“And when Mom said no, she tried to build her own sword out of our shower curtain rod,” Rory recalled, and they both roared with laughter.
“I would have taught her,” Sam said with a small smile. “I wish I could have met her.”
The tender words touched Rory. They were unlike him, and her heart lurched for the man sitting across from her. “If she met the infamous Samyaza, she would have fainted.”
Dume spewed his drink all over the floor. “Samyaza?” he choked out.
Rory bit her lip, and Sam gave her an ‘I’m going to kill you’ look.
“Sorry,” she mouthed.
Dume gulped, looking starstruck. “You’retheSamyaza?”
“No,” Sam said as Rory said, “Yes.” He shot her another look, and she winced.
“No fucking way,” Dume breathed.
“Yes,” Sam grumbled. “You cannot tell anyone.” The look he gave Dume made theAatxescoot closer to Rory.
She laughed for the thousandth time that night. “Don’t be afraid of him. He’s secretly nice.”
“How would you know?” Dume challenged. “You’ve only known him for a week.”
Sam didn’t react to her teasing and instead asked, “Howdoyou know I am Samyaza?”
She opened her mouth to answer but came up short.
DidLauren tell her?No, she would remember that conversation. Shocked, she looked at the two men. “I don’t know. I just do.”
Sam cleared his throat and turned away from her while Dume assessed her carefully, but before he could ask questions, another memory surfaced.
The dream she had of the treehouse. Caius said he and his sisters had this place built. She shot to her feet and faced Sam.
“Caius and his sisters built this place.”
Sam scratched his jaw as he regarded her without so much as a peep.
“Who is Caius?” Dume asked, rising to his feet.
Rory began searching for anything that might suggest the information was true. “Did we keep anything that was already here when we found the place?”
The men watched her frantically overturn the entire place. “No. It was unsalvageable. We brought in the pillow seats, knick-knacks, and Cora’s books.”
Rory heard nothing else he said as she made a beeline for the bookshelf. Caius felt for something under the shelves, but he never said what he was looking for. Dropping to her knees, she ran her hand under the top shelf as he had done.Which shelf was it?
When she ran her hand on the underside of the bottom shelf, herfingers grazed over something carved into the wood. She pulled out the books, threw them on the ground, and tugged at the wood.
“Help me,” she pleaded through gritted teeth as she yanked hard enough to hurt her fingers.
Dume pulled her back and pinned her arms to her sides. “How drunk are you?”
She wiggled free and shoved him lightly to make him move. “I only had one drink. I need to see the bottom of this shelf.”
Sam quietly watched the exchange. She could use his strength, but it was apparent he wouldn’t help. “I need something to break the shelf.”
Dume stepped between her and the small piece of furniture. “Calm down, Rory. Why are you destroying Cora’s bookshelf?”
Realizing she wanted to destroy Cora’s favorite thing in their hideout gave her pause. “I’ll buy potions to fix it,” she promised. “But I need to see the bottom of the last shelf.”
