“Yes! Oh, I saw them arguing in a saucy little corner of the courtyard while I was out looking at the fountain,” Lawrence said, and Imogene nodded.
“You know I love taking breaks to watch the bubbles. I wish we had that when I was being used. Life seems more hopeful with bubbles, you know,” he continued, and I bit back smile. What a cutie patootie. I’d had a few chats with the sentient armor a few times, but nothing routine. Maybe I’d join Imogene for tea dates in the future.
“Yes, darling. We need to catch Temperance up on the who. We can’t be keeping secrets. That’s not our style.”
Lawrence raised his metal hand and stuck up three fingers like some sort of scout. “Right, yes. Our motto. If we say it behind their backs, then we must be able to say it to their faces.”
Imogene sipped her tea and waited for the armor to readjust himself. Moving all that metal must be tiring. Well, if there was a body inside, but there wasn’t.
“Ethan and Delanie were talking all serious. Hands were thrown in the air a few times. She was frustrated. I heard her say something like, “Bitch out of the way and needing money for the family business.” He said all of it in Delanie’s exact voice and that sent a chill down my spine. I didn’t know they could do that.
“Ethan kissed her cheek, and they separated. Very odd behavior.” Imogene finished giving the deets and thanked Lawrence for the tea. He waved us goodbye as we left for my room to tell Remy what we found.
“Pretty sure the bitch part was meant for me. Or maybe I’m being conceited,” I said as we entered the room.
Imogene agreed while scooping up an excited Edith. “That girl has it out for you since she thinks Rylan wants her.”
“Rylan wants who?” Rylan walked into the room, arms wide like he knew I’d be jumping onto him upon entry. Well, shit, he probablydidknow.
My arms and legs wrapped around him, and he held me close.
“I missed you.” It had only been twenty-four hours since I saw him, but ever since our talk, I felt like I needed him to fully breathe.
“I missed you too.”
“Everyonemissed you, now scooch so we can discuss what all we’ve found,” Remy said from behind us and Rylan walked with me in his arms over to the bed. I crawled off him but stayed at his side, hands clasped together.
“Rylan definitely did it,” Remy announced while holding her tablet up with security feed showing Rylan setting a fire outside the window. The timestamp was five minutes before the explosion which coincidentally was when I was getting pounded by Rylan’s dick in the classroom.
“We all know it wasn’t him, but that does look like him.” Remy turned off her tablet and set it on her desk.
I nodded and looked into Rylan’s eyes. “I think it was Ethan and Delanie, but I can’t one hundred percent prove it.” The way Ethan spoke, his nervousness was off-putting. Then there was the tiny smile of pride when he talked about someone being powerful and skilled enough to take the shape of another person.
Imogene finished tying fairy wings onto Edith, then set her in front of a mirror to check out the new look. “I’m with Temperance. That boy has had a crush on Temperance since he arrived, and we all know who Ms. Templeton is after.”
“She is relentless.” Rylan sighed and I squeezed his hand.
“So how do we get the truth out?” There had to be a way but the silence after my question didn’t give me hope.
Then Edith piped up, her scales glowed yellow like a little light bulb. “I have an idea!”
Chapter Forty-One
Time to get the truth
“You think this will work?” Remy eyed the blue potion in my cauldron suspiciously.
I crushed two blackberry thorns beneath an amethyst crystal and tossed them in. They say the truth hurts, and apparently so do the ingredients in a truth serum.
Edith’s idea was simple. I’d ask out Ethan, slip him a few drops, and he’d confess. Sounded easy, and my magic swirled around hands, leaving petals all over the table as I answered.
“I think so. I’m following the instructions from the book.” I pointed to the ingredients. Caelian gifted me an herbalism for beginners book after seeing how dedicated I was to the craft. Hopefully she’d forgive me if she ever found out how I’d been using it.
Crushed Blackberry Thorns.
Roasted Burnnuts from Nathuria
Soured Grape Juice
