52. Nora

52

NORA

I f I stick to the wall, hovering close without overstepping, no one will notice I’m coming.

Well, Raiden will. He’s already looked my way, but if I have a chance of anyone being lenient, it’s him.

My favorite.

It felt weird for him to champion me like he did, in a way only Addi ever has, yet somehow it’s completely different.

He sees a strength in me I don’t even see in myself. Either that or he wants me dead without the blood on his hands. I’d lean more toward the latter if I didn’t know how important my sister is to him.

“Where’s Addi?” Cassian asks as Brody rushes downstairs two steps at a time.

The mage, who I’m learning is way too cheesy and almost soulful all at once, waves a dismissive hand as he reaches the foyer. “She just wanted a minute. She’ll be here any second.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Raiden grunts, moving toward the steps, but the dragon who changed my life catches his arm before he can reach for the handrail.

“If she says she needs a minute, then she needs a minute.” His words are soft but firm.

I expect Raiden to laugh in his face, but to my surprise, he jerks his head once, sharply, before taking a step back.

Wow.

It’s on the tip of my tongue to tease the hell out of him, but when his dark gaze meets mine and his nostrils flare, I opt to keep my mouth shut.

“Why don’t we run through the plan one more time while we wait,” Cassian offers as my father approaches.

He hums in acknowledgment, a knowing look in his eyes. “You’ll only have to repeat yourself in a minute when Addi shows.”

I roll my eyes, biting back a smile as everyone murmurs their agreement with his statement, but I keep my mouth shut as I press my back flush to the wall beside the door. The smaller I am, the less likely he is to see me. I just need Addi to hurry up and get down here so I can sneak out with them already.

As if sensing my internal plea, my sister appears at the top of the stairs. Her eyes cast over each of us, assessing the room. The storm I expect in her eyes isn’t there, but there’s a curl to her lips.

Maybe that moment alone served her well. Maybe she’s got the confidence she needs to see this through.

Maybe.

She descends the stairs, one step at a time, as she breathes in through her nose, exhaling just as slowly, acutely aware that she has all of our attention.

“Alpha, let’s go through the plan one more time,” Cassian states as she reaches the bottom, and she immediately shakes her head.

“No need. There’s a change of plan.” The air shifts as everyone frowns at her.

“What do you mean by a change of plan?” Arlo hollers, taking a step toward her as his arms fold over her chest. “There are no changes to the plan,” he reiterates, and she waves him off, not even bothering to look in his direction. Instead, she steps up to my father’s side, rocking back on her heels as her smile grows.

“Really, Arlo, catch up. There could be spies in our ranks. That could be why they haven’t made a move yet. Let’s change it up without anyone else knowing.” She nods at her decision as everyone else glances at one another with a hint of hesitancy sizzling in the room.

“Adrianna, I don’t think?—“

“It’s decided,” she insists, sauntering toward the door like she didn’t just cut Raiden’s words up along with a nick of his pride.

I see the pain in his eyes before it’s gone in a flash as he wordlessly follows after her.

It’s nothing to do with me, I decide, slipping through the door with everyone else. With the sunlight on my skin, I’m buzzing with adrenaline that I’ve pulled it off when delicate fingers wrap around my upper arm.

“Don’t do this, Flora,” I plead, giving her my best puppy dog eyes, but she rolls her eyes at me before hollering my sister's name.

Addi turns with a sigh, a frown etched between her eyes as she looks at her friend. She doesn’t say a word, just waits expectant and annoyed, for Flora to speak.

“Is it safe for Nora to be with us?”

My heart ricochets in my chest as I stare at Addi’s face, noting every crinkle, every emotion, every single thing until she shrugs.

“It’s her life. She can do what she wants.”

No hesitation.

No cause for concern.

No gnawing on her bottom lip with worry.

Nothing.

I scoff in disbelief as she steps toward the waiting carriage and Flora releases her hold on me.

“Is she okay?”

Her question is valid as she nods at my sister, but I shrug. There’s no way in Hell I’m rocking the boat on this thing. If I’m allowed to go, I’m going.

There’s an extra bounce in my step as I follow after everyone else and Flora hurries over to Arlo, the two of them whispering about Addi’s decision to change the plan, but my eavesdropping is cut short when my father appears at my side.

I expect him to pull me away and hurry me back inside, but instead, he shortens his strides to fall in step with my small legs. I raise a brow at him and he shrugs.

“If you’re going, then so am I,” he insists, and I tilt my head.

Apparently, all of my expectations are out the window today. That’s what I get for making assumptions.

“Is that a good idea?” I ask, and he scoffs at me, the sound reminiscent of the one I made not so long ago.

The humor quickly fizzles out as his eyes meet mine and I see the true strain crinkling the corners. “Something in my gut doesn’t feel right, Nora. I can’t let your sister out of my sight. I fear her life depends on it.”

I’d say he was being dramatic, but that’s usually my role, and he’s not wrong. All of our lives hang in the balance. If he’s as determined as me, there’s nothing I can do about it.

Instead, I wrap my hand in his and climb into the closest carriage.

