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“You trust her?”
Hadria considers. “Not trust. Not exactly. She is…not well. But she is anxious to share information, as I said. And her hatred for Grandmother is real enough.”
Even if she’s sending us into a trap, I’m confident enough in my own abilities—and Scarlett’s—that we’ll be able to get out of it. And a handpicked team… “Yeah. We could use her knowledge,” I say, “and get together a team from the Syndicate as backup. But Scarlett comes too, Hades. She has the right to be there when I kill the old woman.”
Hadria stops to look at me. “I’ll tolerate her help,” she says at last. “But after Grandmother is dead…so is she.”
I smile. “You can try.”
Hadria’s eyes narrow. “Are you really going to betray the Syndicate for her? Betray me?”
The accusation stings, but I stay calm. “It’s not betrayal. It’s…” I cast around for a way to make her understand. “Look, if you could only save one person in a split-second, would you choose Aurora or me?”
Hadria doesn’t hesitate. “Aurora. Because I know you can take care of yourself. You’re indestructible.”
I nod. “It’s the same with me and Scarlett. I choose her, because I know you’ll be fine.”
Hadria snorts. “That sneaky little bitch can definitely take care of herself. She’s proven that.”
“You don’t understand. She’s...fragile. She has the skills of an assassin, but her mind, Hades—sometimes it’s so close to shattering. She’s been through a lot, just like Sarah Graves. And I need to—to protect her from that.”
Something flickers in Hadria’s eyes. Understanding? Maybe just pity. She looks away, down the street to where the busier roads lie. Then she says, “Come to Elysium tomorrow night. Bring Scarlett. We’ll plan our attack on Grandmother.”
I blink, surprised. “You’ll make Scarlett welcome in Elysium?”
“Welcome is not the term I would use.” Hadria’s smile is grim. “But keep your friends close and your enemies closer, isn’t that what they say?” She swings her leg over her bike and takes the helmet I hold out to her. “I swear no harm will come to her while we work together. But afterward…you need to accept what’s coming, Lyssa.”
She puts on the helmet, starts her engine, and speeds off into the night. I watch her go, my heart heavy.
Because I know she’s right. I know that, in the end, I’ll have to choose. The Syndicate, my family, my life at Elysium…
Or Scarlett.
And right now, it’s not even a question for me. But that doesn’t mean I’ll grieve the loss of the only family I’ve ever known.
For now, I push those thoughts away. I have a job to do. We have a job to do. Grandmother has to be stopped, no matter the cost.
I think of Scarlett, waiting for me. I think of her haunted eyes, her gentle touch, the way she makes me feel alive in a way I never knew was possible.
Tomorrow, we go to war.
But tonight…tonight, I go to her.
CHAPTER 25
Scarlett
Relief floods through me as Lyssa walks into the motel room, her blonde hair messy as ever. She looks tired, the weight of the world on her shoulders, but she manages a smile when she sees me.
“Hey, Scar,” she says, using the nickname that once made me bristle but now feels like a caress. “Miss me?”
I shrug, trying to hide the fact that I did, in fact, miss her terribly. Her eyes take me in, clad only in a towel after the shower I just had, hoping it would help me de-stress. It didn’t. “How did it go with Hadria?”
Lyssa sighs, sinking down onto the bed beside me. “I mean, no one died. Yet.” She fills me in, and then adds, “And we need to go to Elysium again tomorrow. Hadria wants to help plan the attack on Grandmother.”
My heart skips a beat. The thought of facing Hadria and the Syndicate again doesn’t fill me with joy. But getting to Grandmother—that thought does. Although now, with Lyssa by my side again, I realize that maybe there’s something else I want even more.
“I’ll come,” I tell her, my voice steady. “I only have one purpose now: to eliminate Grandmother.”
