Page 44 of The Devil's Thorn
Kellan pulls open the back door as I approach. “Get in.”
I slide inside without a word.
Ash moves to the driver’s seat, door slamming shut just before the engine purrs to life. The heater kicks on, humming low, warming the air that still feels too cold.
Kellan turns in his seat, looking back at me.
“You’re quiet,” he says carefully.
“I’m thinking.”
Ash pulls out of the lot, merging into the main road. “Thinking about how close you were to setting that entire place on fire?”
I lean my head back against the seat, eyes on the ceiling. “Thinking about how easy it would’ve been.”
Kellan exhales through his nose. “You let him gettoo close,Iz.”
I blink once. “I wanted him to.”
“No,” he snaps. “Youplannedto. Doesn’t mean youwantedto.”
I don’t answer.
Because that silence says more than I want it to.
Ash glances at me in the mirror. “Was it worth it?”
My eyes drift to the window, the city lights blurring past like ghosts.
“I heard names,” I murmur. “Shipments. Routes. He trusts Nikolai like a brother. The others don’t speak unless he lets them.”
I pause. Swallow.
“He dismissed a woman who offered herself like a prize. But he listened when I spoke.”
Kellan leans back, staring at me. “That doesn’t scare you?”
“It should.”
And itdoes.
But I won’t admit that. Not even to them. Not when the real fear isn’t Rafael’s power or the world I’m walking into.
It’s how easily I matched him tonight. How natural it felt to stand at his side. And how much I didn’t want to walk away.
The car hums softly as it cuts through the city streets, headlights painting the world in fleeting streaks of white and shadow.
I don’t say much. None of us do. Because tonight was more than just a mission. It was a shift. In control. In power. In me.
And we all feel it.
Kellan breaks the silence first, turning slightly in his seat to look back at me.
“We’re staying at your place tonight.”
It’s not a question.
I raise an eyebrow. “You think I’m going to get jumped in the elevator or something?”
