There it is.
The thing I knew would happen.
The outlaw kingdom that looked like refuge five minutes ago now looks like another beast with teeth.
Legend catches it too. “Amelia.”
Her hand goes to her throat. “What does that mean?”
Royal is quiet.
Too quiet.
Whiskey answers from the table, saving all of us from Royal’s poetry murder routine. “It means we gather information.”
Oaks snorts. “Sometimes.”
Sophie shoots him a look.
He lifts both hands. “What? I said sometimes.”
Amelia looks from one man to the other. “You’re going to hurt him.”
Nobody answers fast enough.
Her face goes paler. “Oh my God.”
Legend steps forward. “He hurt you. Man will bleed for it.”
“Bleed to death,” I whisper.
Amelia hears me.
Of course she hears me.
“That doesn’t mean you get to kill him.”
Oaks mutters, “Would solve a few things.”
She wraps both arms around herself tighter. “No.”
The word is sharp.
Everyone stills.
“No,” she says again. “No. Absolutely not. I don’t want that. I don’t want him dead.”
Derby, shut up.
I don’t.
“He should’ve thought of that before he put hands on you.”
Her eyes snap to mine.
Fire there now. Good. Better than fear. I can work with fire.
“You don’t get to decide that,” she says.