Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 105939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105939 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
“The kind that summon fire keyed to specific bloodlines. The kind that see human lives as tools to be used in games that span lifetimes.” He met her gaze steadily. “The kind that won't stop until they get what they want.”
Delphine absorbed this with the same calm she'd shown throughout the conversation. “And what do they want?”
“You. Specifically you, for reasons that go back to your family's history with magic that should have stayed buried.” He reached into his jacket and withdrew the locket, its silver surface catching streetlight. “This belonged to your ancestor. Charlotte Lacroix. She created it as part of experiments that have consequences we're still dealing with today.”
She took the locket, her fingers closing around metal that had been crafted to recognize her touch across lifetimes. “I felt something when I touched this before. Like it was . . . alive.”
“In a sense, it is. Charlotte embedded part of herself into its creation. And that part has been waiting for someone like you to complete what she started.”
“Someone like me, or me specifically?”
The question hit closer to truth than he was prepared to address. “I'm not sure there's a difference.”
She opened the locket, studying the miniature portrait inside with growing recognition. “This woman . . . she looks like me.”
“Family resemblance.”
“More than that.” Delphine's voice carried new intensity. “She looks exactly like me. Same eyes, same bone structure, same everything. That's not normal family resemblance, Bastien. That's . . . something else.”
She was too intelligent, too observant, too trained in recognizing patterns that others missed. The partial truth he'd offered wasn't going to satisfy her for long.
“What aren't you telling me?” she asked, and her tone suggested she already suspected the answer would change everything.
Before he could respond, his phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number.
Unknown:
The Archive was just the beginning. Keep refusing my offers, and I'll target everything she values. Starting with her memories. - M
Dread shot through Bastien's chest. Maestro wasn't finished. The fire had been a demonstration, not an end goal. And now he was threatening to steal Delphine's memories of discovering Bastien's nature, to reset her awareness and force them back to square one of deception and distance.
“We need to get you somewhere safe,” Bastien said, standing from the bench. “Tonight was just the opening move. Whoever's behind this will try again.”
“Wait.” Delphine caught his hand, her fingers warm against his skin. “You saved my life tonight. Walked through fire that should have killed you to carry me to safety. I think that earns me more than partial explanations and protective evasion.”
Her touch sent electricity up his arm, the same recognition that had sparked between them across lifetimes. For a moment, looking into her eyes in the lamplight, he could see echoes of every woman she'd been—Charlotte's determination, Delia's fierce curiosity, and something entirely new that belonged only to Delphine.
“Some truths are dangerous,” he said quietly. “Knowledge that puts you at greater risk, not less.” Bastien wasn’t entirely sure her mind could survive swallowing the whole truth at once—and he wasn’t willing to gamble her sanity on it.
“And some ignorance is deadly.” She stood, still holding his hand. “Someone just tried to kill me with fire, Bastien. I’m pretty sure everything we’ve been working on went up in flames tonight. I think I've earned the right to understand why.”
The phone buzzed again.
Unknown:
Sixty seconds to decide. Her memories or her life. Choose quickly.
"Delphine." He pulled her closer, urgency overriding caution. "I need you to trust me. We need to get you somewhere safe right now. Both of us are in immediate danger."
She studied his face, reading desperation he couldn't hide. "This isn't over."
"No. It's just beginning."
"And you'll tell me everything?"
"Everything I can that won't get you killed." He squeezed her hand once before releasing it. "But not at your apartment. Somewhere they can't reach you."
She nodded, though her expression suggested she wasn't satisfied with partial answers. "My car's in the Archive parking lot. Probably blocked by fire trucks."
"I'll drive you." He guided her toward his car parked down the block, hyperaware of shadows that might hide watchers, of sounds that didn't belong to ordinary Quarter nightlife. "And Delphine? What you saw tonight, what I told you about not being human—"
"Our secret." She met his gaze with understanding that cut straight through him. "For now."
They drove through empty streets, Bastien taking a circuitous route toward the Tremé district. He could feel Delphine studying him, her researcher's mind cataloging details that hadn't registered during the crisis. The way he'd moved through the fire without protective gear. The strange light that had surrounded him in the flames. The impossible fact that he'd emerged without so much as singed clothing.
"Where are we going?" she asked as they turned onto a narrow residential street lined with Creole cottages.