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Behind Fey, Joy was busy telling Willow all about what was going to happen next, her words running together with excitement. There would be a ceremony, Willow’s official induction, by the Queen herself. And, of course, before that there would be a final test—an official assignation, given to her by Dameon on behalf of the Crown. One last obstacle to prove her mettle.

Fey looked back over her shoulder to smile at them.

The test wouldn’t be a problem. She could tell already that Willow was the one. Not just a potential member of the Queen’s Blades, but another sister. This was the family she had needed when she was a little girl, growing up in that hell. This was the family all of them needed. And little Willow, fierce and determined, bringing Fey to the floor with a combination of pride and rage, fit right into their hearts. Fey loved her already.

Willow would become one of them and she would be good, Fey knew.

No, not good—Willow would be great.

But she could never replace Alice.

It had broken something inside of them, the night Alice died. The night someone had planted enough explosives in her safe house apartment to nearly take down the building.

Alice was working alone on an assignation in the week leading up to her death. Dameon had hinted to them it had something to do with devil dust, an out-of-fashion party drug that was suddenly seeing a revival in the club scene. The Crown wanted it handled, wanted it gone, and that was their job, after all. No matter what the problem was—or more often, who the problem was—the Queen’s Blades handled it. Quickly and efficiently.

And when the four of them finished a job, no one found the bodies unless they wanted them to be found.

Lilith, Joy, and Fey had been working together to take down a rogue Lesser Demon on the outskirts of the city, one that had already left two young Witches dead. Alice told them she could handle her assignation on her own, without their help. Fey believed her, of course. They had always believed her.

And they kept believing her right up until her apartment in their safe house exploded and she was wiped from the face of the earth in one horrible moment of fire and pain.

Dameon had been the one to break the news to them, but in truth, they’d known the moment it happened. The four of them were linked, so close that each of the remaining three had felt her sudden absence like the loss of a limb. Fey knew she’d remember that moment until the day she’d die—the tightness in her chest, and the sudden feeling like something had been ripped out of her, leaving a hollow void where there had once been light. She’d heard Joy’s scream and felt the loss and devastation coming off her like a wave. And they’d known. Known Alice was gone.

Alice wasn’t even supposed to be at her apartment that night. When they’re on the job it is protocol to return to the palace, to their connected rooms. There’s safety in numbers, in staying hidden and together. That was protocol, and Alice was a stickler for protocol.

But she hadn’t come back to the palace that night. She’d gone to one of their shared safe houses in the city, her favorite little apartment, the one with the veranda and all her plants. The one they all thought of as hers. Alice had broken protocol, and in doing so she’d gotten herself killed.

She left behind nothing, no clues about her investigation, no evidence to point them toward her murderer. Just a gaping hole in their chests where she’d once been. A hole Fey wasn’t sure could ever really be filled.

Chapter 7

The Last Drop was not where Fey had envisioned spending the rest of her evening.

And as far as night clubs went, it didn’t have a lot going for it. Sure, the music was great, the atmosphere dark and dripping with sex…

But why in all hell had Joy picked a Fallen nightclub?

Fey sighed, drumming her fingertips on the table, watching a bull-horned Demon chatting up a wide-eyed Doe Shifter two tables over. She should have put up more of a fight when Joy had insisted that the three of them go out to celebrate with Willow. But Willow had been so thrilled with the idea of going out in the Eternal City, of spending time with them all, and getting to know her new sisters. And Joy? Well… how can you say no to those big puppy dog eyes of hers when she had her mind set on something?

You couldn’t. The world would stop spinning the day she said no to Joy when she got that look in her eyes.

But now with the excitement of Willow’s trials and progress behind them, and her muscles starting to grow heavy from a full day of training, Fey couldn’t help but feel like she’d rather be back in their rooms luxuriating in a hot bath. Hell, she thought, she’d take a lukewarm shower over this place. Usually, Fey was all for the nightlife of the city, happy to dance and drink the night away with her sisters at her side, stumbling back to their rooms at dawn exhausted and still a little drunk. With their sigils hidden and their masks, their gear, back at home, it was one of the few times they were all allowed out to be themselves. But today she just couldn’t get into the spirit of it.

It didn’t help that this wasn’t one of their usual clubs. Fey had never even heard of this club before tonight. It was in the Fallen section of the city, on the outskirts of the Shifter district, and the clientele reflected that. Looking around at all the Shifters, Demons, and even a few Vampires filling up the dance floor, Fey would have bet a full gold mark that they were the only Witches there tonight.

The heavy bass of the club’s music beat in time with the growing pulse of her headache as Fey watched Joy and Willow sashay their way through the crowd to their booth, both Witches looking perfectly in their element here. Joy’s golden blonde hair spilled over her bare tan shoulders as she moved seductively across the dance floor. Her turquoise dress clung to her like a second skin, and more than a few men turned to watch her as the crowd parted to make room for her.

Next to her, Willow looked almost modest in comparison. She wore her hair down, the highlights in her natural curls catching the flashing lights of the dance floor. She’d picked a corset top and tight black jeans to wear tonight—by far the most clothing out of all of them.

Compared to what Lilith was wearing tonight, Willow looked positively pious.

Fey had raided Joy’s closet, and though she was just a tad curvier than Joy, her clothes usually fit just fine. Tonight, she wore the twin to Joy’s turquoise dress, in ivory white, though Fey’s curves pulled the hem a little higher on her thighs and showed a bit more cleavage. The color made her red hair pop, and from the way men in the club were looking at her, she knew she could have her pick from the crowd tonight.

Joy deposited their drinks on the table and pushed one in front of Fey. “Where’s Lilith?” she asked, yelling to be heard over the music.

Fey smiled and motioned across the neon lighting of the dance floor and toward the bathrooms, where she’d seen Lilith disappear a few minutes previously. It had taken Lilith less than a minute to find and capture the hottest male in the club—a Lion Shifter by the look of him. By the time they’d headed off together, her hands were already fumbling with his fly and his had been making their way down the front of her dress.

“Oh!” Joy’s eyebrows shot up to her hairline. Willow giggled, and Fey grinned and winked at her.