I feel my stomach turn, slow and nauseous.
“So she just… posted it? From the draft?” This is insane.Please, someone tell me I’m wrong.
Bastion shakes his head. “She didn’t need to. She just sent it to the press. Or posted it under another name. She’s always two steps ahead.”
“Why would she do that?” Ranier asks.
“Because she can’t stand to see us happy,” says Bastion. “Because she can’t stand to see Wyatt with anyone else.”
The air gets thin. I reach for the wall to steady myself. “This is my fault.”
Bastion doesn’t disagree. “Fix it.”
Ranier grabs his phone. “We need to get to her before the Council does. And before the press does. Wyatt, you find Charlotte. Get her to retract or apologize, or something.”
Bastion’s eyes flick to me, full of old hurts and something darker. “You’d better hurry,” he says. “Because if you don’t, I will.”
Ranier gives me a look, all command and zero patience. “Go.”
I bolt. Out the front door, down the steps, and into the street. The world is gray and spinning, but I don’t stop. I text Charlotte, then call, then text again, thumbs blurring on the screen. She doesn’t answer. I keep moving, running and hoping the ground will open up and swallow me whole.
I hear the bike start up behind me—Bastion, roaring out of the garage. The noise is pure rage.
I don’t know where Emery is, but I know I have to find Charlotte first. I know I have to make this right, even if it kills me.
Especiallyif it kills me.
CHAPTER 29
Emery
I don’t rememberthe walk to Eloise’s, just that my feet take me there without consulting the rest of me. The city is cold and sleepless, the air prickling at my skin like static. I’m in nothing but a threadbare hoodie and the dress from yesterday, which means by the time I reach her building, I can’t feel my fingers. My eyes are raw from crying. The bag slung over my shoulder is heavier than the day I moved in with the pack. I almost laugh at that, but my lungs don’t have the energy.
Eloise lives on the second floor of a house that’s been split into three apartments. I ring her buzzer and immediately regret it—she probably has class in the morning or a deadline.
But no. Eloise answers the door and immediately pulls me into a massive hug. “Oh, Emery. I’m so sorry. I just saw the viral post and I was on my way to the manor.”
I wrap my arms around her and sob into her shoulder. But then her words catch up to me. I pull back and stare at her through tears. “Viral post?” Then it clicks. My heart sinks and my voice turns into a whine. “Theypostedit?”
Eloise’s eyes narrow but I know the anger is pointed at anyone but me. “Who is ‘they,’ Emery?”
“Everhart Pack.” My pack. Until this morning. I start crying again.
Eloise pulls me inside and locks the door behind us. She guides me to her couch and I tell her everything that happened, from everyone in the pack officially claiming me to discovering that draft on Wyatt’s phone that he apparently posted at some point after I left this morning. Which really wasn’t all that long ago.
It didn’t take them long to double down.And he’d been so apologetic and guilty-sounding. I can’t believe I nearly fell for it.
“I’m going to make us both some tea,” Eloise declares before vanishing into the kitchen. She returns with two mugs and more tissues. “Are you sure Wyatt is the one that posted that blog, Emery? I thought everything was going so well with the pack. You all seemed wonderful at the debut event and donor drive. Except for Ranier, anyway. But you told me that worked out, too?”
“Itdid.” Which is why this was such a shock. I close my eyes and sip the tea. “Wyatt looked surprised to see that draft in his dashboard. And maybe I shouldn’t have pried, Eloise. But you’ve seen it. It’s awful.”
Eloise glances out a window behind my shoulder for a long moment. Her brow creases in thought. “Is it possible he was hacked?”
I bite my cheek while I consider. “Yes, I suppose so. But that would mean someone knew he ran Royals Anonymous, and I was under the impression that only Bastion and Ranier did.”
Eloise gently holds my hand. “The impression you had in the few seconds you were all together with that information out in the open?”
I breathe in as tears start to fall. “Maybe I shouldn’t have run, Eloise. But it was all justsomuch. Ranier’s father has out it out for me. The press, too. And my parents…” I shake my head.“They’re supportive, but they didn’t want this for me. It was like everything I’d been worried about came true all at once.”
