his arms around me. “I’ve got you.”

“Come with me.”

He let me go and we walked down to my bedroom. He followed me in and raised his eyebrows at the wall of swords.

“Catalina, I like a good blade, but you might have a problem.”

“Do you like it?”

“I love it.”

“Good, because that’s where we’re sleeping tonight. In the morning, if you’re good, I’ll let you touch some of them.”

“Only some?”

I smiled at him. “We can negotiate.”

He grinned back. “I love negotiating. I can be very persuasive.”

I wrapped my arms around him and kissed him. He made my head spin. “So can I.”

The kiss ended and he looked at me, his eyes wild.

There were so many things to worry about. The Abyss, Cheryl, Runa outing me to my family and what Linus would do about it, and the distance that had yawned between us in the kitchen . . . I couldn’t deal with any of it right now.

Whatever it was that Alessandro was trying to find a way to tell me, it would wait until tomorrow. Tonight was ours and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.