There’s no turning back now. Whatever changes Addi has up her sleeve, we just have to trust in her.

The carriage ride feels like it takes an eternity. I should have chosen one with someone more entertaining than my father and Beau. They’re both silent, staring dead ahead, deep in thought as the world flies past us.

I’m not allowed to pull the curtain aside to look out because it’s dangerous.

I’m not allowed to sit up front with the soldier steering us because it’s dangerous.

I’m not allowed to breathe too loudly because it’s dangerous.

The last one is a lie, but it sure freaking feels like it.

The second we roll to a stop, I’m out of my seat and tumbling through the door. I blink at our new surroundings, a hint of confusion furrowing my eyebrows as I try to figure out where we are.

A town is a half a mile to the right, but there’s nothing around us. Just grass, grass, and more grass.

“What are we doing all the way out here, Addi?” Arlo shouts the moment he’s out of his carriage. Flora hides her face as she climbs out behind him, but as my sister appears from her carriage alone, she barely pays them any mind.

“Keep up, Arlo. It’s lovely out here in Evermore. It’s the last place Clementine and her ghastly band of misfits would think we’d ever come.”

“That’s because we wouldn’t,” Raiden grunts, stepping out of the carriage behind Flora with a sigh. He shakes his head like he’s trying to make sense of it all, but he seems to come up as empty as I do.

Ghastly band of misfits? Where the hell is she hearing that crap?

“What’s the plan now?” I ask, perking up since she said I could come. I’m not going to quietly follow along this time.

Her eyes meet mine and she winks. “We’re going to bait them out.”

“Bait them out?” The question comes from Kryll, who scrubs at the back of his neck. “We’re all the way out here and the soldiers aren’t here yet. Princess, I think this is a little too exposed.”

Addi’s gaze snaps to his so fast I’m sure her neck is going to snap. “I’m not a princess anymore. I’m a queen, and don’t you forget it.”

She curls her hands into the sides of her cape as she swirls away from him. We’re in the middle of an exposed field.

What the hell was that?

I take a step toward her, ready to take up the role of humbling her, but Raiden is in front of me before I can blink, finger pressed against his lip as he blocks Addi from view.

“How do you make your mind thing work without killing me?” His words are so quiet I’m practically lip reading.

“What is it you need me to do?”

He hushes me, eyes wide before he glances over his shoulder, but whatever he was worried about seems to fade as he turns back to me with an even sharper frown than before.

“Get in my head without killing me.”

It’s a command. One I’m tempted to stick my middle finger up to him for, but there’s something about the strain in his eyes that makes me pause.

Running my tongue over my bottom lip, I glance around the small group. Addi is a few yards away, tapping her chin in thought as everyone else stands around waiting for her next decision. But when my eyes snag on Cassian’s, he nods, so subtly, I’m sure I’ve made it up, but I give in to my gut and turn back to Raiden.

“I need a pulse point,” I breathe, keeping my voice low this time so he doesn’t get any grouchier. He offers me his wrist and I stare deep into his eyes, wanting to be sure he’s okay with this before I do it. When he all but thrusts his wrist against my fingertip, I relent.

The vein beside his pulse protrudes, making me fumble a second, but the moment I let my mind magic run free, it’s impossible to step back.

There’s darkness.

So much fucking darkness, it’s almost eerie.

No one’s mind should be this dark.

As if sensing my confusion, I’m instantly flooded with vision after vision. Every single one of my sister. It’s like a slideshow, watching as an asshole of a vampire falls in love with the lowly fae. It’s beautiful, really, but I might need therapy when I see his trick with the roses to break past the spell cast on her room.

He’s relentless, that’s for sure.

I’m ready to get out of here, confused why he wanted me to invade his mind to begin with, when a trail of red rose petals leads me down a small narrow path.

He’s waiting at the end like a creeper and I shake my head at him in confusion. Thankfully, he doesn’t wait around getting to the point.

“Something is going on with Addi. I can’t put my finger on it, but too much doesn’t make sense. The change of plans, the zero push back you got for coming, and the lack of death threat aimed my way feels off. Then there’s the whole weird words she’s spewing, added to the fact that she just corrected Kryll for calling her Princess, which he’s called her long before he made her the princess of dragons, it’s not right. None of this is fucking right. And if all of that didn’t make me crazy, I can’t feel her… in the bond. At. All.”

I feel like the power behind his words is enough to knock me off my feet, but I manage to stay steady as I process each and every one of them.

“When you looked over your shoulder a minute ago, when I was talking too loud. Why did you do that?”

He scrubs at the back of his neck. “Because with her wolf senses…” His words trail off, but I know exactly what he’s going to say.

“She would have heard me, but she didn’t… did she?”

He shakes his head, confirming the suspicion for both of us as I blink at him.

“Say it, Nora. Tell me what you’re thinking, what I know you’re thinking. What I know I’m thinking too.”

My breath flutters in my chest, panic making my pulse ring in my ears as I part my lips. “I don’t know how and I don’t know why, but that woman… that’s not my sister.”

“Then who the fuck is it?”