Iniquitous (The Marked #3)(76)

He exhaled gruffly, knowing he wasn’t going to change my mind about this. “Then I’m coming with you.”

“No,” I shook my head. “I have to do this alone. It’s not just about Order politics. This is my family.”

“There’s hardly a difference,” muttered Dominic, but I ignored him.

“A million things could go wrong, Jemma.” Trace folded his arms across his chest. “You’re not going alone.”

Gabriel and Dominic stood beside him in agreement. Suddenly, they were a united front.

Traitors.

“Dominic and I will secure the perimeter and keep an eye on things outside,” added Gabriel.

“The perimeter?” I looked at them like they had all lost their minds. “I’m going to my uncle’s house not a battle field.

“Same difference,” said Dominic.

“We still don’t know if your uncle was involved in the attack against you,” reminded Gabriel. “If he was, then it is very possible that he might tip off the Order while the two of you are talking.”

Crap on a cracker. He had a point.

“Fine,” I conceded begrudgingly. I may not have been afraid of my uncle anymore, but I also wasn’t stupid. He couldn’t be trusted. End of story. “But I’m doing the talking!”





33. DEAD GIRL TALKING


The late-morning sun slipped behind a thicket of gray clouds as Trace and I walked up the front steps of the Blackburn Estate. Gabriel and Dominic had parked the truck at the end of the driveway and were securing the border around the estate. Even though I had initially fought them on it, I felt safer knowing they were keeping an eye on things outside.

I rang the doorbell and waited. Granted, I could have easily kicked the door down and stormed inside the house like a hurricane rolling off the shore, but I decided to go with the more subtle approach. A dark shadow moved on the other side of the glass and then the door swung open.

My uncle’s face blanched as he took me in.

“Surprise,” I said flatly. “I’m alive.”

Okay, maybe I wasn’t that subtle after all.

“J-J-Jemma! Wha—hoaww—” He blinked rapidly as though his eyes were playing nasty little tricks on him.

“I know, right? It’s like seeing a ghost or something, except I’m not a ghost.” I titled my head to the side innocently and then asked, “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

“How did you…where did you…?” His stammering abruptly relented as his eyes thinned with suspicion. “I see. Well, yes. Yes, of course. Where are my manners?” He took a small step back as if to give us enough space to enter, though he didn’t actually say the words.

I rolled my eyes at him. “I’m not a Revenant,” I said and then walked into the house.

Trace followed in close behind me. His shoulders were tense and his jaw was clamped shut. He looked like he was working hard to stop himself from talking—or punching my uncle in the nose.

“And I’m not an Alt either,” I added when my uncle’s eyes fell curiously on Trace, probably wondering if he had brought back a version of me from the past.

“Of course not.” He swallowed noisily as his mind tried to make sense out of everything. He looked so far out of the loop he probably couldn’t even see it from where he was standing.

I almost felt bad for him.

Almost.

I pulled the Amulet out from under my t-shirt and let him take a good hard look at it. It was time I put all my cards on the table and played the hand I was dealt.

His eyes widened into saucers. “The Immortal Amulet,” he whispered to himself and then wiggled his head from side to side. “It can’t be.”

“It can be, and it is.” I glanced down the hallway, towards the kitchen. “I think we have some things to discuss.”

“We certainly do.” His eyes never parted from the gleaming pendant dangling from my neck as though entranced by it. “My office,” he said and then gestured towards the grand staircase.

Tucking the Amulet back under my shirt, we turned and headed up the stairs to his office.

Once inside, Trace leaned back against the door as I sat down in the leather chair across my uncle’s desk. It was the very same chair I’d sat in when he told me the truth about my bloodlines all those months ago. I remembered how I had worried that I’d never fully get to see the world from his side of the looking glass, and as I sat there in that moment, I realized I had been right along.

I didn’t waste time mincing words with small talk. “I know the Order put that hit on me the night of Taylor’s party,” I began, my voice as steady as a rock. “And I’m pretty sure you were in on it.” I quickly held my hand up when he began to object. “It doesn’t really matter what you say. After all the lies you’ve told, I wouldn’t believe you anyway.”

He closed his mouth and pressed his hands into a steeple as the sad truth settled in between us.

“I don’t trust you nor do I respect you or the way your organization operates…but I do understand.”

“Really?” He appeared to be perplexed by this. “And what is it that you think you understand?”

“I’m not so stupid as to think that my measly little life would ever outweigh the lives of thousands, maybe millions. Not in the eyes of the Order anyway.”