Her father waited to answer until she returned and sat down, presumably not wanting to scream across the large house. “I found something else you might be interested in.” He grabbed a book from the side table and held it out to her. “It’s a history book about theRoyals.” Her excitement piqued. She’d only scanned the last bookhe brought her, finding nothing useful, but this one sounded promising.
Opening the cover, she read the table of contents and grinned widely. There was a section on Caius and his siblings. “Thank you,” she said mindlessly as she flipped through the pages. “This is perfect.”
There were no pictures of theRoyals, but what she read about the brothers made her gasp. They were identical twins. “Bane,” she hissed as she looked at Lauren. “Gedeon killed Cora, didn’t he?”
Patrick sat forward and turned to Lauren as well. “The Lux King? He killed my baby girl?” Cora was born second and thus the baby of the family. Something Rory never let her forget. Their father had always called her his baby girl, which drove her sister crazy. Hearing the endearment almost did her in.
Lauren looked unsure as she looked between the two before giving her full attention to Rory. “Don’t do anything stupid that will get you killed.”
It wasn’t a straight answer, but it was close enough. Rory’s first instinct was to find the king, kill him, and make him suffer. She thought of ways to get into The Capital. Seduction? No. He would know she was Cora’s sister. They looked too much alike. Besides, the thought of seducing any man other than Caius made bile rise in her throat.
“I said don’t do anything stupid,” Lauren fumed, and Rory reared back. TheAngelhad been nothing but calm until that point. She wasreallymad. “It’s why we didn’t tell you anything about Vincula when you first returned. Caius knew you would try to go after Gedeon and get yourself killed.”
Rory repressed a snide remark, irritated that they knew her so well. “Fine,” she spat back. “I need to go to theMunincompound today. Caius told me to find a man named Max and ask him to break through the memory magic.” She would at least try to regain her memories before making any rash decisions.
“He thinks Max is strong enough to retrieve your memories?” Lauren asked, her previous anger gone.
“He thinks the magic binding them is already cracked since I remembered a red bowl.” She chewed on the side of her lip. “Apparently, it was the first thing I saw when he lifted my grey-scale sight.”
“What red bowl?” her father asked.
Rory winced. “I’ll explain later, but he thinks aMunincan break the magic the rest of the way.”
Her father scratched the top of his head, looking tired. “How will you get into the compound?”
TheMunincompound was locked down as tight as The Capital.Muninkept to themselves, mainly because people tried to convince them to wipe their painful memories or use them against their enemies. Rory didn’t blame them, and guilt chipped away at her resolve. She was about to do the same thing.
The only way in was if you knew someone and were on their approved guest list. “I haven’t figured that out yet.” She blew out an exasperated breath. “Could you get us in with your clearance?” she asked Lauren.
TheAngelhuffed out a laugh. “I can do whatever I want in The Capital, but there’s no way they’d let me into the compound without a written demand from The Crown.”
“And we can’t ask Gedeon,” Rory concluded with a groan.
Patrick snapped his fingers. “Keith! His parents areMunin, no?”
Rory straightened with an excited gasp. “They are!” She dug her phone out of her pocket and dialed Keith’s number. When he answered, she explained the situation, and he agreed to call his parents without asking questions. He must have heard the seriousness in her tone. She’d tell Keith and Kordie everything today.
She beamed as she hung up. “He said he knows his parents will say yes, and he’ll take us this afternoon.”
Lauren sighed. “This is going to be interesting.”
27
VINCULA
Sam stoodwith his arms folded across his chest, waiting for Caius to follow his instructions.
Caius stared at the shadows swirling around him and wondered how in the fuck he was going to make them do anything other than move. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“The shadowsarethe realm,” Sam explained. “You are not actuallycreating; you are manipulating them to form into something else.”
Caius thought about a rock, willing it to form. The shadows made the shape of a small boulder like a fucking shadow puppet. “This isn’t working.”
“You have been trying for five minutes,” Sam reminded him. “When the King of Aravoth created the realms, it was out of love for his wife. Dig up the strongest emotion you have and use that.”
“Will annoyance work?” Caius asked with feigned seriousness.
Sam’s wings tightened, and Caius smirked. While theAngel’sface showed no emotion, his wings were a front-row seat to how he felt. “You are impatient.”
