Arowyn was completely unfazed.Bored, even, as she always looked. She simply shrugged. “Nothing to read. We failed, again, and Nox is pissed, again. I have a simple solution: let me go next time. I’ll be in and out in under a minute. No need for all these illusions”—she waved a hand at Everett—“and testosterone.” Her light blue eyes pierced mine.
My nose twitched as I held her stare. She was right. Iknewshe was right. But for all of my jokes and masks, my desire for control was immovable. If anyone was going to put their safety on the line, it would be me. Not the ones I cared about.
I sighed, struggling to release my frustration. “Arowyn, look?—”
The door to the workshop burst open. A breathless Milo careened inside, nearly losing his balance as he cried, “I’m sorry, Nox! It’s all my fault.”
My second steadied him. Kieran’s annoyingly perfect hair was intact as always, barely a hint of dirt on his cloak as he raised an eyebrow. “Calm down, Milo,” he said in his smooth baritone. “Take a breath. What happened?”
Milo held a hand to his chest and inhaled, the color slowly returning to his cheeks. “I—I let her out.”
A weight sank in my stomach. “Letwhoout, Milo?”
He licked his lips. “The Shadow Wielder. I dropped the wards. Just…just for a few hours.”
In the corner of the workshop with his cabinets of herbs and potions, Silas the elderly Alchemist cursed. He swiftly crossed the room and grabbed Milo by the ear, yanking him forward. “I leave you alone fortenminutes…”
His words became muffled beneath Milo’s whines. The two of them had a close, if not easily irritable relationship, and spent most of their time together. They’d even begun to dress similarly in the two years since the older Alchemist had taken Milo as his apprentice. Tweed pants, suspenders over a white button-down, the occasional vest or sweater. While Milo’s messy blond curls constantly covered part of his eyes, Silas’s brown hair was groomed close to his tawny scalp, gray creeping onto the sides.
He adjusted his glasses with one hand while keeping the other firmly on Milo’s ear. “What did you do, boy?” Silas asked, his normally quiet, patient tone now heavy with disappointment.
Milo’s brow furrowed. “Is—isn’t that why the mission failed? Because she messed it up?” He glanced around the workshop. “Wait, where’d she go?”
My hackles rose, my spine straightening as I realized what he was saying. I took a step across the workshop to him, then another, my teeth grinding in an effort not to bite the boy’s head off.
“You let her out of the Keep?” My voice was lethally quiet. Ifshewas the one who got Everett caught?—
“Down, boy,” a voice said from the tapestry hanging on the wall. The scent of sunshine and pomegranates wafted toward me. My head snapped to face her, red hair tucked into the hood of a cloak, full lips tilted in a smirk. “He was just doing me a favor.”
A growl rumbled up my throat as I stalked toward Devora. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t send you to the capital and let Clarissa lock you in a cell.”
Her eyes sparked, and my blood heated. Instead ofcowering, she held out a hand, the tips of her fingers grazing my chest. Something green and leafy rested in the center of her palm.
She hummed as she stared me down. “I’m guessing you don’t want this, then?”
13
Nox
Iraised an eyebrow. “Did you…climb a tree?”
“If by ‘tree’ you mean ‘big, scary Mysthelm ship,’ then yes, I climbed a tree.”
Murmurs broke out behind me as the other members of the Ashen Order took in her words. My eyes narrowed, gliding from her face to the leaf sitting in her hand.
“Start from the beginning,” I ordered.
Victory shone on her features. She glanced around the workshop, those keen eyes not missing a beat. When her gaze reached Milo, she gave him a little wave, and he blanched.
“Listen, I heard you all talking last night about the Mysthelm shipment, and I got curious,” she started. “I convinced Milo here to drop the wards on the—what did you call it? The Keep. But just for one night. I wanted to know what was going on.” She looked back at me. “I wasn’t lying when I told you I wanted to help, Nox.”
My jaw twitched, but I said nothing. My Shifter hearing heightened the sounds of those behind me—Everett tapping his knuckles against my desk, the movement making his necklaces clink together; Tessa’s little scoffs and sighs; the rustle of fabric as Silas took his glasses off and cleaned them on his shirt, somethinghe often did in stressful situations. Milo’s heart was beating like a hummingbird’s wings. Kieran was silent, steadfast as usual.
Arowyn was the first to move. Her footsteps were heavy as she sauntered forward, curiosity lighting her normally uninterested features.
“So, this is her.” Arowyn nodded at Devora. “The prisoner.”
I rolled my eyes. There was thatwordagain. “How did you find us?” I asked Devora.
