“Where is my son?”a familiar woman’s voice screamed down the hall.
Rage closed the bedroom door behind us, and dread slithered through me.
“Where is he?” her voice cracked. “Where is my Nolan?”
Oh crap. Just what we didn’t need right now: Aunt Lilith.
Dad’s younger sister was a bitch. Literally. Entitled, argumentative, she was to blame for raising Nolan to be a lazy pig who tried to kill me.
‘Any chance we can sneak out the back?’I joked to Rage.
Rage took my hand.‘We only have an hour left before Honor’s time is up.’
Right. Honor. Focus.
So we strode into the living room like we’d just come in from a mid-day stroll—not almost sex in the bedroom.
“Nai!” Fiona leapt up from the couch with a fake smile plastered to her face, and the occupants all turned to us.
All. Of. Them.
Kaja, Fiona, and the two Midnight princes sat on one of the large sectionals, their heads inclined toward one another as if trying to ignore Lilith. Lona held my aunt’s arm, and Mack was doing his best to keep distance between my insane aunt and the rest of the room. Dad and Grandpa Geoff stood together in the doorway to the dining room. Geoff looked worse for wear, leaning against his redheaded shield, Reyna, who I recognized from the first day of school at my element ceremony. Kaja’s second eldest sister—she was built like an Amazon woman. Nearly six feet tall with lean muscle, she was beautiful.
As my grandpa pivoted, I saw Reyna on his other side,fullysupporting him.
Wait a minute. What happened? Why couldn’t he walk?
I knew Grandpa was old, but he’d never appeared frail like this before. Did this have anything to do with Surlama’s curse … the one he’d asked me to send him?
As my dad looked our way, he blushed …which made me blush, and I glanced down to make sure my clothes were on. Yep, all dressed—
“Where’s Nolan?” Lilith screeched again. She wrenched free of Lona and darted around Mack before stalking toward us. Her eyes and nose were swollen and red, and her skin splotchy. Gruesome scratches marred her face and neck, and the dried blood under her nails hinted her wounds were self-inflicted. “The school said the mid-year games were a mess.” She waved a sheet of parchment with a golden seal. “They said he died and thatyoukilled him!”
Awkward didn’t even begin to describe this situation.
Unsure of what to say, I glanced to Rage for help.
His eyes glinted with murder, so better not count on help from him—at least, not if I wanted to smooth things over. “H-he attacked me, tried to kill me, and I—”
Elaine scooted past Rage and cut Lilith off midstride. “I was there the night your son died. What Nai says is true, he attacked her, and—”
“Who are you?” Lilith snarled.
“Elaine Midnight, the alpha queen.” Rage’s mother tipped her chin up with pride, and Lilith’s expression widened with surprise as she sucked in a sharp breath.
“Your son,” Elaine continued, “tried to kill Nai, and—”
“It says Nai killedhim,” Lilith snarled, her lips pinching as her expression contorted with hatred. She flicked her gaze to me, and her eyes hardened. “Well? Did you?”
I swallowed hard … and then nodded. “Yes.”
Lilith shrieked and lunged for me.
Elaine grabbed my aunt in a surprising display of ferociousness, and Mack and Lona raced over, as did my other friends, surrounding my aunt while she sobbed about the loss of her only child.
Even though I disliked both my aunt and my cousin, I couldn’t gloat over Lilith’s grief. Considering the pain of losing Honor, I could respect my aunt’s need to grieve.
Dad cleared his throat and caught my eye. “From what your grandfather said, you’re going to need privacy.”
