Mom heaved a sigh. “Lots of them are raising questions. Others are just going with the flow. Or even cheering for the changes the demons want to make. There’s always division when it comes to how people want to lead or be led.”
“Or lose all of their free will,” I muttered.
Once the royals wrested power from the government, the humans wouldn’t be leading at all.
“That’s one way to look at it,” Mom agreed, and began picking at her salad again.
I took a couple bites of my own food, a sandwich with some unidentifiable meat. I didn’t dare ask what animal it came from, lest it be a unicorn or some other mythical creature. Especially because I couldn’t deny that I liked it.
“How are you getting your information?” I asked.
“Headmistress Wake made contact with Ezra Darklight and Alpha Conon not long after you arrived,” Dad replied. “They’ve been building an army, and she urged them to do so faster. Since then, they’ve been sending messages using the older students—well, the shifters have, at least. Vampires can’t get past the fae wards without another fae, but shifters are allowed through if they take certain precautions. Headmistress Wake meets them at the academy and takes the brief.”
“Was one of them named Dasha?”
I considered my friend’s mates. The outgoing and nerdy Howley, quiet Heath, and gruff mountain wolf Gregor.
“Or maybe Gregor, Howley, or Heath?”
Mom tilted her head. “Dasha sounds familiar. Do you know her?”
I nodded. “She’s alpha blood. Although she said she wouldn’t become an alpha until her parents step down from their leadership roles. She was a champion of the Spy Games—along with her three mates.”
My parents blinked simultaneously.
“Threemates?” Mom asked.
I bit back a laugh. She looked horror-stricken, much like I had always felt when considering having to deal with three dudes all the time. Particularly three possessive wolves who were all so different.
“Yup. Her alpha blood calls to all of them, and apparently, that’s okay.”
“Universe have mercy on that girl,” Mom muttered, and Dad broke out into laughter.
“Anyway,” I said, trying to bring the subject back around to what I was really interested in. “If you guys are getting word from messengers, have they figured out where the prison is?”
Dad’s face hardened. “We’re still working on that.”
Mom patted his shoulder. “Your father’s upset. We think we’ve located the prison, but it seems that breaking in will be harder than we could have imagined. It’s well guarded by humans and technology. But there are signs of magical protections too.”
A second later, I was about to ask another question pertaining to the prison, when Hunter burst into the solarium. All three of us jumped and spilled some of our lunch on the floor. He had some sort of condiment smeared across one side of his face, telling that he had been mid meal when he came to find us.
“Hunter! What happened?” I asked, my voice high from the shock.
“They’re back!” he cried out. “Amethyst’s parents are back!”
I leapt out of my seat and dashed down the hall, Hunter a half-step in front of me.
We were both out of breath when we arrived at Amethyst’s room. We found her sitting in the same wingback chair she had so often occupied. But this time, two ghosts perched opposite her.
Her parents.
Tears threatened to flood my eyes, but I wiped them away when a smile appeared on Mrs. Rhine’s diaphanous face.
“Odette Dane, is it?” Her smile brightened as her eyes darted behind me to take in my parents, who had just burst into the room. “Lauren, she looks just like you, but with your height, Joseph. What a beautiful girl.”
A sob choked out of Mom’s throat.
I was no mind witch, but I knew my mom. From how her wide eyes took in Amethyst’s mother, it was obvious to me that she was envisioning how easily she and Dad could have been in the Rhines’ position.
