“Dragons are good savers, Grace. And we figured out early that real estate was a great addition to the hoard.”

“Apparently,” I answer, even as my mind boggles.

And Flint thinks I’m going to be able to set up a Gargoyle Court? Is he serious? Sure, my parents left me enough money that I don’t have to worry for a while, but that’s a far cry from being able to afford an apartment in a building like this, let alone the entire building.

And something tells me the other Courts are just as elaborate, which equates to me being totally screwed. I mean, if I decide I actually want to try to do this Circle thing—which I haven’t. At all.

But that’s a problem for another day, because the mirrored elevator doors are opening and Nuri is waiting for us…along with six armed guards in full Dragon Court regalia.

“Seize him!” she orders, and I don’t even need to turn around to know that she’s pointing directly at Hudson.

72

Cuff Me Not

“Mom!” Flint exclaims, throwing a hand out to stop them as the guards get ready to rush the elevator. “What are you doing?”

Their hesitation is all I need, and I move quickly to put myself squarely in front of Hudson. But he’s not having it—one second I’m moving to block him and the next he’s directly in front of me.

“Stay back, Grace,” he growls.

“I will not!” I snap, already reaching for the platinum string that will at least give me a fighting chance against whatever this ambush is.

But Hudson isn’t budging, and for the first time, I understand just how immovable a vampire can be—especially one as powerful as Hudson. Because gargoyle or not, there’s no way I’m getting in front of him if he doesn’t want me there. And right now, he definitely doesn’t.

“What’s this about, Nuri?” Hudson demands in a voice as cold as a Arctic snowbank.

“That’s Queen Nuri to you,” she snarls, “and I think you know exactly what this is about. Or are you naive enough to think that you’d be able to come to my Court, without consequences, after what you did to my Damien?”

“I knew exactly what would happen if I came here. Nice to know you didn’t disappoint.” He lifts a brow. “Then again, like mother, like son, right? Isn’t that how the old adage goes?”

Her face turns crimson with so much rage that her voice is shaking when she pivots to the guards and says, “What are you waiting for?”

They move forward as one, and I freak out, knowing there’s no way Hudson is going to let me through to put myself between him and them. But ultimately, I don’t have to, because Luca does it for me. And so do Eden and Macy.

“You can’t do this,” Macy cries. “I know you’re sad over Damien—”

“It’s already done,” Nuri answers coldly. “The only question now is how many of you are going to end up in cells right next to him.”

“All of us,” Luca growls, but I notice Flint hasn’t moved.

“Is that true?” Nuri’s eyes go among Macy, Luca, Eden, and me. “Are you really going to risk everything for this vampire?” She says it like it’s a dirty word. “After what he did?”

“Yeah,” Macy says. “We are.”

“No, you’re not,” Hudson tells her, and for the first time, he sounds a little unsteady, like he can’t believe this is happening.

Not the threat of imprisonment, I realize as I watch his face in the mirror, but the fact that someone is standing up for him. That someone has his back (in my case, quite literally).

“Can we just be frank here?” Eden asks, then continues before Nuri gives her any kind of leave to do so. “Damien was an asshole. I loved him, Your Majesty, just like I know Flint loved him. But he was still an asshole, and his death was his own fault.”

“You dare to come into my house and speak ill of my dead son?” Nuri demands. “Your family line isn’t strong enough for that.”

“With all due respect, this isn’t about my family line,” Eden snarls. “This is about your son never being the man you wanted him to be, and everyone here knows it. You can pretend all you want, but I’ve spent almost my entire life at Court, and it was common knowledge. I’ve also gotten to know Hudson, and he’s turning out to be ten times the man your son was.”

Nuri stumbles back like she’s been hit, and I hold my breath, waiting to hear what she’s going to say. Waiting to find out if this nightmare is going to end or if it’s just beginning. For a second, she looks older—much older than she did on the Ludares field—and frail, like a stray thought might knock her over.

But then she tamps down her sorrow right in front of us. She pulls herself up so that she looks every inch of her regal six feet plus, looks down her aquiline nose, and orders, “Take her, too.”

“For what, Mom? For speaking her mind?” Flint weighs in for the first time in what feels like forever. “That’s what Cyrus does—we’re not like that.”

She ignores him, choosing instead to stare down the guards as she waits for them to do what she orders. And while they were more than happy to haul Hudson to the dungeon or wherever they put people in buildings like this, they apparently aren’t nearly as excited about arresting a young dragon female for doing nothing worse than speaking truth to power.

But Nuri is not budging, and as tense seconds tick by, I think we all come to understand that.

Against the protests of Luca, Macy, and me, Hudson steps out from behind our friends, making sure to cover their bodies with his as he does. “I’ll go with the guards if you leave Eden and the rest of them alone.”

Nuri quirks one imperious brow. “You’ll go with the guards no matter what.”

“Maybe I will,” he agrees with his own arrogant brow lift. “Or maybe I’ll level this entire building instead. Want to try me?”

Her gaze flicks down to the magical bracelet he’s wearing, the one that everyone knows grounds his power. He just smirks in response. Then he reaches down and unhooks it, holding it up for everyone to see before dropping it at her feet.

Macy gasps, Eden laughs, and Luca looks around like he’s trying to find a support beam to crawl under before remembering he’s on an elevator.

I don’t even have time to process why his bracelet hasn’t worked this entire time. But I send him a look in the mirror that says we most definitely will discuss it later. Right now, I am focused on keeping him out of prison.

Nuri studies him from narrowed eyes, like she’s assessing him and trying to decide if she wants to call his bluff. But in the end, she just shrugs and says, “Leave the girl. But take him to the cell I have waiting for him.”

“Hudson, no!” I try to grab on to his arm, try to make eye contact in the mirror in front of us again. “You don’t have to do this.”

“It’s fine, Grace,” he says dismissively, then peels my hand off him and lets it drop, like I’m nothing more than a gnat.

It’s not what I expect from him. The blankness in his eyes when they meet mine is so foreign that I can feel everything inside me shrivel. I tell myself that it’s just an act he’s putting on for Nuri’s benefit, that his father taught him anything he loves can be used as a weapon against him, but that doesn’t stop my stomach from clenching or my hands from going clammy with fear.

I don’t know where she’s taking him. I don’t know what she plans to do or what she hopes to accomplish other than avenging her lost son. But as I watch the guards slap chains on Hudson’s wrists and ankles, the looks on my friends’ faces tell me that whatever it is, it’s not going to be good.

73

I’m Not Buying

What You’re Celling

We watch in silence as the guards drag Hudson away. He’s not fighting them at all, but they’re either extra scared of him or extra sadistic, because they’ve put the chains on extra tight—which makes it really, really hard for him to walk. Of course, maybe that’s the point.

Either way, Nuri has a small, pleased smile on her face as she watches them disappear with him around another corner. To the freight elevator, I wonder frantically, or to a prison she set up for him on this floor? My guess is the freight elevator, and I make a note to ask Mrs. Jamieson where it is later, because there is no way he’s spending a night in prison. No fucking way.

Once the sound of the chains scraping against the expensive flooring dissipates, Nuri turns to us with a gracious smile. “Let me show you to your rooms now.”

It’s the most bizarre thing she could possibly have said in this moment, that it takes me a few seconds to even process it. But when I do, I turn on her with all the fear and rage bottled up inside me. “You don’t actually think we’re going to hide in our rooms like good little boys and girls after what you just did, do you?”