Embrace, Entice, Emblaze (92 page)

then almost as much transferred out of his account into another unnamed account. The piece of paper Magda is holding shows that she is the owner of that account.”

“No,” Griffin said, shaking his head at the unforgiving truth.

Lincoln looked from me to Magda, his jaw clenched tight. “You

were working with Phoenix?”

“He forced me!” Magda said quickly.

Lincoln half smiled as he shook his head. “No shadows, Magda.

I’d be able to see if you were under his influence.”

Magda was silent but frantic.

“Since you came back from your vacation, you’ve been

working with him. You brought Nahilius back, used him to drive

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a wedge between Violet and me, so Phoenix could get to her. I

trusted you.”

“Lincoln, it’s not what you think. I didn’t know you back then, I…When I realized who you were, that you were going to become

Grigori, I pulled Nahilius out of your mother’s company and I told him to disappear. I saved her.”

“You killed my mother!” Lincoln screamed.

Everyone was silent.

“Why, Magda?” Griffin finally asked, the words breaking.

Magda walked toward the door but then seemed to reconsider

and turned back on him.

“Because you have all the power. You could’ve made us great,

but you could never see the possibilities. It was all about the damn cause.” She tossed her head toward Lincoln; her eyes were actually welling. “Because I would’ve done anything for you to look at me the way you…” She shot me a poisonous look. “
You
ruined everything!” She was moving at full speed. I barely had time to react when

her hand reached my neck and she flung me back onto the dining

table. But Lincoln was faster and was there in an instant. He thrust her off me with one hand and such force that she flew through the air until she slammed into the far wall.

Lincoln helped me up. Gentle hands. Only touching where

necessary and yet every spot where we were connected still burned.

“I’m okay,” I said, giving him permission to move away from me.

Magda was back on her feet. She looked as if she was about to

pounce again.

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“You think you have everyone fooled!” she screamed at me. “But

your true colors will show soon enough.”

Griffin moved in on Magda slowly. His head bowed. When

he stood right in front of her, his hand went out in a snap and braced her neck as she had mine. He pushed her back into the

wall she’d just collided with and heaved her into the air, his arm fully extended.

I held my breath as I saw the muscles in his arm flexing tight, the expression on Magda’s face exposing her pain. She couldn’t breathe, and he was close to crushing her windpipe altogether.

“A strike to Violet is a strike to me,” he said, echoing the words he’d said to me when I’d slapped Magda. “Give me a reason not

to squeeze.”

Magda put both hands on Griffin’s shoulders, as if consolingly.

He must have let his guard down for a moment, because when her

knee flew up to hit him under the chin, he released his grip on her and she landed on the floor.

“Sure thing, Griff,” she snarled, making for the door again.

Spence and Salvatore beat her there and stood in her way, but

Griffin gave a small wave of his hand and they stood aside.

Magda smiled at Griffin. “You’re too weak. And when you try

to figure all this out and keep stumbling on the big questions, remember: the answer is the very thing you fight so hard for.” She took the handle, pulled it open, and paused without looking back, just long enough to say two words.

“Free will.”

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chapter
thirty- four

“The sin both of men and of angels, was rendered possible by the
fact that God gave us free will.”

C. s. LeWIs

I don’t know who found the bottle of vodka. I didn’t care. No one did. Hard liquor was probably a bad idea, but one by one we took our seats and Spence started to pour.

Looking at us all, slumped around the dining table, it was

clear— not one of us had escaped the last few days unscathed. I couldn’t remember when we’d last slept. I didn’t even know what time of day it was, only that it was now dark.

“To Rudy,” Spence said.

We all raised our glasses and drank. My throat burned and I

relished the distraction. Spence refi lled the cups one by one.

“And Nyla,” Griffi n said.

And though we didn’t want to admit to it, we didn’t want to deny it either. We raised our glasses and gulped down the poisonous truth.

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To
Nyla.

“What now?” Zoe asked.

“We fight,” Lincoln and I said in unison without looking at

each other.

“I’m sorry, Violet and Lincoln,” Griffin said, clearing his

throat. “I knew Magda was up to something, but I swear, I never thought…” He couldn’t finish.

“We know, Griffin,” I said, wanting to reassure him.

“None of us did.” Lincoln added.

“I owe you an apology too, Salvatore,” Griffin went on, nodding at Salvatore, who returned the gesture. “And a debt of gratitude to you, Stephanie.”

No one said much after that for a while, just mumbled here and

there. Every now and then, another penny would drop.

“The exiles in the alley who killed the homeless?” Lincoln said.

I nodded. “I think Phoenix provided them and Magda sent

them. I’m gathering there was never a group of exiles who she

took out on her vacation, probably just one exile and she didn’t take him out.”

“Phoenix,” Lincoln said, clenching his jaw.

