“Seri, I know this is hard for everyone. But if you leave, the other delegates will follow. The entire summit will fall apart, and Tomas’s death will have been for nothing.” I looked up at the open door. “I should have reported to Marion sooner, but it’s been a long night, and I haven’t had a chance. I could talk to her, explain what’s happening, what I think the next steps should be—”
Seri leaned in close to look at my face. “You are injured!”
“I’m fine. It’s nothing. It was... there was...” How was I supposed to tell her that the thing she feared—more violence—was exactly what had happened?
“A difference of opinion,” I settled on. “And we’re getting closer to figuring out what happened. We’ve been investigating and gathering evidence. Riley didn’t do this.”
She looked surprised. “You have another suspect?”
I had a video of a fairy who looked nearly exactly like every other fairy. “Not exactly,” I said. “But we’re working on it. Just—talk to Marion and ask her to give me some more time, to give the process one more chance. I stayed in Paris,” I reminded her. “Even when there was violence, I stayed. Because I wanted to help.”
For the first time, I saw guilt in her eyes. “I am sorry. You are braver than me, Elisa. Perhaps you are braver than all of us.”
I dropped my arm, stared at her. “And what about me?”
They weren’t just leaving Chicago; they were leaving me behind. I was the escort, the vampire who was supposed to accompany them here and back again safely. But they hadn’t given me aheads-up, or time to pack, or a ticket for the ride. I didn’t know exactly what this meant for my service, my tenure with Maison Dumas. But it surely didn’t mean anything good.
This time, Seri’s smile looked forced. “You will follow us when you are ready, of course.” Then she leaned forward, pressed a kiss to my cheek. “We will see you in Paris, Elisa. Be safe.”
“Seraphine!” One of Marion’s assistants, a skinny man in a dark suit, leaned out of the door and waved his hand.“Allons-y!”
With an apologetic smile, she strode quickly back to the plane, offered a wave as she took the first step, then disappeared up the stairs.
• • •
I made myself walk back inside, forced my feet across the terminal and back to Lulu’s car.
“Bad news?”
“They’re leaving. Going back to Paris. The entire French delegation.”
“Didn’t you fly over here with her?”
“I did.”
“And they’re going home without you?”
“They are.”
“And... how do you feel about that?”
“I don’t entirely know.You are braver than me,” I muttered, even doing a pretty good imitation of Seri’s accent.
“She said that?”
“She said that.”
Lulu tucked her hair behind her ear. “Is it wrong if I say there’s something bitchy about that? Like she’s using it as an excuse. ‘Oh, you’re just braver than me.’”
“Seri’s a good person,” I said, but I didn’t disagree with what Lulu said. And I thought of Connor’s thin line. “And how do you know when you’ve stepped from brave right into reckless?”
“When you can change into a wolf?”
I dropped my head back to the seat, closed my eyes. “They’re going to tank the talks. If they go, there’s no way we’re going to get everyone together again. There’s no way we’re going to get peace in Europe.” Right now, it seemed like even peace in Chicago was in danger.
Was that why this mattered so much to me? Because my parents had managed peace here?
“I’m pretty sure the talks were already tanked.”