“Sounds like a good deal to me.” I frowned. “So why didn’t King Silas accept it?”
“He did, at first.” Lupin’s smile turned sad. “However, that’s when the court seer noticed your mother, who’d traveled with them… and sensed you growing in her belly. Right away, she knew who, and what, you were.”
Ice trickled from my sternum to my ribs. “Are you saying King Silas really did hire Nocturne to come after me and my parents? That he’s the one behind all of this?”
I’d suspected as much after Briar’s theory but hadn’t been sure.
“Is that what I said? Hmm. Interesting.” He whistled under his breath. “I can neither confirm nor deny.” The look he then gave me said what he was forbidden to say.
That I was right.
“If King Silas hired them back then, he’s more than likely the one who sent them after me again. But why does he want me?”
“That, I cannot tell you.” His brow tapered. “All I can say is it involves your rare blood.”
“Like using me for a blood sacrifice or something?” I asked, heart pounding. He only stared at me. I lowered my head and grabbed the back of my neck, trying to calm the swirls of anxiety. “This is all… too much.”
Lupin slowly breathed out. “While I can’t reveal the details of what you may face in the days to come, you should know your odds for a bright future have slightly improved as of late.”
I peeked back up at him. “Really?”
“Very slightly, but yes.” Softness touched his eyes. “Though, as you put it, you still have many doom flags to dodge.”
Queasiness jostled in my gut. “I shouldn’t have eaten so many of Rose’s quiches earlier for lunch. Good thing we’re in the bathroom. I might throw up.”
“Please don’t.” Lupin took a small step back. “I’m not good with vomit.”
His sudden look of terror took me by surprise. “I didn’t know you could make that face, Lupin. You’re usually so cool and calm.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.” He relaxed again and straightened his suit jacket. “I am, and always have been, cool and calm.”
I threw a hand over my stomach and faked a gag. With a string of curses, he jumped backward. I laughed so hard I almost peed myself.
“Foul boy,” he muttered. “Next time you’re moping around and begging to see me, I’ll turn a blind eye and let you figure it all out on your own.”
I grinned. His reaction had eased some of my earlier nerves, but remembering the royal ball brought some of it back. “Not sure how I’m supposed to go out there tonight and pretend everything’s normal. I’ll constantly be looking over my shoulder. The mercenary escaped his cell yesterday.”
“I know.”
“He’ll try to make a move tonight, won’t he?” I clasped my fingers so tight my knuckles turned white. “He’ll try to capture me again?”
“You know I can’t answer that.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I drew one leg up and rested my arms on my knee. “Telling me would interfere with my fate, blah, blah.”
“Don’t look so forlorn, Evander. All will be revealed in time, precisely when it needs to be.” Lupin reached into his pocket and withdrew a silver pocket watch. “Speaking of time… I must be on my way.”
“How does that thing work anyway? Or is that a secret too?”
“Your lover, Rowan, uses shadows to teleport, yes? Well, this is how I do it. That’s all the answer you need.”
“You really are a mysterious butthole wizard.”
Lupin laughed. “I don’t mean to be. Perhaps one day we can sit for coffee and blueberry scones, and I’ll tell you all about myself. Anything you wish to know.”
“Like how you got your powers and how long you’ve owned your little oddities shop?”
“If that’s what you’d like to know, then yes.”
