Page 62 of Bitter Spirits

Cass recapped the last couple of days, and they were a doozy. When she finally wound down, all Isa could say was, “Holy shit, Cass. That’s… a lot.”

“Yeah.”

“So, what now?”

“Right now? Grayson’s making me stay in bed until the hospital allows visitors in the morning, then it’ll be time for a family discussion.”

Despite everything, Isa couldn’t resist teasing her. “Grayson’s making you stay in bed? Mmm, do tell.”

Cass snorted. “That’s a two-, maybe three-drink conversation for when I get back.”

“I’ll hold you to it.”

Cass made a soft humming sound. “Let’s circle back to my question. How are you?”

“I’m fine.” Isa winced at the lie.

Cass’s voice was gentle as she said, “Iz, it’s me. Wanna try again?”

All the things swirling in Isa’s head threatened to spill out, but after all that Cass had shared, Isa didn’t want to pile on more. She tried one more time to dodge. “You’ve been talking to Des.”

“Well, he needed to bitch to someone about running the bar solo.”

Isa gave an amused huff. “At least it was a Sunday night.” The end of the week was always slow.

“And thank the gods the weekend is over.” Cass paused. “He told me what happened. Talk to me, Iz. I’m right here.”

The acceptance and love crumbled Isa’s already shaky composure, and her words tumbled out in a disjointed mess, yet somehow Cass managed to follow them, asking questions only occasionally.

When Isa finally fell quiet, Cass said, “I love you, Isa. You know that.”

Isa’s laugh was a little watery. “I hear a ‘but’ in there.”

“Because you’re not stupid,” Cass said without malice. “Terminally stubborn and willing to take on more than you should but not stupid.”

Thinking about her earlier realization with Angel, Isa said, “I could dispute that.”

“And you’d be wrong. First, your worries about Locke’s loyalties. Whether you want to admit it or not, you know that’s not the issue you think it is.”

Irritation sparked. “The Cordovas aren’t some minor Family, Cass.”

“No Family is really ‘minor,’ but do you honestly believe a corrupt Family could earn Locke’s loyalty? Or Rory’s? I mean, that girl has a damn good reason not to want to tangle with a Family, but she’s all tied up with the Cordovas.”

Isa had to concede that Cass had a valid point. Rory’s highly coveted ability as a Prism was something of an urban legend, and the Cordovas hadn’t exploited it. If anything, they’d made moves to protect her.

Cass didn’t stop with her reality check. “You’re using this loyalty thing as an excuse because letting him get close scares the shit out of you.”

Isa twisted her fingers in the sheet Okay, maybe she has a point.

“Which I totally get, because Angel is a sociopathic dick who did some serious damage.” There was a great deal of heat in Cass’s voice. “But what you need to realize is that round one went to you, not him. When you walked away the first time, you not only injured his pride—you took away his power as well. So when you walked back into the Den with Locke at your side, Angel spotted an unexpected opportunity, and he ran with it. He thought he’d played you, but you’d known it was going to happen, and you’d done it anyway because Locke needed you to.”

It sucked when your best friend held up a mirror and didn’t let you turn away. “I should have left Locke behind.”

Cass snorted. “Girl, please. There is no way that man would let you saunter in solo. Besides, you wanted Angel to see him, and I don’t blame you. Locke on his worst day is leaps and bounds better than Angel on his best.”

Isa worried her bottom lip, unable to deny that irrefutable truth. “And that was a mistake.”

“Was it? You knew there was no way to stop Angel from feeding off of you. He’s a Harvester. It doesn’t matter how cold you go—he only needs the tiniest fissure to leech onto, and you being twisted up about coming back, about Locke, and about the situation in general created the opening he needed. That doesn’t make you weak. That doesn’t make any of this your fault. It just shows you’re human.”