I crack up, not able to help myself.
Goals. Getta is goals. It’s official.
I turn to leave, but I’m stopped by a strong grip on my arm. I turn expecting to see Issak’s hand, but instead find Getta’s. “My Issak’s mate will find herself at a crossroads. Both options will suffocate her slowly. I need you to show her the path here,” she tells me.
I study Getta for a beat. All traces of humor have left her lined face and her light gray eyes. I can feel in my bones that whatever she’s telling me right now isveryimportant.
“Okay, but how will I knew who she is?”
“Oh, you already know her.” And with that, Getta’s head lolls, and a tiny snore comes out of her open mouth. Issak rises from the floor and picks Getta up out of her chair. I brush hair off her forehead and once again marvel at how deceivingly fragile she looks.
“I’ll send her your way, Bond Weaver,” I whisper to her, and Issak lifts an eyebrow in question at me.
“Yeah, I figured out who she is. It was the way she touched my rune the first time I met her...” I explain, skimming a finger over the rune on my palm that showed up when I marked Siah. “And what she told us today made it all click. She’s one of the last, isn’t she?” I ask him, and he stares at me for a moment before giving me a small nod.
“Don’t worry, her secret is safe with me,” I tell him softly, and then I turn and follow my Chosen out the back door.
25
Heavy breathing and light snores serenade me as I unwrap Siah’s arm from around my waist and push off Torrez’s hand from my chest. I pause when Torrez grumbles something aboutcock chiand rolls over. I shake with restrained laughter when he buries his hand in Valen’s hair and purrs that it’ssoftbefore smacking his lips a couple of times and falling back into a deep sleep. Looking around at the night soaked room of our castle suite, I try not to feel weird about the fact that we’re here again instead of at Tok and Marn’s house. Slipping out of my place on the mattresses that have been pushed together on the floor of the large room, I tiptoe to the bathroom to shower.
I pull the levers on the wall that get the water flowing. Steam wafts from the downpour after a couple minutes and I check the temperature of the water with my hand. I adjust the levers to make it even hotter and step under the steady stream. Heat envelops me. As I stand under the sweltering torrent, I hope it will sap the restless energy slithering through my veins, but it has the opposite effect. I’m now even more awake.
I dry off, get dressed, and shake my limbs out. Even though I’m tired, my body and mind won’t shut down long enough for me to get any amount of rest. I’ve been up all night, listening to the deep breathing of my Chosen as they sleep. Images and voices swirled around in my head as I relived everything that happened today. I rub at my chest and the unease I feel there. I’m anxious, and I can’t figure out exactly why.
It could be this situation in general, or maybe something happened back home. I fucking wish my phone had service so I could call and check in with everyone. I’m itching to hear the sisters’ voices and to hear from Aydin and Evrin what’s going on there without us. I need to hear Mave’s laugh and check in on Cyndol and see if she’s ready for a new circuit.
The door to our room creaks as I open it, and I pause and quietly wait to see if it woke anyone up. No one stirs, so I squeeze out and shut it behind me with a soft snick. I move silently to Sorik and my dad’s room. I open the thankfully silent door and peek in. Vaughn is asleep in the bed, or I assume he sleeps. We tell him to close his eyes and sleep, but I don’t know if he actually does. Sorik is passed out in a chair, a book in his lap. I smile at the sight and back out of the room.
I move to the room my Shields claimed and slowly twist the knob and push it open. It gives a tiny squeal of protest, but the knife now being pointed at my throat is what makes me stop in my tracks. Nash realizes that it’s me and breathes out a sigh. The short sword disappears, and he takes a step back.
“Why are you sneaking around at three in the morning?” he demands on a whisper.
He pushes the door open wider to let me in, and I see Enoch, Kallan, and Becket in chairs that are positioned in front of the large fireplace in their room.
“I was checking on you guys,” I whisper yell back as I step into the room.
“How do you know what time it is, anyway? I can’t find a clock to save my life.”
“The fairy light flickers the number of the hour when you look at it,” he tells me casually and shuts the door behind me.
“Really?” I ask.
I turn to the wall sconce just by the door. Sure enough, it flickers three times. Well, shit, that would have been nice to know before now. I move toward them and perch on the arm of the chair Kallan is sitting in.
“How the hell do you know that about the lights? And what are you guys doing up?”
“Sauriel told us about it when he stopped by yesterday evening,” Kallan answers.
My brow furrows. “What did he want?”
“To talk to us about Suryn, and he sort of just wanted to get to know us, I guess,” Enoch tells me with a shrug.
“Oh,” I respond, a little surprised.
I look around at all of them, scanning the situation again. Becket is tense and so is Kallan. Enoch is leaning forward in his chair like he was listening to something with rapt attention or maybe communicating something passionately. Nash looks relaxed, but he always looks that way.
“What’s going on here?” I ask again, my tone this time more suspicious.
