Page 125 of Heart of Thieves

“There are some in the casino’s medical station,” Nic says. “She’ll be more secure inside, too.”

“Wait, we’re saving her?” Jade splutters. “I might have misread the situation, but it seemed to me she turned us all into puppets! She just killed that man with the black hair, she was about to kill Soren, and”— she points at Lola in my arms—“she tried to kill Lola, too!”

“That was . . . actually Lola’s own doing, I think,” I say, “but your other points stand, and I am in complete agreement. Why are we saving her?”

“If we leave her out here,” Nic explains, “she’ll just find another way to attack us once she wakes up.”

“So the Liar’s Den?” Estelle asks.

“The Liar’s Den,” Nic affirms, carrying Laurel across the street and shouldering through the front entrance, the rest of us following in his wake.

Nic leads us to a medical office and settles Laurel onto a bed. I set Lola on a stretcher Jade finds in the closet, propping her head up with pillows as I try not to notice the gentle way Nic is treating Laurel. Despite everything that woman just did to all of us, he still cares. It makes me want to punch him.

“Now what do we do?” I ask as Nic gathers a medical kit to treat Laurel’s wound, which is still weeping iridescent blood. “She’s going to wake up any second.”

“Tie her up,” Soren says. “Gag her.”

Nic shakes his head. “She can control people’s bodies. Binding her won’t do a damn thing.”

“Bury her,” I suggest, and Estelle rounds on me.

“You will not!” she snaps.

“I’d like to see her try to control anybody with six feet of dirt over her head.”

“I’d like to see you try to be a smart-ass with six feet of dirt over your head,” Estelle retorts.

“You’d be surprised at how talented I am in smart-assery.” I cross my arms, glaring.

“Doubtful.”

“Is there a distance factor to her magic?” Isla asks Nic. “If we separate her far enough from people, is there a point at which she would not be able to control anybody?”

He frowns, pulling on a pair of gloves. “Seems to be, yes. Though that distance lengthens the better she knows your soullight. It’s likely she could control Estelle from a great distance, since they’re friends. Enzo, too, though maybe not quite as far, since they grew up together.”

“What about you?” I ask, shuffling through a nearby drawer for medical supplies I can use to check Lola. “Why didn’t she rummage around in your body?”

Nic opens his mouth, but nothing comes out. Gritting his teeth, he extracts a set of tweezers from the medical kit and leans over Laurel’s wound.

A realization prickles through me. Lola tried to tell me a thousand times that Nic was cursed just like I was. She said he wasn’t able to tell the truth about himself. I always thought his riddling manner of speech was an act, but now that I know Lola was right, the pieces slot into place.

He can’t answer my question because his magic is holding his truth captive.

“Just . . . ,” Nic tries again, pulling bullet fragments from Laurel’s body and dropping them into the nearby sink, “. . . try not to focus on the bad things you’ve done. Anything you feel guilty about. The less shame you feel, the less she’ll be able to access you.”

“All right,” Jade interrupts. “Isla, Soren, Arden, and . . .” She gestures at Estelle, who supplies her name. “. . . Estelle, why don’t we head to the kitchens? I imagine there’s some food we could scrounge up while Nic finishes with the wound.”

“But Laurel—” Estelle begins.

“We’re not doing Laurel any favors standing here watching him work.”

“What about Enzo?”

I load up my arms with the supplies I’ve found. “I’m going to see if I can wake Lola.”

“Come on.” Jade presses a hand to Estelle’s arm. “You’ll feel better if you eat.”

Estelle studies Laurel’s wound for several long moments.