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“Murder.”
Rochefort pushed Russo aside and stood on the other side of the door. Seeing them so close, it was clear, even now with Adair wrapped in the illusion of Rochefort, that Valentine could not stop him. Rochefort was a lord. His word held more weight than Val’s or mine together. But beneath the smoke and mirrors, Val was just a man, and Adair was a monster.
I had the power to save Val. I touched his shoulder and eased him back from the door. “It’s all right.”
We had to play the game, or all would be lost. I did not wish to forget our kiss, or the way he’d felt so right in my embrace. He’d called me beautiful after discovering my truth. I couldn’t forget that. It was everything, more precious than all the toys in my store.
I flicked the lock and met Rochefort’s cool stare. Behind his human eyes, the fae lay coiled in wait, ready to strike if events did not play out as he wished. We had no choice. We never had.
Russo barged in, grabbed my arm, and spun me around. He flung me against a display of model farmyard animals, toppling most to the floor, and dragged both wrists behind my back.
“This is absurd!” Valentine bellowed.
“Read the warrant.” Russo’s cuffs ratcheted tight around my wrists.
I tried to twist, to get a glimpse of Valentine.
He had the warrant and grew paler the more he read. “You have no evidence.”
Russo snorted. “We have a witness.” He hauled me from the display table and spun me back around to face the door.
“A witness? Who?”
“Me.” Rochefort smiled. That smile slithered around my heart and squeezed.
“You’re a damn liar!” Valentine exploded. “Don’t think I don’t know what you are!”
Rochefort’s smirk grew. “Oh, and what is that?”
Val’s gaze flicked to me and away again.
“It’s all right,” I told him again.
Russo marched me out the door. For all the theatrics, Adair wouldn’t hurt me.
Val hurried alongside. “Russo, this is wrong. Rochefort is manipulating you. He’s not what he seems.”
A jail wagon waited alongside the sidewalk, drawn by a single blinkered horse. Carriages rattled by. Some people going about their day stopped to stare, probably assuming it was time I was put behind bars.
“Mr. Anzio, whatever personal issues there are between you and the lord,” Russo said, “they are of no concern of mine. I have a witness and a warrant. I’m here to do my job. That is all.”
“And your job happens to be arresting an innocent man on the word of one man with dubious motives? You know they have a history—”
“If he’s innocent, it’ll come out in court.”
“Oh, then he’ll get a fair trial?”
I didn’t hear the reply, if there was one. I climbed into the box wagon and had the door slammed in my face. As I peered through the bars, Russo’s smirk made it clear who had won. And behind them both, Rochefort stood, content and satisfied, his smile confirming everything was playing out as he’d designed.
Val clutched the bars. “They cannot hold you. I’ll get you out.”
“Just play the game.” I shuffled back in the wagon, slumped on the bench, and kept my gaze away from the door until the horse’s tackle clattered, and the wagon lurched. When I looked back through the bars, Valentine stood with his back to Rochefort, loss and fury raw on his face.
“Don’t provoke him,” I whispered. But Valentine would.
I should never have told him the truth. Adair couldn’t kill me, but he would kill Val.
The truth had made everything so much worse.
