Page 84 of Rule the Night
“So? We could do it as a favor.”
“What you’re suggesting is dangerous,” Bram said, his voice low.
“Everything about our lives is dangerous,” Remy said.
Bram folded his arms over his chest. “Where will it stop if we start killing random people just because we want to?”
“It’ll stop here,” Remy said, “because we’ll make it stop here.”
Bram shook his head. “You’re wrong.”
And the thing was, I knew what Bram was saying: that we liked killing too much for it to stop here, that if we removed the guardrails, eliminated the rules we’d established to keep us in line, we’d fall into the void of darkness that had been taunting us since we were little more than kids.
“It would be for her.” I didn’t need to say anything else. Bram could deny that he liked Maeve — could deny that she was different — all he wanted, but deep down he knew it was true.
“It doesn’t matter,” Bram said. “She lost the Hunt. This isn’t our problem.”
“She’s in pain,” Remy said.
“Don’t care,” Bram said.
But he did. I knew he did.
“Then we have to keep her from being reckless, at least while she’s here.” It was my least favorite option: Maeve in pain, us doing nothing to stop it, just biding our time until she walked out the door forever.
“Fine.” Bram stomped from the room, leaving Remy and me sitting in silence.
What you’re suggesting is dangerous.
Bram had been referring to the slippery slope of our moral low ground, but I couldn’t help thinking he’d meant something else too, that deep down he knew our moral boundaries were the least dangerous thing about having Maeve Haver under our roof.
That a lot more was at stake than the guardrails on our morality.
52
MAEVE
I spentthe next few days skulking around the house, avoiding the Butchers as much as I could. I didn’t want to talk about what had happened in the city and I definitely didn’t want to talk about our conversation afterwards, when Remy had brought me home.
Thankfully they seemed to pick up on my avoidance, and they mostly left me alone to cook and work.
I was still following Ethan Todd online. There weren’t many details about what he was up to, but he was still posting videos, and I kept an eye on the real estate listings in Blackwell Falls, especially the lavish ones that were typically bought by city people for summer holidays or skiing.
After six months overseas, I had a hunch Ethan would return to familiar stomping grounds, and someone with his money and his taste for the high life wasn’t going to rent some apartment above one of the storefronts on Main.
By noon on Wednesday I was sick of stalking Ethan Todd online, so I put on a pair of jeans and a T-shirt and strapped Rose on under my jacket. I was reaching for my sneakers when I heard June.
Boots!It’s fall. You need boots!
I sighed and switched to flat boots.
“Where are you headed?” Poe asked when I got to the living room.
He was sitting at the island, looking at his phone while Remy played video games and Bram worked on his computer at the dining room table.
“Why don’t you check the app?” It was snarky but they deserved it.
“I’d rather just ask.”
