Page 38 of Thief of Night
“But we should be sharing it,” she said. “You’re—”
“I’m not Remy. I’m his echo.”
Adeline made a sad face. “You’re what’s left of him.”
“No, he’s not,” Charlie spat. She thought of Salt calling him a parasite and how he hadn’t seemed insulted by that. “You’re aperson. A whole person. Not an echo. Not what’s left.”
A whole person who wanted her dead. She had no idea why she was so furious on his behalf.
“Of course,” Adeline said after a beat of surprise.
“If you want me to have some of your inheritance, Addy,” Red said, looking from Charlie to her, “you can justgiveit to me. But I don’t need it.”
“I told Peter I wanted the money to be a gift.” She waved a hand in the air. “But there’s some kind of tax thing. He says it’s better for you to get your portion of Salt’s estate through the court. I’m in the process of selling off a few of the companies I inherited and I used some of the money to—well, it doesn’t matter. We’ll have so much that we can live whatever kind of life we want. When you become Remy, you can walk away from everything holding you back.”
“Not from the Cabals,” Charlie said.
Adeline’s gaze went to her. “Talk to them. Find out what would make them let Red go. How much would it take?”
Charlie thought of her conversation with Vicereine. “You know that won’t work. You’ve already spoken with them. Your lawyer has spoken with them. And if you keep pushing, they’re going to get mad and push back.”
Adeline made a face. “They don’t want to seem as though they can be pushed around. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t something…”
People said that there were things money couldn’t buy, but Charlie wasn’t so sure. Sure, you couldn’t buy love, but it was easier to love someone who wasn’t stressed about cash, who could cover the bill at restaurants, who didn’t have to work two jobs to make ends meet. You couldn’t buy health, but there were so many ways that money made it easier to not get sick, and to get better if you were. Maybe the Cabals wouldn’t exchange Red’s freedom formoneydirectly,but Adeline could be right. Money could supply a carrot—and if that didn’t work, it could apply a stick. But the Cabals had a lot of sticks themselves.
“They asked me to give you a warning,” Charlie told her, wishing they hadn’t come. Her nerves were fried from creeping out after Red last night. She was exhausted, sad, and still sore. More than that, she hated Salt’s mansion. Every time she entered it, she felt the helplessness and terror of her younger self. All she wanted was to leave.
Red held up the papers. “Thanks for these, Addy. We should go.”
“Well?” she said. “Shall we all head to Peter’s office? Get this done?”
He shook his head. “I’ll take it from here.”
Adeline’s eyes widened in surprise, as though she wasn’t used to him pushing back, even that small amount. “We need to go together. I have to sign the power of attorney form and the bank—”
“I don’t want any of that,” Red said.
Charlie saw what was about to happen, even if he didn’t. Adeline wasn’t going to let him have anything unless he signed over his life to her. But if that wasn’t enough to motivate him, she had other means. Carrot and stick, just like her father.
“I can’t let you be on your own,” Adeline said, putting her hand on his arm. “Red, you don’t understand the world yet. You need to let me help you.”
Adeline knew his secret. One word from her and he got nothing, but far worse, hewasnothing. And while Adeline might put that nicely or dance around it a little longer, the threat was coming:you’re not a person, you’re a Blight.
Footsteps interrupted them.
Red glanced up at the woman descending the stairs and froze in the act of pulling away from Adeline.
Her smile became all satisfaction, a cat slumbering in a sunbeam. “You can’t go yet, Remy darling. There’s someone else who wants to see you. I promised we’d eat brunch together.”
The woman on the stairs had silver hair and a particularly patrician look. While elderly, she was notably younger than Salt. Red stared at her as though stricken.
As she descended, the woman’s eyes shone with tears.
Fiona’s sweet boy,Odette had said about Remy. Odette, who had once upon a time known both Salt and his first wife. And that was who this must be. Salt’s first wife, Fiona.
“Remy,” Adeline said. “It’s your grandmother.”
“I know who she is,” Red snarled, voice sharp with horror.
