Bride (Ali Hazelwood) by Ali Hazelwood

            I let out a laugh. “Not you, too, trying to convince me that Serena didn’t care about me as much as I cared about her. She wouldn’t leave me here to picture the worst. She always told me everything—”

            “Not everything.” His jaw tenses. Like this conversation is painful for him, because it’s painful for me. “You mentioned that you had a fight before she left. That sometimes she’d leave for days on her own.”

            “Never without saying.”

            “Maybe there was no time. Or she didn’t want to put you in danger.”

            I wave it away. “This is ridiculous. What about Sparkles? She abandoned her cat.”

            “Tell me something,” he asks. I hate how measured and rational he sounds. “Did she know you well enough to predict that you’d go looking for her and find the cat?”

            I want to say no so bad, my lips almost hurt. But I can’t, and instead I remember her last words to me:

            I need to know that you care about something, Misery.

            And she did leave something behind. Something that needed caring for. The damn fucking cat. God, what a wacky plan this would be.

            A Serena plan.

            “Maybe you’re right, and she doesn’t want to be found. But she wouldn’t put the life of a child at risk, not even in exchange for the biggest, juiciest story of her career. I know Serena, Lowe.”

            And that’s the problem with Lowe’s theory: it would mean that Serena is safely tucked somewhere, but also that she wasn’t the person I believed her to be, and I can’t accept it. Not for a minute.

            Lowe knows this, because he opens his mouth to say something else, something that undoubtedly will make impeccable sense and feel like a punch in the solar plexus. So I stop him by asking the first thing that comes to mind:

            “Where are we going?” We’re headed south, toward downtown. Toward Vampyre territory.

            “To meet your brother. We’re nearly there.”

            “Owen?”

            “You have others?”

            I frown. “I thought he’d come to us.”

            “Were territory is more tightly patrolled and harder to infiltrate. Since we don’t want to attract attention and turn this into a formal summit, it’s safer to meet with him at the Vampyre-Human border.”

            I’m well familiar with this road. I took it for the first time at eight years old, on my way to the Collateral residence, and I still remember that drowning, sticky feeling low in my throat, the fear that I’d never get to go home again. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to redirect my thoughts to the last time. Shortly before the wedding, I imagine. Maybe when I was asked to choose between flowers that all looked the same, white and pretty and ready to wither. A handful of days and a million lifetimes ago.

            “Are you okay?” Lowe asks softly.

            “Yeah. Just . . .” I’m not usually sentimental, but something about being with him softens me. My guard is down.

            “Feels weird, huh?”

            I nod.

            “We can always turn around,” he offers quietly. “I’ll figure out a way to have Owen come south.”

            “No. I’m fine.”

            “Okay.” He turns into a small side street. When I glance at the GPS it’s not on the map, but we come to a stop at the edge of a cultivated field.

            Lowe’s expression is bemused. “I’m actually curious about this.”

            I glance around. All I can see is darkness. “About the wholesome experience of picking your own tomatoes?”

            “About meeting your brother.”

            He gets out of the car, and I immediately follow him. I thought we were alone, but I hear another car door clicking, and—there he is.

            Owen, sneering at the soil sticking to his loafers, swatting away bugs. It’s shocking how happy I am to see him. That jerk, climbing up my good graces uninvited. I’m tempted to yell some insults at him, just to make up for it, until I hear another click.