29
Mercy
I’d overheardColt talking about the MMA fights often enough to know they usually started pretty late, when the gym he held them in had closed for the night. After prowling through the mansion restlessly, avoiding the Nobles men and nabbing some leftovers from the kitchen when no one was around, I was relieved when the sky beyond the windows darkened. I pulled on my hoodie, tapped the outline of my childhood bracelet in my pocket for good luck, and headed for the door.
Unfortunately, no one had left any unattended weapons around for me to nab, so I had to make do with a paring knife from the kitchen. Luck willing, I wouldn’t need anything tonight except my eyes anyway.
I was halfway across the foyer when a voice carried from behind me. “Going somewhere?”
I whirled around to find Rowan emerging from the hall. I hadn’t crossed paths with him since this morning, and the sight of him made my stomach twist.
“Is that a problem?” I asked. “Haven’t you been telling me to get out of here since the start?”
His gaze, far too knowing, swept over me. “You don’t look like you’re beaten. You look like you’re on some kind of mission.”
“What’s it to you if I am? I promise it won’t make anything more difficult foryou.”
A shadow crossed his face. “Are you okay? This morning—if I’d known what they were going to do—I was out at a meeting when they decided.”
Irritation jabbed at me. I could do without yet another reminder of how I’d fallen apart during the freezer test. And when was he going to see that I wasn’t some fragile girl on the verge of shattering? I hadn’t been when we’d first met; I hadn’t been at sixteen when he’d left me in the lurch either.
“What’s it to you?” I snapped.
“I’m trying to say I’m sorry,” he said, the words tumbling out roughly. “I should have stepped in sooner. You didn’t deserve—”
I cut him off with a swipe of my hand. “I haven’t deserved anything I’ve had to deal with, but that’s just life. In case there’s been some misunderstanding, I don’t need your sympathy. The last time I needed anything from you was five years ago, and I learned my lesson then. Just let me do what I need to do.”
We locked eyes for a long moment. Was he going to go running to Wylder to tattle on me? Would Wylder even care that I was going out?
But something softened in Rowan’s eyes, and I saw an echo of the boy I’d loved. A quiver of electricity ran through the air between us. For just a second, a shred of that old sadness returned. I swallowed it back down.
He broke the silence first. “Wherever you’re going, do you want my car?”
I frowned. “Why would you lend me it? Kaige didn’t seem so happy about how that worked out for him.”
Rowan lowered his gaze for a moment before meeting my eyes again. “I’d rather know you have an easy way to get back if you run into trouble again.”
It felt like a peace offering—an apology I could actually use. But was it even that? Kaige had told me that Gideon had trackers in all their cars. Maybe Rowan just wanted to know he could check where I’d gone.
I didn’t think any of the guys would be keen on finding out I was heading back into Steel Knights territory. I couldn’t let them interrupt me until I had the proof I needed—for myself and for them.
“Thanks, but no thanks,” I said, more evenly this time. “I think it’s better if I get around by my own steam until youandyour boss see me as an equal. Maybe when I get back, we can settle that for good.”
Concern crossed his face. “Whereareyou going?”
I shot him a tight smile. “To find the Titan’s killer. Don’t wait up.”
I strode out of the house, and Rowan didn’t chase after me. But just in case, I sped up to a lope on my way down the hill to the busier streets where I could hail a cab.
By the time the taxi reached the area around the gym from Gia’s flyer, night had fully descended over the Bend. The only lights still blazing were the streetlamps not knocked out, the windows of a few bars… and the back door of the gym, standing open as a bouncer ushered a stream of boisterous figures inside.
It didn’t appear he was turning anyone away, at least. Pulling my hood up and ducking my head low, I joined the line. The guys in front of me were debating the odds for a fight and how much they should put on their favorite to win. Clearly I’d come to the right place.
The real question was whether I’d find Titus’s murderer here too.
When I reached the door, the man briefly scanned my shadowed face before he waved me in. But as I passed him, he said. “You there!”
I froze where I stood, torn between the urge to run or to play innocent. A man shoved past me from behind. “Keep moving, bitch.”