Page 60 of A Mastery of Monsters

“I didn’t want you to tell Henry. Because then the society would get involved. And what if they—” I swallow.

“Kill him?”

“Yes.”

Virgil stares at me for a long moment before he says, “You think I would have done anything to put your brother in danger—”

“You follow the rules!” I say, voice rising. “You do what you’re supposed to do. Are you telling me your first instinct when I told you wasn’t to tell Henry?”

“He can help!”

“You think he would help? Or would he see the fact that I have a brother running around like that as an obvious stain on me and therefore on Adam and his campaign and want to get rid of Jules? Henry doesn’t know me! He doesn’t care about me, and he doesn’t care about my brother.”

“ I care about you!” Virgil says, leaning forward. “So I’ll make him care.”

The room is too hot suddenly. I lick my lips, which only makes them drier.

Virgil clears his throat. “Like… we’re partners and stuff. You’re doing this to help your brother, so I wouldn’t put him in a bad position, but I’m sorry I made you feel like you couldn’t tell me.”

The door opens, and Corey bursts in waving around a massive black bat stuffed toy. “Her name is Emily, and she wants to be an astronomer, and I love her!” She pauses, looking between us. “What?”

After we catch her up to speed, Corey sags against the door, hugging Emily the Bat. “Two unregistered monsters.”

“Meaning two Masters,” Virgil says. “It has to be people higher up, like we suspected. It’s the only explanation for why the society isn’t doing anything about it or is having trouble detecting them. Whichever it is.”

I say, “A Doctorate candidate could still be involved indirectly. James wants to win the election, and he hates me. This stuff with Jules could be like a distraction or something. Otherwise, why wait until late summer to kill someone when Jules was bonded in February? Plus, Adam told me that Cyrus died in November. They’ve known about the election since then and waited until the Bachelor nomination to announce so they could prep for it. He would have had time to plan.”

“Adam told you when?” Virgil asks.

I shrug. “He gave me a ride home from the first test.”

“Adam did?!”

“It wasn’t creepy.”

“I didn’t think it was creepy!”

“Let’s refocus,” Corey says. “What’s being done with Jules isn’t actually disrupting anything because someone in the society is making sure no one pays attention to it.

What’s the benefit for James?” She bites her lip.

“The Pro-Libs used to create unregistered monsters. The serum is locked up tight now, but what if they kept some of what was originally stolen for the rebellion? Natalie still has power too.”

I say, “I mean, it could work. She might have talked to the right people and found out Cyrus was dead early. It would explain why she’s suddenly resurfaced.

And she was arguing with Garrett at the nomination ceremony.

Maybe she was trying to rope him into it.

She also said something weird to me before the first test.”

Virgil asks, “When did you talk to her during the first test? How are you having all these side conversations?”

“I don’t know! People come to me. I was in the bathroom—” I clear my throat. “Using it.”

“Not at all a suspicious pause, but okay.”

“And she started talking about, like, how she had someone to fight for once and not anymore, et cetera. Then she told me to break a leg.”

Corey squishes Emily the Bat closer to her chest. “There were rumors that Natalie and her previous partner were…”

“Intimate,” Virgil finishes.

“I thought that was forbidden,” I say.

Corey says, “It is. That’s why it was a rumor and not a fact.

A little while after the rebellion got broken up, Natalie was sent out on a mission to deal with a bitten monster.

When she got there, there were six bitten and already transformed.

They descended. It was a blood bath. When backup came, her partner was already dead. ”

“Shit,” I breathe.

“There was some discussion about whether it was just bad circumstances or by design.”

“As in, Cyrus punishing her or something?”

She nods. “But I don’t know why she’d share that with you.”

I shrug, choosing not to mention the additional things Natalie said about me fighting for someone.

Technically she was right, I’m competing for Jules.

But how could she know that? She must have meant Virgil.

She’d obviously misinterpreted our relationship as more than it is, making some connection between me and Virgil and her and her rumored nonplatonic partner.

Still, why was she even paying that much attention to me?

“What I don’t get,” Virgil says, “is how does that relate to targeting QBSS? What does Natalie have to gain?”

It’s a question I don’t have a complete answer for, but I do have some idea of motive. I just need to come at it carefully. “What about those artifacts that Joseph Lawrence took? Could someone want those? Maybe that’s the whole point. To get their hands on those and do something with them.”

Corey says, “There’s been no evidence of them anywhere since he took them. QBSS might have them, but they might not. I think it’s more likely that they’re trying to stir up old resentments. Cause issues. Does Riley think it has something to do with the artifacts?”

“No, no, just spitballing.” Fuck, it’s complicated going at this while protecting Riley’s shit. I’ve had to lie outright, which I didn’t want to do.

“Either way,” Virgil says, “we know that we’re looking for two Masters.”

Corey adds, “And once we find them, we can have the Doctorate break the bond between the Master and your brother.”

“And once the tie is severed, what then?” I ask.

Virgil and Corey look at each other and then away. Corey says, “Maybe we should cross that bridge when we get to it—”

“No. Tell me. Tell me right now.”

She swallows. “He’d be out of control again. He’ll need to be bonded to someone new or they’ll put him in the Pen. And that’s assuming they don’t kill him for his crimes.”

I knew my fears weren’t unfounded. Even if we save Jules, he’ll immediately be in danger again.

“We don’t know what will happen until we get these Masters,” Virgil says.

“We could make a good case for Jules, get him a new partner, and keep him alive. We’ll prove he’s innocent.

We have Henry and Adam on our side. If you’re okay with it, we can update Henry and Margot and see what’s possible.

I know you don’t trust him, but trust that we—that I —wouldn’t let him do anything to hurt Jules. ”

I look into his eyes.

Without even realizing, I created this expectation to save Jules with no help and was drowning under the weight of it. Under the pain of already feeling I’d failed. Already disappointing myself.

It’s different now. I’m not the only one trying to save him.

I never had to be.

Jules was always the person I shared that burden with. The weight of what our parents wanted from us was less when we were together. With him gone, I assumed that was gone too.

Once upon a time, Jules was all I had.

But not anymore.

“Okay,” I say.