Page 163 of Queen of Volts

“Rebecca?” Harvey guessed. He knew that didn’t make sense, but nothing made sense.

Bryce groaned. “You,Harvey. This game has always been bound to you.”

Harvey stilled and lowered the telephone.Him?After months of being thrown out, discarded, Harvey could hardly believe these words.

“You kicked me out,” Harvey said flatly.

“Only because of the omerta. You couldn’t stay here.”

“But I...should be sick,” Harvey croaked. “I should be dying like she is.”

Bryce shook his head. “Only shade-makers and orb-makers can be corrupted. Not—”

“You still told me nothing!”

“I couldn’t risk anyone finding out!” Bryce’s voice rose, and he leaned closer, threateningly closer. “I never wanted to make you leave. I hated not telling you. And I was being honest when I told you that I missed how things were between us. When you came back...” He swallowed. “I thought I had you back. But I don’t, do I?”

He wasn’t manipulating me, Harvey realized.He did want this. Us.

But where did that leave Harvey?

Guilt washed over him, in all the familiar places. Bryce wasn’t a monster. He wasn’t.

“I have the Bargainer’s talents, her deals. And so I can remove the omerta,” Bryce continued. “It’ll be an easy exchange. You could forget about everyone else. You could forget the someone else, literally. We could start over. You—”

“I couldforgethim?” Harvey repeated incredulously. He didn’t want to forget Narinder. “Is that what you’d do? You’d take my memories?”

“I...I didn’t mean that. I just—”

“What did you mean?”

Bryce’s red eyes flashed. “I meant that I miss you! You can’t leave! If you leave, I’ll...” He ripped the receiver and speaker out of Harvey’s hand and slammed them down, ending the call. “I’ve been so sick. Rebecca nearly died trying to save me from Vianca—it was all my fault! I always mess things up. I can’t be better without you. I’ll do something terrible. I need you—”

“No,” Harvey said. Harvey knew enough about guilt to know that Bryce wasn’t his responsibility. He was not Bryce’s possession. He wasn’t his justification. And he loved Bryce—he’d always love Bryce—but he couldn’t do this anymore.

He knew the difference now.

“No,” Harvey repeated, shoving Bryce away. Except Bryce was stronger than him now—wildly so. He didn’t move at all. Harvey pushed again, fear clawing up his throat. “Let me leave. This is wrong and...I want to leave.”

“The others can’t stop me,” Bryce told him quietly. “It happened exactly as I planned it, when I made the shade to bind the Mizer and the orb-maker together. I led them to the hallway. I led them to theanswer. It was the only way to kill the Bargainer.” He smiled monstrously. “So who is left to kill me?”

Me, Harvey wished he could say. He’d never wished for power before, but in that moment, he’d give anything for it. Just because Rebecca was cured didn’t mean Bryce would stop wreaking havoc. And if the last Mizer had given up her talent already, then there really was no one left to defeat him.

But even so, it wasn’t Enne’s responsibility.

It was Harvey’s. It had always been Harvey’s.

Complicit.

Complicit.

Complicit.

Footsteps thundered down the hallway, and Rebecca appeared. She wore her own face instead of Ivory’s, and Harvey realized he should’ve noticed the difference in her health the last time they’d spoken, that she wasn’t just improved, she waswell. He might’ve, had he ever worked up the strength to ask harder questions.

“We have visitors,” Rebecca told them, Ivory’s bone blade clutched in her hand. “Do we leave?”

“No,” Bryce answered, turning away from Harvey. “No, we don’t.”