Page 17 of The City Of Fractured Memory

Fight. Now.

My fingers curl into fists instinctively, a futile attempt at trying to hide it, while I try and fail to put a lid on my rising anger. My Shadow remains ever present by my side, his demand seeming to only further my loss of control. I try to resist, but the familiar, overwhelming feeling of doom starts to descend on me.

“You were one of my brightest, Wren. Why did you have to turn to magic? I thought you of all people would be able to resist the lure,” he continues, shaking his head at me like I’m such a huge disappointment to him. “Have you ever thought of losing these silly gimmicks and getting some real help instead of resorting to breaking the law?”

FIGHT.

My patience withers, my control snaps, and I just about lose my mind.

“I have tried!” I scream at him, making him recoil back into his seat at my sudden outburst. “My whole life I’ve tried, and it’s got me nowhere. I’ve seen every medic in this whole damn city, and no one can help me. There isn’t a single day, a single moment that goes by where I’m not in pain, both physically and mentally, but no one has ever been able to tell me what’s wrong with me. My whole life I’ve been drowning, desperately swimming against a constant current just to be able to function every damn day. So unless you’ve got any genius ideas, then I have no choice but to help myself by any means necessary. And if that means using magic, then you can be Gods damned sure that’s what I’m going to do. So instead of sitting there insulting me and treating me like a child, how about you tell me the real reason you had me arrested?”

He sits in shocked silence, considering me like prey facing off against a predator. But right now, I don’t feel like I’m top of the food chain. I feel like an ant, hiding in the shadow of a boot before being stepped on.

I hate it.

“Octavia–”

“Don’t lie to me, Starling,” I cut him off. “Tell it to me straight. You owe me that much.”

He straightens his shoulders and raises his chin, then gestures for the warden to leave us. The man grunts his disapproval before doing as commanded and leaving us in privacy. As soon as the door shuts, Starling instantly slumps back into his chair, carving a hand slowly over his weary face.

“You want the truth?” he snaps. “You have put me in a seriously difficult position tonight. You have been trespassing on crime scenes, interfering with evidence and now you’ve broken into the morgue without clearance. What else am I supposed to do? Give you a slap on the wrist and send you on your way? You tripped the wards, Octavia…”

My mind wonders as he speaks, his continuing words turning to a dull muffle as I contemplate them. He looked so smug when he arrested us, and the way he’s been riling me, surely that couldn’t have been for show? Wait–

“What did you just say?” I blurt out, interrupting him as he continues to gabber on. “A note?”

“Yes,” he exhales with exasperation. “The note found on the second body?”

My temper drains instantly as my blood runs cold.

“What note? There wasn’t one when I was there,” I say slowly, my gut already knowing the answer before he pulls out a piece of parchment from a drawer in his desk and lays it before me.

Come and play, Detective Wren – C

“Care to explain this?” Starling accuses, his jaw clenching as he surveys me for a reaction. “Because it was found and removed from the pocket of the second victim before you arrived, which if you ask me, makes you a suspect in this case.”

I reel back, my anger making a quick return. “You can’t be serious? I’ve been begging you for the last year to take these notes seriously, and all you’ve done is dismiss them as hysteria. Now one turns up on a body and you’re suddenly interested?”

His jaw twitches as he grinds his teeth together, his fingers curling in and out of a fist. He mumbles something under his breath that I just about catch, but I’m sure I couldn’t have heard him right.

“What was that?”

“You were right,” he grinds out a little louder, his eyes narrowing. Voyd take me, I don’t think I’ve ever heard him say that to anyone before.

“What? So, you’re finally admitting that this Corvus could be a real lead now?” I confirm, my heart lifting a little as the tiniest bit of hope flickers to life.

“Maybe,” he admits through his teeth. “But until I can rule out your involvement in all this–”

“Sir! It’s not her fault, sir!” Xavier comes charging through the door to stand by my side, his face red as he pants heavily.

I swear, this man seriously needs to learn how to knock.

“Blackwood!” Starling shouts, banging his fist on the desk as he stands, his chair falling in a clatter to the floor.

Xavier raises his head slightly, biting his lip as he clasps his hands behind his back. “I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t let her take the fall for this. It was my idea, I’m the one that brought her into this case. Everything she’s done, it was at my command.”

I try so very, very hard not to roll my eyes.