“Aiden,” I said, holding out my hand. I hated how suddenly on edge he was. He padded the few steps across the room to me, taking my hand before he sat on the edge of the bed next to me. “Your mother tried to kill you.”
“Yeah,” he said slowly.
“She’s going to expect you to be dead.” I continued.
“Yeah,” he said again. “She probably thought I’d get counted as a loss in the attack.”
“Exactly– wait, what?”
“Oh, shit.” Zephyr muttered. “Why didn’t we think of that?”
Aiden palmed his forehead. “I totally forgot to bring this up to you guys. I think my mom knew about the attack on the academy before it happened.”
There were three seconds of silence before I glanced at my brother.
Aiden sighed. “Look, I know it sounds crazy–”
“It doesn’t,” Zephyr said quickly. “No, we’re just…fuck! Why didn’t we think of that?!”
“She knew about the attack and planned for you to be counted among the dead, clearly.” I chewed my lip.
“Yeah, and she didn’t count on Rafe coming to save me,” Aiden said.
I blew out a breath as Zephyr looked back and forth between us.
“Skyes–”
“No,” I said firmly. “We’re going back. Someone wants Aiden dead, so he needs to train.”
“And what if she shows up again, hm?” Zephyr was almost taunting me. “What if she tries to hurt him again?”
“No one is ever hurting him again,” I said darkly. “I’ll destroy them.”
Chapter 25
Rafe
I staredat the large tapestry hanging right outside my father’s Palace office.
Yes, he had a Palace office as well as a free-standing office, and an office in his private Palace residence.Threeoffices.
He wassucha pretentious fuck.
The tapestry in front of me depicted another pretentious fuck, one of my ancestors I hadn’t bothered to learn the name of. They all started to look the same at some point, which was concerning. Some part of me felt like I was looking into a mirror of my future.
Except I’d have hair.Definitely. I was too funny to go bald.
This bald relative was depicted with narrowed eyes, his jaw set, hands behind his back. It was a classic military pose, only his eyes had too much life in them to have seen any real action. That could have been a stylistic choice on part of the artist, of course, but it wouldn’t be surprising if he’d never seen a battlefield.
I glanced down at my watch again, resisting the urge to tap my foot. Alejandro liked to keep me waiting. It was one of his business tactics that was meant to intimidate, but it had only ever pissed me off. I was his son, not a business rival, and I actually had a lot to do today.
Skye and Aiden would be returning to the academy for secondterm in just a few days, and Skye’s shared dorm with Willow was no longer acceptable. Skye and Aiden deserved their own space. A larger apartment-style, maybe with a kitchenette, and some spare rooms. Maybe a spare room for me. I grinned at that idea. I missed the nights I’d spent as a shadow, watching Skye sleep, completely enthralled with how easily she locked me out of her mind.
I eyed the tapestry in front of me again.
My Key would make for a much nicer tapestry.
The same pose, but with her feminine softness. Her chin a bit higher, her hair down, long and sleek behind her. I adjusted myself as discretely as possible, even though no one was in the hall to see me, and then I froze, shuddering in horror.
