“Call for her parents. I’ll ask you only once to step aside.” Devin’s tone left no room for argument and goldenrod turned to crimson anger.
With a huff, the butler allowed him to enter and Devin sought the first room he could find with a couch. He eased Miranda down as gently as he could, moving the hair from her face so it fell in gentle waves over the pillows. Like a princess in a fairy tale waiting for a prince to kiss her awake. He lingered for a moment, her hair still caught in his fingers.
Villainous rogues didn’t kiss princesses.
Devin tore his hands away, wanting to linger where he could feel that she was still warm and breathing, but not wanting to be found touching her when her parents arrived.
“Miranda!” A woman pushed him backward. Familiar shades of ruby and blue—complimentary to her daughter’s—dotted with worried plum purple flooded his vision and forced him to step back. “Miri, by the Divine, what happened? What—”
Lady Wilde set a hand on her daughter’s cheek and when she felt warmth and the movement of breath, she collapsed at her daughter’s side, not even attempting to mask the sobs that shook her whole body.
Lord Wilde followed on his wife’s heels encompassed in a swirl of controlled, gallant white and authoritative royal blue, marred only by the same worried shade as his wife. But…another color caught Devin’s attention as husband neared wife. A red link reached from her aura to his, a binding thread of color.
Two souls woven together.
He’d seen these threads before, but in the Fells, the bind of real love was hard to find. Though he tried to resist, afraid to see nothing, his gaze locked on Miranda, searching.
“What happened?” Lady Wilde got to her feet, advancing on Devin with purpose and fury. “What happened to her?”
Devin nearly tripped over a footstool, unprepared for Lady Wilde’s aggression. He could not say for sure if she was a guardian, but he was not about to test the theory. She looked ready to start tearing limbs. Lord Wilde put a hand on her shoulder, reigning her back.
“Cicely, let him explain.”
“Cordelia is gone and Miranda wasn’t in her room. She wasn’t…” Lady Wilde ground her teeth, hot angry tears streaming down her cheeks. “And now she’s here and not waking up andwhat happened?” She directed the last question to Devin, growling as she advanced.
“She fainted. She’ll be fine in a moment,” he assured, “When she heard about Corde—er, the younger Miss Wilde,” he corrected as two pairs of eyes narrowed on him at the familiar use of the sister’s name, “It…I think she was just overwhelmed and in need of a decent meal.”
“She was in need of her home!” Lady Wilde’s aura was blazing, flickering flame red and blinding sunburst fear. “The girls need to be home.”
“Miranda is here,” Lord Wilde soothed, his hands holding her as she trembled, the red thread entwining their bodies. Devin looked away, eyes landing on Miranda, who was beginning to stir. He crossed around the inconveniently arranged furniture until he was at her side.
Her eyes fluttered and her smile allowed his heart to beat again. There was no red thread connecting them. Aura Sight didn’t allow him to see his own aura, but he was certain the frayed edge of a red strand reached unrequited for Miranda.
Her smile vanished as she looked past him and bolted upright. “I’m home.”
Lady Wilde reached for Miranda, hovering near Devin though careful not to touch him.
“Cordelia?” Miranda looked between her parents. Their looks were answer enough. Miranda shook her head and pushed through him to stand. “No! It was supposed to be me. He wantedme. She was…she isn’t strong enough for this…”
“We’ve only just learned of the news. We had assumed both of you were safe in your rooms. There were no signs of capture in either of your chambers, so I can only assume that bars would be needed to keep the pair of you contained.” Lord Wilde gave his daughter a pointed look.
“Cordelia climbed out her window?” Miranda asked as if the observation was ludicrous, which struck Devin as amusing considering how often Miranda herself seemed to abscond from windows.
“Or she was taken from it, though no evidence suggests she was forced,” Lord Wilde said, “Then we saw the papers this morning and…we’re working on getting her back. If we knew where to start that would be one thing, but she could be anywhere.”
Miranda stopped pacing, turning on her heel to address the room. “I know where she is.”
“Where?” Lady Wilde asked, desperation in her voice and aura.
“I had evidence of Graves’s plans to use guardians to inject fae with Divine blood—”
“What?” Her parents interrupted together.
Miranda continued without acknowledging, talking as if her parents already knew this information—though their faces said otherwise. “In fact, that may be exactly why he had wanted me in the first place. What better source of guardian blood than a wifewho he could control? But…Cordelia’s human. He would have no use for her, other than as revenge for what I did. Or if he thinks that because of her family, maybe she still has traces…it doesn’t matter. I’m going to get her back.” Miranda lifted her chin.
There’d be no stopping her now.
She turned to Devin with a confident smile, focused aura, and…blatantly ignored her parents. Devin tried not to notice their aghast expressions, or how Miranda’s clear intention to include him despite present company only ensnared him all the tighter.
