Page 68 of Blood that Burns
“Is that too much to ask?”
She takes a deep breath. “You forget all he’s gone through the last year. You weren’t here, Maggie. He’s suffered great loss and he’s shouldered the blame for it all.” She holds my gaze. “Including your disappearance.”
My shoulders drop and my cheeks heat in shame.
I saw the torment—felt it—when we were in Seattle.
“He believes his friends’ fate was his fault. That he caused their change. Do you think he worries that he’ll be my downfall too?”
She pulls a face as if to sayduh. “Give him time. You’ve only been back for a short while, and we’ve jumped straight into a possible war.”
“Which brings us back to what we should be discussing,” I say, to segue the conversation away from Law and me.
“What do I do, Maggie? I know Julian, and like Reese said, telling him the truth will only lead to him postponing the raid on the auction or refusing to listen to her warning. I don’t want to be underhanded with him, but what choice do I have?”
“According to Reese? None.” I bite my bottom lip. “You need to convince him to drink from you, which isn’t even the hardest part.”
She frowns. “What’s the hardest part?”
“Once he does, you have to play the role of a lifetime—Oscar-worthy. He can’t read your mind and know you plan to go into that auction.”
She grumbles, “I don’t know if I can do it, Maggie.”
“You don’t have a choice. We’re all going to have to do hard things if we want to win the upper hand.”
“I’m going to have to do it all tomorrow. I can’t leave myself so much time to slip up and have him hear my thoughts. I’m not that good of an actress.”
“What’s your plan?”
She laughs, but it lacks humor. “I truly don’t know.”
We sit in silence for a few more minutes, each trying to formulate something for Marina.
“Girls,” Julian says, rounding the corner.
I jump out of my skin. “Dear God, Julian. Don’t sneak up on people like that.”
He chuckles. “I’m sorry about that. I’ve been looking for you,” he says to Marina. “We need to discuss tomorrow.” He looks to me. “We all do.”
I purse my lips, wondering what’s coming. Did he hear us talking?
“You’ll both need to come to the auction. We can’t leave you here for safety reasons.”
My eyes meet Marina’s. Well, I’ll be damned. Things just got a bit easier for her.
“When was this decided?” Marina asks, doing a good job at keeping her tone even.
“Law brought up the concern earlier. He thinks it best if you both come with us. Bash will guard you.”
Law.
Even after everything, he’s still helping me. He knew we needed this, and once again he’s come through. My heart swells, despite the bitterness I still harbor.
“We should probably get some rest then,” I say, standing. “Julian, do you have a room I can sleep in? I’m sure you’ll want to be alone with Marina, and no offense, but I wouldn’t sleep in that bed again anyway.” I lift my brows suggestively to indicate I know full well what they’ve been up to in that room.
Julian grins and Marina sticks her tongue out at me.
“Mature, Rina.”