But, I realize suddenly, Liv did.
She kissed Drew Grady. With my gloss on her lips.
The pieces tumble into place quickly. The way Drew happened to show up at my door right after I arrived back in town. The eagerness with which he kept hanging around even after he realized I was interested in Caleb. The way he moved on seamlessly to Liv, which still kept him in my immediate circle of trusted friends. The truck crash that would have most likely killed me if I hadn’t reached for my stone.
He’s the Main de Lumière soldier, the one Aloysius Vauclain said had gone rogue.
There’s only one question left. “Why the hell are you doing this?”
“What, did you think we were friends?” His laughter is coarse and cruel. “I know all about you and your slutty sister queens. I know how you’ve been making yourselves richer at our expense. You’re everything that’s wrong with this society, but it stops tonight.”
“You don’t understand, Drew,” I protest as he drags me farther into the alley. “You’re making a mistake.”
“Shut up, Eveny,” he sneers. “And try to relax. It’ll only hurt for a minute when I stop your heart.”
UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—NOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
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32
Drew pulls me toward the end of a long, closed passageway between two dilapidated buildings, and as he does, the sounds of Bourbon Street become more and more muted behind us. As Drew jerks me closer, he presses the knife deeper into my side in warning. He’s already sliced through my robe, and I can feel the knife cutting into my skin.
“I’ve been training for this moment for a long time,” he says as we move deeper into the blackness. He shoves me against a wall. “Nothing’s getting in my way tonight.”
Hands shaking, I reach up and rip his mask off. I’m unprepared for the wide range of emotions I see playing across his face. His features are twisted in anger, but I also see sadness and regret.
“How long have you been part of Main de Lumière?” I ask.
He rips off my mask too and pins me against the wall. “They came to me when I was thirteen and told me everything: the way you zandara whores destroy the balance of the universe; the way you keep getting richer while people like me suffer; the way every little thing in your pathetic lives is fake.”
“They’re just using you, Drew.”
This earns me a slap across the face. “You don’t know a damned thing. We’re not in Carrefour anymore. This is my game now.” He calms down after a pause and resumes his story. “They told me that ending your life was the only way to fix things. All I had to do was learn Main de Lumière’s tactics and wait for you to come home.”
Something in his eyes flickers, and he looks away.
“But you didn’t even know I’d be back,” I say.
“Of course I did. Main de Lumière knew. It was only a matter of time until your aunt decided you’d be safer in Carrefour. And I was paid handsomely to train in methods of murdering zandara practitioners while we waited for your return.”
I reach for my Stone of Carrefour, but Drew sees me and grabs my hand before I can get to it. He pins both of my arms against the wall above my head and sneers at me. “Really, Eveny? You really thought I’d let you use your evil magic on me?”
I struggle to get away, but he holds me tighter. Finally, I relax my arms. “I don’t understand how you could hate me so much.”
“It’s not really about you,” he says. “It’s about the bigger picture.”
I take a deep breath. “You were my friend when I was a kid—my mom was friends with your mom—and you threw that all away because they fed you some lies about zandara and promised to pay you?”
He glares at me. “You’re stupider than I thought. Of course it’s not just for money. Once they told me about who you really were, I began to understand how much you queens are screwing with fate and the lives of my friends and family. I saw the good Main de Lumière was doing by eliminating people like you from the world. And you know what? I wanted to be a part of it.”
“How can you say that?”
“There’s a balance to the universe,” he says flatly, almost as if he’s reciting something he’s memorized. “And you and your slutty, greedy friends have been violating that balance. We’re restoring the world to its natural order.”
“Murdering people isn’t the answer.”
He casually twirls his knife, studying it as it catches the light of a streetlamp. “I don’t see another way, and neither did General Vauclain. My orders have always been to kill you as soon as you started using your powers. And if I let you go back to Carrefour, I won’t have another chance.”