Emerging from the bedroom, I stop just outside the door when I find the living area awash with emerald light.
The keeper’s powerwhooshesaround the room, ruffling the male panthers’ fur and blowing through Lucian’s feathers. The lounge chairs appear to have been whisked back into place and now their upholstery is stitching back together and smoothing out. Within seconds, it looks like they were never torn in the firstplace. The scorch marks on them appear to have been dealt with already.
At the other end of the room, the contents of the cupboards are clattering—presumably a sign that the crockery was smashed during the explosion and the keeper is now mending it—while the kitchen table slides back into place.
Finally, one of the kitchen chairs rushes across the floor right into the back of Lucian’s legs.
“Take a seat, boy.” The keeper smirks at him.
“I’ll stand, thanks,” Lucian snaps, rapidly sidestepping the chair and fully retracting his wings before he takes up a position near the kitchen sink.
The panthers are huddled against the left of the living area, their fur sticking up at all angles and their expressions disgruntled. As the emerald light recedes, they resume their usual positions, draping themselves over the lounge chairs.
“All done.” With a pleased look on his face, the keeper nudges Riot aside to claim the armchair.
Riot hisses at him before finding a spot on the rug.
Anarchy is a step in front of me, but it seems she’s quickly taking stock of the keeper and Lucian.
“So tense,” she mutters before she glides across the room and pulls up the very chair that the keeper had nudged into Lucian’s legs.
She casts Lucian glances from beneath her dark lashes as she sits down, her head held high, appearing for all the world as if she’s claiming what he gave away.
His forehead crinkles at her.
I head straight for the sink and the drawers I’ve previously ascertained contain kitchen cloths. Dampening several of them, I drag one through my hair, doing my best to clean off some of the blood before I hand Lucian one of the damp towels.
“Anarchy missed a spot,” I say, gesturing to his arm.
He takes the cloth but doesn’t use it, holding it as if he doesn’t trust it.
“It’s just a cloth,” I say. “No strings attached.”
Hanging the rest of the cloths over the faucet, I turn away and allow him to make his own decisions.
Reaching the lounge chairs, I nudge myself between Rumble and Strife where they laze on the largest seat, squeezing myself between them.
“Are you really shadow panthers?” I ask, all of my questions suddenly burning. “Or simply cursed to look like them?”
To my surprise, Anarchy looks affronted.
“Of course we’re shadow panthers.” She gives a little sigh. “All of the original shadow panthers were other creatures cursed into that shape by a malevolent being.”
I lean forward, curious. “Okay? How did that happen?”
“Let me start from the beginning,” she says. “And I’ll tell you all about it.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Anarchy’s fingers curl around each side of her chair as if she’s anchoring herself before she begins.
“Over a thousand years ago—and remember, I was already nearly a thousand years old by this time—humans became a significant threat to supernaturals. They had started to develop all sorts of weaponry that they could use against us, the worst of which was black powder that caused massive explosions.”
She gives a heavy exhale. “It is indeed unfortunate, but there were whispers at the time that the black powder came about because it was inspired by a similar explosive powder belonging to dragons.” She grips the chair tightly. “Regardless, supernaturals found themselves vulnerable. Thebrightelves had the idea to go into hiding. They decided to create a new world for themselves where humans would never find them.
“But in doing so, they were vulnerable for the first time in the history of our enmity with them, and my queen saw her chance to annihilate them. It was my duty, as the leader of her army, to obey my queen’s every command.”
Anarchy pauses and I remember very clearly the sense of rebellion I’d felt around her and her brothers when I was deciding what names to give them.
