Binding the Shadows (Arcadia Bell #3)(67)

“Wrong. It’s between you and my family.”

“He’ll always be my son.”

“But when are you going to start acting like his mother?”

“It was just wine, for the hundredth time!” She slammed her heel against the car frame in aggravation.

“He’s falling down drunk!”

“I never said he could have more than a glass.”

“You left him alone at the table.”

“Just for a minute!”

“Liar. He told me what happened.” I stepped closer and stuck my hand in her coat pocket.

“What are you doing?” she said, squirming.

“Where is it? Jupe told me you were buying drugs. Is Evan a dealer?” I tried the other pocket. “He promise you something that would amp up your knack?”

She jerked away from me with a grunt. But I managed to get a hand inside her dress pocket. Bingo. The glass vial, filled with red liquid. Exactly the same as the other bottle of bionic juice.

“I didn’t use any!” she protested desperately. “I’m clean, I swear.”

I pocketed the vial. “It’s not something you should be allowed anywhere near. Your knack is already amped up enough as it is.”

“Ethan said it was magic, not a drug. He said I couldn’t get addicted to it. I just wouldn’t have to worry about showing my horns to use my knack.”

I couldn’t think of anything more destructive for someone like her. “What’s the matter with you, for the love of God? You encouraged Jupe to drink and left him alone so you could cut a drug deal?”

“I don’t need to watch Jupe every second. He’s a teenager, not a baby.”

“And he wanted to spend time with you. How often do you see him, Yvonne? Once a year? You didn’t see him last year at all—I know that much. Why? What could be so important to you that you couldn’t come visit? He’s a f*cking joy to be around.”

She choked out a laugh. “Don’t tell me what he’s like. I know. I carried him inside me. I raised him.”

“No, Lon raised him.”

“I was there whenever I could be—I had a demanding career. And I made a few mistakes. I can’t keep paying for them.”

“Then stop making them.”

“Who the hell are you to be passing judgment on me? How long have you even been in the picture? A few months? You think because you’re Lon’s newer model, you can just waltz in here and take my place? A twenty-five-year-old bartender? Think again, honey.”

Dark anger coursed through me. “You should be grateful for every second you spend with him, because you don’t deserve him. And you’re breaking his heart.”

“Spare me.” She wriggled against the bonds on her wrists. “Jupiter’s always been emotional and needy. He’ll do whatever it takes to get attention. He used to fake tears all the time when he was little.”

“He’s not little anymore. But you wouldn’t know that, because you don’t know him.”

“I know he’s more like me than anyone cares to admit. He’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants. And what are you going to do when he comes into his knack? What if he inherits mine? If the whole family treats him like they’ve treated me, he’ll come running to his mother, because I’m the only one who understands what it’s like to wield this kind of power.”

Jupe hadn’t told her about his knack? I was stunned. I thought surely that would be the first thing he spilled when they spent time alone. He brags about it whenever he gets the chance. Hell, he’d have it printed on a T-shirt if he could.

Then it struck me: Jupe doesn’t trust her. Lon has told him time and time again to be careful about revealing it to people who might use it against him. Jesus. For all the dumbass mistakes that kid made, there were just as many times he made smart decisions.

“Maybe you don’t fully get what I can do,” she said, misinterpreting my silence.

“Believe me. I’ve heard all about it.”

“Seeing is believing.”

Her halo flickered. The air shuddered, just like it did when Lon transmutated. It felt like a cavalry of galloping horses—something enormous approaching. I knew it from the first beat, when the gold in her halo began to dominate the green and rose up over her head and shoulders like a gilded campfire.

Her blindfold ripped as milky brown horns sprouted into existence. But where Lon’s came in above his temples and looped into burnished spirals, hers were straight and tilted back and up toward the crown of her head, maybe a foot or longer in length.

Impressive. Even more so when her torn blindfold fell to her neck. Her green eyes were now golden. She was stunning. So incredibly beautiful. Dazzling. A rapturous shudder went through me.

And if she hadn’t snapped her wrist bonds, I might’ve fallen under her sway, despite the ring. But that simple motion caught my gaze, and the second my eyes dropped from hers, I came to my senses.

The Moonchild power roared toward me. I embraced it like a friend, delighting in the darkness that fell. Just as I had in Hajo’s elevator, I felt a foreign coolness rippling down my torso, and God help me, I felt the freaking tail sliding out from the hem of my shorts. Now that I knew it was coming, it wasn’t so bad . . . weird, but not bad. Weird I could handle, especially if it made me feel this crazily alive and powerful.