Page 76 of My Trojan Horse Majesty

If Izzy was the descendant of Lechuza and Thanatos, her brother would be as well. Could she have bound Gustav to Gabe? If I wasn’t so upset right now, I might even laugh. No wonder I haven’t heard anything from him. He couldn’t find me, but even if he could, there’s not much he can do, either. He’s stuck like me, but to an overzealousteenage boy. If I weren’t in the middle of the worst meet-the-parents ever, I might feel sorry for him.

“We aren’t meeting you at your hotel,” Abigail says. “The only place we’ll consider is neutral ground.” She folds her arms.

“Fine,” I say. “Tell us where.”

“And we’re supposed to believe that you’ll come?” Steve’s frowning.

“I’m many things,” I say, “but I’m sure that Katerina and Alexei will begrudgingly confirm that a liar isn’t one of them.”

They murmur for a moment, and then Abigail nods. “Fine. You can meet us at Limekiln—in fact, you can drive over with us.” She drops a hand on Steve’s arm. “We’ll follow along behind them the entire way.”

He glares, but then he sighs. “Fine.”

I direct my people to head back to the hotel, which they aren’t pleased about. Boris and Mikhail especially are upset, but they do listen. I don’t like it either, but I know how to keep my people in line. I’m pretty sure Abigail and Steve aren’t planning on showing up without an entourage. In fact, I’m quite sure I’m walking into an ambush—they’re just changing the location.

Izzy doesn’t say a word as we walk to the car and when I climb in—she doesn’t even ask to drive or hassle me for doing it myself. “You alright?”

She turns toward me slowly. “I—I’ve dated a loser for years. Everyone disliked him, and I was the only one too stupid to see it.”

This isn’t starting off very well.

“Now, one day after we break up, I’m kind of dating you.”

“Well, it’s easier to explain that we’re dating than to say we’re soul-bonded, but?—”

“You just told the world we were,” she says, but she doesn’t sound angry. She sounds. . .tired.

“I know.” I squeeze the wheel. “I’m sorry about that.”

“It’s fine.” She’s staring at her hands. “It’s—I didn’t stop you from saying it. In fact, I felt fine with it during that interview, and I wasn’t upset when Lechuza came to see us. But if I’ve learned anything in the past week, it’s thatclearlyI have bad judgment.”

“Your judgment?—”

She shakes her head. “You don’t get to disagree, because you hated Tim, too.”

She’s right about my feelings on Tim. “But I don’t think your admiration for him, or your defense of him once you’d decided to like him, was a flaw. You defend what’s yours. That’s admirable.”

“You know what’s more admirable? Knowing when someone’s bad and not letting them take advantage of me and others I love.”

I can’t argue with her about that. I don’t want to argue with her at all, but I have a feeling this meeting’s about to go really, really badly. Normally, I’d be making a backup plan, and then a diabolical contingency plan to follow behind the backup plan.

But any plan I make in this case would possibly harm her family.

Which would only make her hate me more.

Boris and Mikhail were probably right. There’s no way for me to win today. For years, I’ve been fine with doing the hard things. I’ve been okay with eliminating the bad guys in ways others didn’t approve of in order to make a safer place here on earth. I’ve never cared whether people approved of my methods, or whether they thought I was worthy of the powers I’ve been given. But today, for the first time, I really hate being a villain.

Limekiln, as it turns out, is on the side of the mountain, just a tiny hike right outside of the city. It’s a twelve-minute drive from the capitol building, and then a quarter-mile hike. It’s just far enough away that we might not blow up Salt Lake if our argument goes badly. It feels like a fight’s imminent, and I don’t have powers unless I’m touching Izzy, so I’m guessing I’m going to march in there and take a real beating.

I wonder whether I can still choke down on the other people’s powers. . .including Gustav’s. I haven’t tried since waking, but I’ve been a little distracted. I reach for Izzy’s hand to see, but she yanks it away. I guess I won’tbetrying anytime soon, which is pretty unfortunate. It could save us all from a bloodbath.

“Why are they so sure that you’re a bad guy?” Izzy turns toward me—I can feel her eyes on the side of my face.

I keep staring at the road—I don’t want to scare her off. “I am a bad guy,” I say. “Or at least, by their reckoning, I am.”

“Tell me what they’ll say.”

“I kidnapped a woman, thinking she was Kristiana, and then I found out she was someone else. I held her, threatening to kill her to try and find out where the woman I wanted was being held.”

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