A Crown Of Fire And Wrath (The Shadow Walkers Saga #5) - Sloane Murphy Page 0,47
trying to make light of it all.
“Fucking Bauer…” he growls, and pulls on his hair a little.
“You don’t have to hate him, Colt. He was your brother.”
“And you’re my sister. He fucked up, beyond fucked up. I should just burn this place to the ground. The whole place feels tainted.” He sighs and my heart breaks. I never meant for any of this to happen.
“I’m sorry, Colt.”
“You have fuck all to be sorry for, Rem. None of this is on you, or your fault. Bauer fooled us all, he is the only one responsible for any of this bullshit. Well, him and Dad. I’ve found more than a few bits these few days you’ve been gone, hinting towards the fact that Dad was working with them. I think that’s why Archer killed Dad. Wrapping up loose ends.”
“Holy shit. You really think so? Surely Dad would never have worked with other factions?”
“If it meant he could rule them in the end? I sure as shit think he’d go for that.” He sighs. “Enough about this craziness for now. Let’s go get coffee, it’s early as fuck, and I want to hear about what the shit happened to you after that batshit fucking insane angel kidnapped you.”
“Michael didn’t kidnap me,” I tell him, a little unsure because I have no real memory of it.
“He sure as fuck did. You should have seen the chaos that erupted once you left. I thought Morgan was going to declare war,” he says over his shoulder as he leads us down the stairs.
“She what?” I ask and then shrug. Why am I not surprised? “I guess I need to go and see them too, make the rounds and let everyone know I’m, ya know, alive and kicking.”
“That’s probably a good idea. But first, I want to hear about Michael and Avalon!” He almost sounds like an excited little kid talking about going to a candy store for the first time. I sit at the table in the kitchen as he pours coffee and tell him everything about Avalon, leaving out the whole thing with Mom. He’s lost enough, he doesn’t need to know that I’m in some sort of crisis when it comes to her.
“Holy shit,” he says, wide-eyed. “That all sounds… intense. So, you’re like officially a Death Dealer again? That’s so fucking cool. Want to hook me up when I get my wings? Pretty sure I’d make a banging Death Dealer.” He waggles his eyebrows at me and I can’t help but laugh at him.
“I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a while till you give this life up,” I say, when his face falls as I realize I put my foot in my goddamn mouth.
“If I have that choice.” He shrugs, the laughter from seconds ago gone.
“I’m sorry, Colt. I will ask Michael to make finding this shit out a priority. You need to know, the burden I put on you by knowing… I’m sorry, it was so selfish of me. I just wanted you to be careful.”
“Remy, it’s fine. I get it. If anything, it’s making small things seem more important than they ever have. Which is why I’m determined to fix this shit with Fallon once and for all. I just need her to forgive me for being such a dickhead.”
“If I can help…” I say with a huge grin. The idea of the two of them finding happiness together makes me so freaking happy, but I know that there’s a lot more to it than that.
“I’ll let you know. You could always just keep that demon asshole away from her? Or find a way for her to not go over to the Shadow Realm? I’m joking obviously, I’d never trap her like that, but still. Deacon’s a prick.”
“I know. But he was there for her at a really dark time.”
“I’d have been there if I could!”
“I know that, and I’m sure she knows that too. New topic… Bauer. Have you made arrangements for him?” I ask, but when his face locks down, it hits me this probably isn’t a better topic.
“He can fucking rot in hell,” he says firmly. “No one is going to miss that asshole. We’ll burn him and chuck out the ashes.”
I don’t entirely disagree with sentiment, but I also know he’s going to need more closure than that.
“Colt,” I sigh.
“No Remy. Dad’s thing was bad enough, and that was before I suspected he had even more of a hand in the bullshit that’s been going down.