Another stretch of silence until Griffin had a lightning- bolt

moment. “That’s why she would never stay long around me! She

was scared the sapphire’s influence wouldn’t hold.”

We all just nodded as the theory sank in. It explained a lot of her quick exits when Griffin arrived.

And finally.

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“She wanted me to kill Nahilius. She knew it would change me

forever, make me doubt everything,” Lincoln said quietly.

I didn’t need to respond. I’d figured the same thing. That Magda wanted Lincoln to do it so he would feel so isolated from everyone else, especially me, that he would turn to her. When her plan back-fired, she killed Nahilius to silence him. I took little comfort in the realization that it wasn’t me Nahilius had called a bitch.

“Violet, you lead us now,” Griffin said as Spence lined up more shots. “Phoenix was right. You are from a Sole Angel, the highest rank. That makes you our leader.”

I looked around the table expecting, and ready to welcome,

intervention. But no one argued.

“No. It just gives me a right to choose. I don’t want to lead,

Griffin. I have school and
you’re
our leader. If I’m ranked highest, then I get to say who’s in charge, and that’s you.”

I held out my glass and then drank. Lincoln did the same, followed by everyone else supporting my decision. Finally, Griffin nodded.

“For now,” he said and drank.

“While we’re getting things sorted,” Spence piped up, “I,

um…I’ve made some decisions of my own.”

“Let’s hear ’em,” Griffin said, his country accent now thick under the influence of alcohol. He was resigned to anything at this stage.

“I’m not going back to New York. I’m staying here.”

When we all just looked at him, he shrugged. “Well, I’ve got no parents waiting for me and I’m not very well going to leave the one person who can heal me until my partner comes of age, am I? And 425

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anyway, I’d like a chance to return the favor,” he said, shooting me a genuine smile. “That is, of course, if that’s okay with everyone,” he added, looking at Lincoln then glancing at me. After everything that had happened, he was giving Lincoln the chance to tell him to get lost.

I think Lincoln appreciated the gesture, although I was sure it stuck him like a pin. I know it did me.

“You can stay here,” Lincoln offered. “I’ll clear out the spare room.”

I shot Lincoln a look. I never thought he’d clear out that room.

“It’s time,” he said, answering my unspoken question. I was glad for him.

“We’re going to apply for permission to return as well,” Zoe

said. “We want to be here to help fight what’s coming, but first we need to go back and check on Nyla and debrief everyone at the

Academy. It’s only right.”

We all nodded.

Griffin took another drink. I think he was taking two for every one of ours.

Lincoln’s phone rang. He answered as he got up and walked away

from the table. While he was talking, Steph used her own version of best- friend telepathy with me— a series of raised eyebrows, head tilts, and one mouthed “O- kay.”

I nodded to them all.

“That was Dapper,” Lincoln said when he returned. “He’s been

trying to get hold of you for a while,” he said to me.

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“Oh.” I stood and went over to my phone still on the charger. I made a show of turning it on and shoved it in my pocket. I heard the voice mail bell chime a few times. I’d check the messages later.

“We have to go to Hades,” he said.

“Look, honestly, Dapper can deal with Onyx or throw him out

on the street,” Griffin said.

Lincoln kept moving and shrugged on a coat. He wedged open

the door with his foot, waiting for us all to get up. “It’s not Onyx.

Let’s go.”

And like good little soldiers, we all got up and followed.

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chapter
thirty- five

“The star that leads the way is your star…You will exceed all of
them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.”

It may as well have been a lifetime ago, those moments Lincoln and I shared in Jordan. In some ways, I wished they’d never happened.

Okay, that was a lie.

Th e city seemed diff erent, foreign to me somehow. I was so

exhausted, but still my legs carried me on. Nothing would ever be the same. Even the air felt diff erent. Jordan had changed me, irreversibly.

Maybe it was for the best. Maybe I needed to be given a dose

of harsh reality. Somewhere along the way, I’d obviously lost sight, forgotten to protect myself and keep control of things. Now I

would pay the price.

Lincoln walked up ahead with Spence, fll anking Griffi n in case he tumbled over. Poor Griffi n. He carried us all, felt responsible for leading us, and now, after everything that happened in Jordan, to have discovered Magda had played such a terrible part…Th is was Entice.indd 428

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one thing for which I knew he’d blame himself for a long time,

even though he shouldn’t.

This was only the start. I didn’t just feel doom settling around me now. It had moved in, taken possession. Lincoln looked over

his shoulder, caught my eye, and turned back. I wanted to scream.

Steph, who had been chatting to Salvatore, slowed her pace to

meet mine. She linked our arms together like she’d done so many times before. Still my best friend.

“Would you like me to say something that will distract you?”

she said.

“Sure.”

“Your dad’s coming home tomorrow.”

I sighed. “Wow, I guess he managed to cut his trip short after

all,” I said, knowing I must have missed a number of calls from him, probably the messages my phone had beeped with earlier.