“Eternally romantic,” Ethan said, but began pulling on his clothes.
When we’d dressed—or enough to make the trip up one flight of stairs and down the hallway—Ethan turned off the lights, and we left the library in darkness.
We left the books to rest, and went to find darkness of our own.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
BED OF ROSES
When I woke, I found Ethan standing near the desk, staring at me. His body was tensed like that of a soldier preparing for battle, his expression was ice-cold, and a chilly wash of magic had coated the air.
He lifted his hand, held up a small, slightly crumpled piece of paper.
Shit, I thought as recognition dawned.
“Sentinel.” Every syllable was as crisp as his tone, each sound tipped with anger. “What, exactly, is this?”
It was the note from Reed, the one I’d crumpled and thrown into the trash—or thought I had. I must have missed. Ethan had seen it, picked it up, and definitely read it.
“And more to the point,” he continued, taking a step forward, “why have I not seen it before?”
There was no way to avoid it now. “Reed slipped it into yesterday’s paper, or had someone do it. He was just being an asshole, so I threw it away.”
“He threatens you, and you threw it away?”
“He doesn’t care about me, and you know it. Not any more than he cares about any of us. But he loves drama, Ethan, and I’m sure he was hoping you’d give him some.”
Ethan strode to me. “Have there been any others?”
“What? No. Of course not. Look, it doesn’t mean anything. It’s just more of the same. It’s the game he plays.”
With radiating fury, he moved back to the desk, threw the note onto it. “I can’t believe you hid this from me.”
I hadn’t, not very well. But if anything, this conversation proved I’d been right to try. “He’s baiting you, Ethan. And I’m not going to let that happen.”
“He’s threatening you. And I’m not going to let that happen!” He turned back to me. “Reed’s going to be at a charity event tonight at the Chicago Botanic Garden. We’re going. And we’re going to have a word.”
“No. Absolutely not. That’s the last thing—” I stopped, realizing what he’d confessed. “Wait. How do you know where Adrien Reed is going to be tonight?”
“That’s missing the point.”
“No,” I said, rising from the bed and walking toward him. “I think that’s exactly the point. How do you know where he’s going to be?”
Ethan’s eyes glinted like stolen emeralds. “I have friends in high places, too.”
My stomach sank, and I took a step backward. Took a step away from him. I only knew one other person he might have called who knew about charity events and hated Adrien Reed. “You called my father.”
Ethan didn’t respond.
“You called my father and asked him, what, to keep tabs on Reed? Do you have any idea how dangerous that is? To involve him in something like that? He’s human, for God’s sake, and he’s already in Reed’s sights. Did you put a target on his back?”
“I made a single phone call to your father, and I understand he made a single phone call in turn. Your father has his own connections, Merit, and he’s eager to use them. He’s a man with a lot of ego, and he’s not happy about Towerline.” He closed the distance between us. “But more important, Reed already got too close to this House and to you. I won’t let it happen again.”
“By putting my family in danger?”
He looked baffled. “First, I did not put your family in danger. And second, I will use whatever tools are available to me to keep you safe.”
“And yet you’re pissed at Gabriel,” I said, shaking my head and walking to the other end of the room. When I reached the opposite wall, when space was a barrier between us, I looked back at him. “You’re pissed at Gabriel because he withheld information. That’s ironic.”
“I suppose we’re both guilty in that respect. And just as likely to apologize.”
The room went quiet.
My anger banked. “You named me Sentinel. You should trust me to handle myself, to understand whether my father would be the best source. To let me make that decision.”
“I do trust you. Implicitly. And I named you Sentinel because I knew what you could be. Who you could be. If I had it to do over again . . .”
It wasn’t the first time he’d suggested naming me Sentinel was a mistake. But it was the first time I really believed he meant it.
“Your skills, your brains, your heart. The fact that you always want to do more and better—”
“Are because you named me Sentinel,” I finished for him. “Because you gave me a position that let those parts of me grow and flourish.”
“I don’t disagree,” Ethan said, stepping forward. “But none of that matters if Reed puts a target on you. I won’t let that happen, Merit. Not when he’s already proven he knows how to get to me.” His eyes clouded with fury. He was thinking about the Imposter, about what he’d done to me and tried to do to Ethan.
“I can’t be less than what I am,” I said. “Not now. Not after all this time.” Because, after all that time, after feeling for so long that I’d only been playing Sentinel, putting on a costume that wasn’t entirely mine, I’d become her. I’d become the guardian and warrior he’d wanted me to be. It was too late for me to step back, to let others fight the battles I’d been trained for, that I was now eager to fight.