City of Magic: The Complete Series by Helen Harper (book club recommendations TXT) 📕

Alora tsked. ‘Honestly.’

I found my footing and raised my eyes to meet Monroe’s. He was pale and bleeding but he was alright. We were both alright. I fell into him, ignoring Lucy’s muffled squeak of surprise as she was momentarily squashed between us.

‘I’m sorry,’ I gasped. ‘It was a stupid move. I didn’t know what else to do. It was a huge gamble and…’

Monroe’s lips grazed my forehead. ‘And it paid off,’ he said. ‘I don’t know how else we would have got out of there.’

‘Julian…’

‘He’s tougher than you think.’ He sighed. ‘He will pull through.’ Monroe moved back and looked at me. ‘Even if he doesn’t make it, he wouldn’t have wanted this any other way. You did what had to be done.’

A squirming knot of unease fought through my aches and pains to take precedence in my belly. ‘We’re not out of the woods yet. There are cards yet to be played.’

As if she’d heard me, Felicity stomped over. I couldn’t tell whether the anger in her eyes was because of our brush with death or because she’d missed the fight. She glared at us both. ‘He wants to talk to you.’

I swallowed. There was no point asking who she was referring to. I reached for Monroe’s hand, my fingers entwining with his.

We sauntered over casually, managing to display genuine magnanimity in our victory. Of course, that’s not actually true. In truth, we shuffled over, wincing and grimacing all the way until we reached Barrett. When we glanced down at him, I wasn’t the only one with an expression of smug triumph on my face.

He was in a bad way. He’d clearly taking the brunt of the collapsed building and even my untrained eye noted his broken leg and crushed arm. All the same, the werewolves had taken no chances and had tied him up in much the same manner that his own guards had held me. Even if Barrett had the energy to muster more magic, I doubted he could have done any harm.

I met his eyes. ‘I guess you failed.’

Barrett’s lip curled. Despite his obvious pain and his imprisonment, he wasn’t giving up. ‘You’re a fucking moron,’ he hissed through gritted teeth. ‘All of you are.’

Nero raised a foot to kick him but Monroe shook his head and the younger wolf dropped it again.

‘Not from where we’re standing,’ I said mildly.

‘By new year,’ Barrett said, ‘you’ll be starved out of here. Without me, you have no way of getting in supplies. You know your pathetic crops aren’t going to be enough. You might have the magic but you don’t have the common sense. You think you’ve saved yourselves? You’ve doomed everyone here instead.’

‘We’ll work something out,’ Monroe said. ‘As I’m sure you’ve realised by now, we’re not that helpless or needy.’

I pointed at him. ‘What he said goes. If need be, I’ll leave. I’ll take the quarantine and persuade the government to send in supplies for everyone else.’

Barrett choked out a weak, but still derisive, laugh. ‘You’re such a saviour,’ he said sarcastically. ‘Yeah, you do that. Stroll out that door. Do it now, in fact.’ He smirked. ‘I told everyone over the wall that the only people left in Manchester have been altered by the magic to the point where they’re nothing more than vicious, wild animals. They believe that you’re dangerous. Deathly dangerous. You won’t be put in quarantine if you try to leave and you won’t have time to request anything from the government. Step out that door. If you’re not wearing a hazmat suit, you’ll be shot on sight.’

My stomach churned. All the same, I kept my expression blank and turned to Monroe. ‘You know,’ I said carefully, ‘it would be easy to test that theory.’ I toed Barrett’s leg. ‘We send him out of the door without his suit on and see what happens.’

The flash of fear on Barrett’s face told me everything I needed to know. He was telling the truth – about this at least. ‘They won’t shoot me,’ he spat. ‘I’m Fab Barrett. I’m a celebrity. You’re nothing. No matter what you do now, you’ll all starve to death. Slowly. You could have let me help you and take a bit of magic for myself in return. Instead we’re all going to die.’ He spat up a glob of blood. ‘Congratulations, enchantress.’

I curtsied melodramatically in his direction, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of anything else. Then Monroe and I limped away.

‘He was playing us all the time,’ Julian said, still deathly pale and his voice thready. ‘He could still be playing us now.’ He looked at me. ‘Would you really walk away and head out of that door? Would you take that risk?’

I didn’t answer; Monroe did. ‘You know she would.’ He gave me a crooked smile. ‘I’ll be with her all the way if she does.’

‘Fabian Barrett set the fire that destroyed our supplies,’ Julian continued. ‘He knew that sooner or later one of us would try and sneak into his tent, so he laid a clue there to make us trust him. He had his own man killed. He lured me out last night with the promise that we could talk things out man to man and then he knifed me. He’s been injecting himself with bloody magic! We can’t trust anything he says or does. If you’re shot on sight as soon as you leave Manchester, you’re not saving anyone.’

I smiled. ‘Do you know how Barrett sneaked out of his tent without anyone noticing? Nero and the others had the place surrounded and yet he still managed to get to that building in much the same time as Monroe and I did.’

Julian growled. ‘I imagine his silver tongue had something to do with it.’

‘Nope. You know Nero would never have been persuaded like that.’ I shrugged. ‘Besides, you spoke to him. He didn’t let Barrett past. He didn’t see him sneak away.’

In the corner, Alora sat