Footsteps told Rohan that all four Hawthornes were following him.
“Are you done?” Grayson asked Rohan in a manner that proved you really couldn’t punch the arrogance out of some people.
Done fighting? Done quipping?Rohan thought about the inner sanctum at the Mercy, about every weapon he had at his disposal, about the gloved hand that held his gilded leash, and then he answered Grayson’s question. “I’m just getting started.”
Chapter 74
GIGI
Savannah. The third Candidate. It’s not Nora. It’s Savannah.Gigi was not okay. Gigi hadn’t been okay since she’d woken up to the news of who the Omega had chosen for the Crucible.She said she’d never forgive me if I left her, so I said no.
I said no, but Savannah didn’t.
Savannah left me.
She left me in St. Adelaide, and now, she—
“Savannah said yes.” Gigi’s voice echoed in the stairwell to the tower. After she’d found out about Savannah, Gigi hadtriedto go back up to the tower room to commune with the keys, but she’d only made it halfway up. Her body had simply refused to climb another step.
Gigi didn’t even remember sitting down. She wasn’t going to cry this time. She wasn’t. She was going to stand back up and climb the stairs, and figure out what the lettersA,J,K, andQwere supposed to mean.
She’d just have to remember how to breathe first.
“You have three choices, sunshine.”
Gigi sucked in a breath when she realized with a start that she wasno longer alone on the twisting staircase. Slate stopped a couple steps before he reached her.
“If you so much as think about sayingeasy there,” Gigi warned, “I swear by all that is good and holy in this world that you will wake up tomorrow covered in Jell-O. Except your wound. I’m not a monster—the wound stays clean. But the rest of you:Jell-O.”
“Three choices.” Slate folded his arms over that freakishly defined chest of his. The guy didn’t even have the decency to be wearing a shirt, like he’d come to find her as soon ashe’dwoken up and heard the news about Savannah. “The shower. The shooting range. Or the roof.”
Gigi swallowed. Shewas notgoing to cry. “Go away, Mattias.”
Slate quietly obliterated the last two steps between them and sat down beside her. “That wasn’t one of your choices.”
“Pretty sure she told you to go away.” And now Knox was on the scene, rounding the stairs and scowling at Slate.
Brady was gone, but Knox had stayed. Knox washere.
“You know what?” Gigi said, narrowing her eyes at her once-bodyguard. “Jell-O for you, too! I don’t needyouto tell him to go away. I can take care of myself. Behold:Go away, Mattias.”
“He’s still here,” Knox pointed out.
“I’m not going,” Slate confirmed.
“I’mfine,” Gigi insisted.Savannah’s gone, and I’m useless, but I’m peachy keen.She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t screaming. Any second now, she was going to get up off the stairs and fly back into action.
Any second.
“You’re not fine,” Slate said, “and you don’t take care of yourself. Ever. You’re too busy taking care of everyone else. But right now, so help me, you’re going to choose: the shower to cry, the shooting range for a lesson in aim and control, or the roof to scream.”
“What if I want to scream in the shower?” Gigi said.
“That can probably be arranged.”
“Not by you,” Knox practically growled at Slate.
“Look, Landry, when your team was eliminated from the GrandestGame, you went back for her. You picked her up and carried her down to that dock, and that makes me dislike you a little less than I dislike most people. But I havebeen therewith her. More nights than you could imagine. In the shadows, watching silently as she sold damn near everything she had just so she could give away the cash. I havebeen there, so you’re going to want to take a big step back.” Slate turned back to Gigi and held up three fingers.