I shouldn't be surprised Nox wanted to use me for whatever the next mission against Scarven was. That was what I’d proven myself to be good at. A tool, a weapon. Something that was needed but not always wanted.
After two long days, there was a rap on my door before Nox abruptly entered the room.
I jumped and pulled the bedsheets up to my chest. “Mostpeople wait to be let in, you know,” I shot at him. “I could’ve been naked.”
“As if you didn’t spend an entire evening roaming my house in your lacy nightgown,” he said without missing a beat, his eyes doing a quick scan of the room before settling on me. They flicked to the top of the sheet and back up to my face.
My cheeks heated against my will as I reached for my glasses on the nightstand. “Does the fact that you’vedeignedto come visit me mean I can finally know what you’re up to?”
He let out a sigh that filled the air. “So dramatic. Come on.”
“Comewhere?”
His large hand wrapped around the bedpost at my feet, dark rings glittering at me. “Are you always this obstinate?”
“More so, usually.” I gave him a sweet smile.
“Fine. If you’d rather stay up here?—”
“Fates, I thought you were supposed to becharming,” I said with a disgruntled noise as I hastily threw off the covers. “I’m coming, I’m coming.”
I followed him through the hall and down several flights of stairs until we made it to the bottom floor.
“So where are we going?” I prompted, tired of the heavy silence between us.
“Patience is a virtue,” he drawled.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, well, so is not locking people up, but that’s none of my business.” When he glared at me, I held my hands up in innocence, then adjusted my glasses. “Is there a new mission?”
He hummed, and the sound dripped down my spine. “So eager to jump into danger?”
“I’m just as curious about what Scarven is using this fatesprig stuff for as you are.”
His eyes examined me one more time before he spun and opened a door in the hallway. We were in the same large room as two nights ago, with dark brick walls and a wooden floor. Right by the door was a couch. Arowyn lounged on itwith her feet resting on a small coffee table. Next to that was a whole wall of cabinets, where Silas and Milo had taken up residency. There were pouches overflowing with dried flowers and half-filled glass vials of liquid strewn across the cabinets. Their Alchemist den, I assumed.
My eyes kept roaming, taking in the space. To the right of Silas and Milo were a couple of bookshelves perched by the only window in the room. Along another stretch of wall was an area for target practice. Several circular targets were set up, with a cache of daggers, axes, bows and arrows, and little throwing stars inside a basket. Everett and a handsome man I hadn’t met but who looked like he could kill me and bury my body without getting a drop of dirt on his impeccable suit sat at a table in the center of the room.
And finally, directly to my right, was a desk. Nox strode to it and uncorked a bottle of amber liquor, pouring a generous helping before leaning against the side of the desk.
An unexpected twinge went through me. I didn’t know these people. This wasn’t my home. This was my prison—it should feel cold. Unwelcoming. Hostile.
But it felt likesomeone’shome. It was full of life and personality and mixed smells of herbs and steel, sweet alcohol and sweat. Watching these people so casual and unburdened, I could see this was a place where they let their guard down. Even Nox’s shoulders relaxed as he swirled his glass in his hand.
Until their attention turned to me.
A combination of wary and curious eyes found mine. The outsider. The traitor. The broken Shadow Wielder. I could imagine their thoughts, and I didn’t blame them.
I just had to prove them wrong.
“Official introductions might be unnecessary at this point, but this is Devora,” Nox said, lifting his glass at me. The way he said my name, the letters drawn out in that low, smoky voice, warmed the back of my neck.
“You already know who Arowyn is,” he continued. I glanced at the couch where the woman sat. “She’s a Strider. That means she can?—”
“I know what it means,” I cut in, then rolled my lips. “Sorry. Keep going.”
“Silas and Milo are in the back,” Nox said. The two Alchemists looked up at the sound of their names, and Milo’s face immediately turned a bright pink. “And you know Everett, our Illusionist”—Everett stared at me from the table, something strange about his eyes that I couldn’t quite place—“and Kieran, my second-in-command.” He gestured to the last man sitting at the table with Everett. “He’s also a Shifter. A stag.”
Kieran’s dark brown eyes pierced me, sizing me up as if he could see into my soul. It was unnerving having all of them focused on me. The insect under a magnifying glass.
