Roman ate her words with the same ferocity he was swallowing her lies. “You’re going to need to retrieve it, then.”
“I am.”
“I can arrange for you to visit the mausoleum privately. You’re entitled to grieve your parents without a host of sentinels in the room; no one will think twice.”
“Tomorrow,” she said, time winding down around her as she considered how much had passed since they’d ducked into this room. Melisina was waiting for her. Reid was waiting. They would coordinate everything tonight. Once they had the necklace, they would need to flee as quickly as possible.
“Tomorrow,” Roman agreed quietly. “And then we will decide how to rid ourselves of Lord Karev.”
She nodded, hoping with everything she had that he would be sated long enough with an almost, a someday.
He stepped forward and ran his thumb along her cheekbone. She kept her hands behind her, one on the table, the other within inches of the chain. But then he dropped his, tentatively brushing her wrist until he lifted her hand to his chest. “You can touch me, Vaasa. We are alone.”
Vaasa swallowed a deep breath and then lied as naturally as breathing. “History has a terrible way of repeating itself.” She hoped the words would remind him of exactly what he had to lose, positioning her as the rational one between them.
His face softened. “It won’t, not this time.”
“I can’t,” she whispered. “Ican’t survive it a second time. Karev will kill you if he finds out who you are. Who you work for. What we plan to do together.”
Roman pursed his lips, but at her outright refusal, his hand slipped from hers. He backed away, and Vaasa stifled her look of relief. He pressed his ear to the door, listening for the sounds of people coming or going. With a gesture of his hand, Vaasa carefully crossed the room. Magic still bit at her insides, and she pushed it down, her adrenaline slowing to a manageable pulse.
The hall was empty. They were silent as they snuck back to their pinnace, pretending Vaasa was merely a sentinel who had failed to gather enough courage to jump from the Last Crossing.
And when she made it back to her quarters, she rested her head against the door for a moment. Relaxed.
She had gotten a taste of it all—had been reminded precisely what came alive inside her when Reid was near. Without him, the coldness within her came back swiftly and without mercy.
Until she was back in his arms for good, there was no line she would not cross. No lie she would not become.
A plan unfolded in the darkest recesses of her mind, and it was all the worst parts of her. Yet those parts were the very reason she had survived this long. They had been built upon the back of this place, had been necessary. That darkness had served her and might continue to serve her if she played her cards right.
She had a choice, after all.
She could be one of two things: a prisoner in a fortress of her own making, or a wolf they had let into their house.
CHAPTER
29
Vaasa reached the end of the dark passageway that connected the fortress and her family’s apartment. She pressed upon the back of the false bookshelf wall. Her grandfather had kept a reading room here, and if Vaasa had the time, she might have explored every book he had chosen to keep private. Instead, she launched into the hallway and came face-to-face with Reid, who must have heard the sound of her opening the concealed door.
“It was Veragi,” Vaasa blurted, just as Reid gathered her up and into his arms. Cool magic poured from her hands, the dark mist expelling from her body the moment he held her close. The moment she felt safe enough to allow it do so.
“You’re okay?” he asked into her hair and then pulled her to arm’s length to inspect. “What happened?”
“Did you see her?” a voice tumbled down the hallway. Koen’s.
Vaasa looked past Reid to see him standing at the end of the hallway, eyes more alight with hope than she had seen them yet. He adjusted his spectacles, and Vaasa thought he might be trying to soften the intense tightness of his shoulders, but it didn’t have the effect of making him seem relaxed, only anxious.
“Yes,” she said, stepping around Reid and walking to Koen. “But… Veragi possessed her somehow. She showed me images of my mother and Ozik.”
Melisina gasped. “The goddess communicated with you?” She sat behind Koen on the couch in the main family room. Her hand covered her mouth. Vaasa crossed the room and took the spot next to her, avoiding Sachia, who was fast asleep beneath a blanket on the opposite couch. Reid’s eyes traveled to where Vaasa sat, but he didn’t beckon her over to him. He sat on the ground instead, just in front of the fireplace that raged with a much-needed warmth, and pulled his knees to his shoulders.
Vaasa nodded. “Amalie’s eyes glowed white, like your horse and my wolf. She never directly spoke to me, only showed me images. But I had to touch Amalie to see any of it.”
Melisina breathed heavily, gaze drifting around the room like she was caught in her own thoughts.
“Have you ever heard of something like this?” Reid asked Melisina.
