When he didn’t answer, I kept going. “Did Bee talk you into this? Did she tell you she was doing this to save David? Because that wasn’t her call to make. Or yours.” I hit my breastbone with my fist, but that was nothing compared to the pain there. “It was mine. You lied to me, both of you lied, and—”

Ryan crossed the space between us, one warm hand coming down on my forearm. “David didn’t want to tell you. He knew you’d never let him go. That you couldn’t if it was dangerous. So he... he asked us to help, and what were we supposed to say?”

I didn’t know how to answer that. They were supposed to be loyal to me? Supposed to tell me what David had planned?

From the stage, I heard music start up again and I stood up fast enough to make me dizzy.

Looking back toward the stage, I couldn’t see any sign of Bee and I ducked back down beside Ryan, hissing, “She’s gone. Bee.”

Ryan sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. “You didn’t hit her that hard,” Ryan said. “And my magic fixed the rest.”

I stared at him, confused. “Your magic doesn’t work.”

“After the vision at the golf course, it came back,” Ryan answered, and I nearly squawked.

“And you didn’t think this was worth telling me?” I hissed, but before Ryan could answer, there was a loud pop, followed by a hiss.

The lights overhead flickered once, twice, then went out altogether.

“That cannot be good,” I whispered, and when the entire building began to shake, the screams of the audience filling my ears, Ryan muttered, “The hell?”

We crouched in the darkness, my skirt pooling around my legs, my heels wobbling slightly. I could hear Ryan breathing hard and could nearly feel the fear vibrating off him.

“Take the damn wards off the door!” I whispered. It was too dark to see him, but I could tell from the change in his breath that Ryan was looking at me. “I’m not supposed to,” he answered, and honestly, I could have slugged him.

“Look,” I said, leaning in closer to him. “I’ll forgive you for this, and I’ll even forgive you for stealing my best friend.”

“I didn’t—” he started, but I cut him off.

“I figure I owe you a couple of things after nearly getting you killed last year. And for... other stuff.”

Ryan didn’t say anything, and even though I knew this was not exactly the best time to get into this, I felt like it was now or never. “We should’ve broken up a long time before we did. I should’ve... I don’t know, set you free or whatever. But we’d been together too long, and I didn’t know how, and I nearly kissed David while I was dating you.”