“No,” Sam snapped, making her flinch. “You are to leave the palace when your shift ends and never return.”
She looked nervous, and he wanted to put her at ease, but he’d never done well at making people comfortable. “I won’t remember why I quit when I leave,” she murmured to herself.
He couldn’t imagine what losing one’s memory was like, and he didn’t want her agonizing over why she decided to leave her job. “Give me your phone number. I will be unreachable for a few days, but when I return, I will call you, and we can talk.” She wouldn’t remember him either, but at least he could put her mind at ease.
Anastasia took a deep breath. “Okay. I will inform the head night maid and return my badge to the gate guards.”
Sam couldn’t explain the elation he felt at hearing her words. The knowledge that she was safe cleared his mind.
“Thank you,” he said sincerely, handing her his phone to program her number in. When she handed it back, he stuck it in his back pocket. “It is almost morning, and I must leave. I will call you when I return.”
Standing, she stuck out her hand, and he clasped it in his. “Until next time,” she said with a sweet smile.
He gave a curt nod, shifted into a bird, and slipped out when she opened the door. One less thing he had to worry about.
47
Dume’s phone rang early,tooearly, and he rolled over, blindly reaching for it. Bruce’s number showed on the screen, and he bolted upright. “Hello?”
Bruce’s voice was distraught and barely coherent. “Sera,” he blubbered. “I-I came to check on her because she wasn’t returning my calls.” Dume heard Sera’s voice say something in the background, and he relaxed slightly until Bruce spoke again. “We have to find Rory.”
“What’s happened to Sera and Rory?” Dume demanded, putting his phone on speaker while he pulled on a pair of jeans.
Bruce replied with more incoherent words, and there was rustling in the background before Sera’s voice came through the speaker. “Dume, it’s Gedeon,” she yelled into the receiver. “H-he shifted into me days ago.”
Dume’s blood ran cold. “That’s not possible.”
She stopped crying enough that he could understand her, but barely. “He can shift into people. I don’t understand how he does it. He chained me to the sink in my bathroom.” Her sobs broke his heart, and if someone else didn’t kill Gedeon, he would.
“He met with someone this afternoon,” she hiccupped. “It might be Rory. You need to find her.”
Dume grabbed his keys. “Put Bruce back on the phone.”
“I’m sorry,” Bruce said when he took the phone from his daughter.
“It’s understandable,” Dume assured him. “Call emergency services. Sera needs to see a doctor immediately, but do not tell them about the Lux King. Say it was an unknown intruder.”
“I will.” Bruce hung up, and Dume called Rory’s phone.
It went straight to a recorded message. He tried Sam, and theAngeldidn’t answer either.
Lauren was his last hope. “Hello?”
His knees almost buckled at the sound of her voice. “Where’s Rory?”
“She should be at the safe house,” Lauren replied. “Why?”
Dume gave her a rundown of what happened, and she said every curse word he’d ever heard, along with some he hadn’t. “Have you checked the house yet?”
“No. I’m headed there now.” He cursed when he realized a cab couldn’t drive him to the safe house. Holding his phone out, he texted Keith.
“I’ll meet you there,” she said and hung up.
Dume and Keitharrived at the safe house and jumped out of the truck. Kordie went to the hospital to check on Sera. Keith didn’t want her coming with him in case something happened, and Dume agreed. Their friend had no skills to protect herself if they were to walk into an ambush.
Lauren’s SUV pulled up shortly after, and once in the house, they called Rory’s name, searching everywhere. Patrick walked out of his room with sleep-swollen eyes. “What’s going on?”
“Did you see Rory when you got home this morning?” Lauren asked.
