Unchained Beauty (The Deadly Beauties Live On 5)

“Hashtag, don’t want to be a single daddy,” he inserts.

“This will prevent that. If Hannah falls, they all fall. We just need to hold them back long enough,” I go on.

Kya runs a frustrated hand through her hair.

“But what’s my part if it’s not dangerous?” Leah asks.

“Your part is very dangerous, but you’re a huge variable. Slade pushed you to us, because even without the memories, he left his rage for you intact,” Kimber explains.

“You almost became a benign variable to him after Zee turned you, even though you’re still Aquarius,” I add.

“A completely different species altogether, if we’re being honest,” Dice states, actually being helpful. “You and Zee never had Gavin’s power boost in the past, but that’s not the most important part. Well, not technically, but it’s still sort of important.”

“What’s the most important part?” she asks.

“It’s the little things,” Dice says, sounding far too proud of himself, since he’s the one who actually pointed out the part Leah needs to play, for the most obvious reason ever.

“If it even works. You’re relying on something you’re guessing about,” Kya states. “And you’re also relying on one incredibly unreliable variable to—”

“You’re scaring the poor girl,” Dice says, gesturing to Leah, who looks confused but not afraid. “And you’re being vague again about this part again. I see what’s going on here. You’re all trying to exclude me from the super secret part of the plan,” he adds.

“Trust me, I just proved it is very plausible. We’re immortals. It’s instinct. You said it yourself,” I argue, looking at Kya, continuing to ignore Dice, since Karma swore she’d abandon me if we told him.

“If it doesn’t work?” Kimber asks me.

“Then I get out until Slade nukes Hannah,” I say immediately, then freeze as the words sink in.

It’s the plan. It’s not at all what I want to do. It’s sickening to even consider. But it’s the only plan where I feel like I’ve done all I can do without selfishly letting all his pain have happened in vain.

When a tear escapes my iron grip, Kimber starts toward me, but I hold a hand up. “If you hug me, I’ll start crying. If I start crying, I’ll start second-guessing every single decision, and I won’t be able to…”

I let my words trail off, and she nods.

“Why not just tell Slade this plan, and promise him he can still die in your place if shit hits the fan in the wrong direction?” Dice asks.

“Because he’ll never risk it,” Kya says, eyes on me. “His plan ensures that Ella is one hundred percent safe, and he spent years perfecting math that Ella doesn’t understand, but says won’t work. Our plan is not centuries old or well-calculated by a genius mind like his,” she adds, already second-guessing us.

“He did this without allowing himself to hope for any other outcome. He doesn’t care about the new variables as much as he cares about what he knows with certainty will work,” Kimber goes on. “This will work, so long as every single thing goes exactly as we’ve planned.”

“Sure. We’ve never had a problem with things not going according to plan,” Dice states unhelpfully.

“He changed the future,” I say quieter. “He changed the future,” I say a little firmer, my eyes meeting theirs.

“He didn’t change everything, Ella. Just the details,” Kya states, once again dousing our confidence, because she’s worried, like we all are, that we’re wrong.

But if we’re not wrong, then Slade dies for nothing and we may still not really kill Hannah.

“So we kill Hannah and save the world, so long as she doesn’t succeed in possessing Ella or Slade or Kane or any other fucking person with a lot of power so she can rule the world,” Dice adds.

“She’ll target us to start with,” I say, not looking at him. “If she can’t have the Lokies, she’ll possess one of us, grow stronger inside us as she has Morgana, only she’ll own our bodies for eternity, unnaturally growing more abilities. Her reign could literally never end,” I add.

“And the rings will be an above-ground operation that no one can stop, because they’ll simply be added to the prisons,” Kya states quieter. “This is bigger than we ever really knew. Even me.”

“No wonder the scarred menace never cracks a grin. He’s known this all along,” Dice says with a shudder.

“Call him that one more time,” I say, my eyes flicking silver before narrowing on him.

He shrinks back.