The Brightest Night (Origin #3) - Jennifer L. Armentrout Page 0,181

Not that I don’t want to be with Emery, but I left my family so they’d be safe. They’re now stuck in a city that’s closed off to the entire world. I have no idea how they’re doing or if they’re even—” Her breath caught, and my chest squeezed. “I don’t know if they’re even okay. I want to reach out to them, but I know it wouldn’t just jeopardize us; it would put them at risk if the Daedalus thought they could use them to get to us.”

Emery dropped the piece of hair she’d been playing with and picked up Heidi’s hand, her somber gaze latched to her face.

“The point I’m trying to make is that any of us, including probably half of everyone here, would do some terrible shit to save the ones they love.” Heidi’s eyes glittered with unshed tears. “We’re going to punish others for doing what they needed to do to keep someone else alive?”

“What would you do if he did something that ended with Emery being tortured?” Zoe asked.

“I’d want him dead,” Heidi said, causing Zoe to throw her hands up. “But I hope I’d have enough empathy left in me to try to understand why he did what he did if something like that happened.”

“I wouldn’t have that in me,” Emery admitted, squeezing Heidi’s hand. “I can’t even lie. I’m not as good as you.”

“I don’t think it has anything to do with being good or not, because you are good,” Heidi said, pulling their joined hands into her lap. “I’m just sensitive.”

Zoe snorted.

Heidi ignored that. “Look, I’m against the death penalty. Can any of you be surprised by my confliction?”

“What about you?” Zoe looked over at me. “What do you think?”

I opened my mouth and then closed it. What did I think? There wasn’t an easy answer. “I don’t know, to be honest.”

“Cop out,” Zoe muttered.

“No. I’m serious.” I leaned forward in my chair. “Part of me thinks he should be, I don’t know, humanely put down. I have a feeling we only know half of what he’s done, and what we do know is terrible enough. No one here is going to trust him, so it’s not like he can be let out to roam, and we can’t release him back into the wild.”

“But?” Heidi said.

I sighed. “But if Blake dies, then so does Chris, and if Blake did do these things to keep Chris alive, then he was only doing what he needed to. The same thing any of us would do.”

Zoe eyed me. “I feel like there’s another but coming.”

“There is.” Feeling the prickly sensation of incoming Luxen, I glanced around as I lowered my voice, not knowing if Daemon was in the backyard next door. “But if he’d caused what happened to Kat to Luc or any of you, I’d want him dead. I just don’t know how to feel about this.”

Heidi nodded as she sat back, her gaze dropping to where she held Emery’s hand. “Things used to be so much easier.”

Understatement of the year right there.

Movement snagged my attention, and I glanced back at the house. Grayson stood in the narrow pathway that led to the front yard. My heart skipped a beat.

“Excuse me,” I murmured, jumping to my feet. I hurried over to him. “Do you know where Luc is?”

His cool gaze flicked across my face before settling an inch above my head. “He’s in the library. I thought you’d like to know that he’s getting ready to talk to Blake.”

I couldn’t believe Luc was going to try to talk to Blake without me. I also couldn’t believe that Grayson was telling me this.

Stomach twisting, I started to take off in a dead run but managed to stop myself. I turned back to the girls. “I have to go.”

Curiosity marked their expressions, but I faced Grayson. “Thank you.”

Grayson lowered his gaze, and I don’t know why I did what I did next, but I touched him. I reached out and took ahold of his hand. His skin was warm, which was at such odds with everything else about him. I squeezed it. That was all I did, but his entire body seemed to jolt as if I’d shocked him. His eyes widened as his entire body stiffened.

“Sit with them. Talk to them,” I said, letting go of his hand before he passed out. “I know they’d like that.”

Icy-blue eyes met mine. “You sure about that?”

Well …

“I’m sure Emery would love to talk to you,” I