Because she will wake up, damn it.
“Shiloh…” My voice breaks. “Gods, this is so fucked up.”
Broderick takes my hand. He’s obviously just as terrified as I am, but he’s still so fucking steady, still offering support even when he needs it just as badly as I do. I can’t stop shaking. “What if—”
“She’ll wake up.” He says it quietly. Firmly. “Give it time.”
“Okay,” I whisper.
“You did good, Monroe. That was quick thinking to get the antidote.” His thumb ghosts over my knuckles. Only a fine tremor in his hand lets me know he’s just as fucked up over this as I am. “How the hell did you catch up to them so fast?”
“I’m a bad bitch.” I try to smile, but I can’t quite pull it off. “They don’t get to come here on my territory and fuck with my people.” I look down at Shiloh, measuring her slow inhales and exhales. “I don’t care if she’s an Amazon or not, Broderick. She’s mine.” I meet his gaze. “She’s ours.”
“Yeah. She is.” He gives my hand a squeeze. “We—”
Shiloh drags in a ragged breath and whimpers. “Fuck, that hurts.”
“Shiloh!” Broderick and I say her name as one, and nearly smack our heads into each other in our effort to help her sit up. We ease her against the seat between us. She’s pale, and the black marks on her throat are still fading, but her eyes are open, and she’s breathing deeper now.
She lifts a hand and touches a trembling finger to my cheek. It comes away wet, which is when I realize I’m crying. “That close?” she murmurs.
“Yes.” I won’t lie to her. Not even about this.
She leans back and closes her eyes. “Damn.”
Broderick clears his throat. “We need to get back across the river to Raider territory.”
It’s the smart thing to do, and it makes sense why he’d want to get Shiloh back to safety. I even agree with the plan…with one caveat. “Drop me off at the main tower.”
He shakes his head. “You know I can’t do that.”
“You don’t have a choice.” I don’t want to speak the next bit, but we’ve come too far and if I trust them. “There is absolutely no way a Mystic assassin would make it to this point without getting tagged by one of our patrols.” I hold up a hand before Broderick can argue. “We have precautions against exactly this sort of thing, the same way you do. We know how they work, and we guard against it.”
“What are you saying?”
I don’t want to say it. I truly don’t. But with both of them looking at me, I can do nothing but tell the truth. “Someone gave him permission.”
Shiloh closes her eyes, but not before I see the truth there in their hazel depths. The very thing I was beginning to suspect but didn’t want to face. I take a slow breath. “I thought you were irritated because of the longer days in the office guarding me, but that’s not it, is it?”
She doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t need to. Not with all the puzzle pieces clicking into place, faster and faster. “I know who your parents were to my mother. Not close, exactly, but close enough that she preferred me to be the one to deliver their punishment. I thought it was the first offense, but she also neglected to mention they had a child at one point.” An intentional omission in hindsight. Revealing that knowledge after their abuse became public would open my mother up to uncomfortable questions.
Questions I now want answers to.
I might be able to write it all off as coincidence if not for the assassin’s target. Not me. Not Broderick. Either of us would make more sense. If Broderick dies on Amazon territory, it will mean war between Raider and Amazon. If I do, it means the same thing. It wouldn’t matter that the surviving members claimed a Mystic was behind the death. They would be called a liar because of the nature of our relationship.
But Shiloh?
No one is going to war for our girl. No one is hurt by her loss except me and Broderick. No one gains from her death…
Unless her existence is a secret someone doesn’t want shared.
Someone like my mother.
The thought makes me sick, but my mother is more than capable of it. She’s willing to leave Winry hanging in the wind; how much more so would she do the same to some child unrelated to her by blood? A small price to pay, a cost weighed against a thousand things she has moving in her head.
I know about making hard choices. I’ve been doing it for years now, and when I’m queen, it will only get that much more challenging. It’s what I’m trained for.
It doesn’t make it right.
Finally, Broderick releases a breath. “We’ll come with you. Back you up.”