“Why wouldn’t I be okay?” she asks, her smile slipping a little before returning while her eyes remain clear and bright. “Everything’s perfect now.”
Before I can reply, Taniya screeches in from the next room. “Noves!”
She slams into us, hugging me so tightly that I can hardly breathe—not that I care about breathing right now. My sisters are safe and appear unharmed.
“How did you get into this room?” I ask, finally looking around at the massive space.
Damn. It’s larger than our house back in Vegas, if all the doors I can see are an indication, and a hell of a lot fancier. It’s the kind of palatial room I imagine the royal demons living in.
It’s certainly not the sparsely furnished space I left my sisters in.
Taniya looks a little confused. “What do you mean? This is my home. You’ve been here before.” She stares at me. “Remember?”
I stare back at her. She’s talking as if…shedoesn’t remember…
My senses prickle and my defenses fly up, my demon sight bursting into life as I quickly scan the room. My heart sinks with every second I look around.
The illusion is skillful. So tightly woven that I can only just make out the silver prison walls sitting behind the facade of beautifully paneled wood, plush fabrics, and expensive furniture.
With a sinking stomach, I remember Roman’s warning: the prison would control my sisters by creating an illusion around them; that it might even give Taniya the life she wanted with Dastian; and that Malia could be part of a coven…
“Sis, are you okay?” Taniya is uncharacteristically affectionate, not prickly at all, as she leans into me with a smile, hugging me again. “I guess it’s been a long time since you visited us.” She gives a laugh. “And Dastian and I have remodeled since then, so the place looks a little different.”
“Yeah,” I say, fighting the gripping anxiety rising within me. “Yes. That must be what it is. It looks different to last time I was… here.”
Malia has already bent to hug each of my demon wolves, moving from Blitz to Luca to Temple, and finishing up by throwing her arms around Ace’s neck, as if she doesn’t remember how fierce he is.
I freeze a little, ready to step in. Ace frequently paired up with Malia during our missions because her calm nature would soothe his aggression, but this environment is too surreal, and his hackles are firmly up.
He growls low in his chest, a visible shiver passes through him, but he accepts the display of affection.
“I missed, you, Ace,” Malia murmurs to him before she looks up from where she’s crouched beside him. “We have so much to catch up on, Noves. My coven could really use your help with a rune we’re constructing. Speaking of which…” She looks around me, seeming not to see the prison beyond the door. “Where’s your other half?”
I blink at her. “Who?”
“Roman,” she says, glancing at Taniya.
My eyes widen that, in their happy illusion, Roman and I are together as a couple. “He… uh… couldn’t make it today,” I say. I clear my throat. “I have a lot to tell you as well.”
Taniya smiles. “Let’s head into the den and catch up. You look like you could use a drink.”
Den?I tell myself that this is a good thing. At least I don’t have to worry about them being tortured in here. The prison appears to be taking very good care of them.
Taniya leads us through to an enormous kitchen that is filled with bright sunlight—huh?—and hasa dining area, as well as an indoor greenhouse filled with raised garden beds, where it seems Malia has been working her magic and growing all kinds of herbs. Despite Taniya saying that this is her house, it looks like Malia is also right at home here, so at least they’re being kept together.
The large room beyond the kitchen and dining area is cozy, filled with two huge, puffed-up couches. A giant television rests on the opposite wall.
I pause at the side of a couch while Malia sinks into one of them. “So… I guess you’re happy here, then?”
A part of me wants to scream at them to wake up, not that I think that would work. But another—stronger—part of me is slowly acknowledging that they’re still safest here, where Crone can’t get to them, even if the illusion they’re in is gripping them so tightly.
I sink into the couch and give in to the moment because I need this. I haven’t forgotten that one of the other royals died in the first trial. Crone will try to kill me at every opportunity. I need my sisters’ presence right now.
For the next twenty minutes, we chat about all the happy nothings going on in their illusion lives. Taniya plies us with food that seems to melt on my tongue but doesn’t fill my stomach or sate my thirst.
My heart sinks with every minute I spend with them, and doubts rise again.
How can I leave them here?
