‘Rage!’Noble’s voice cut through my racing thoughts.‘Get back here pronto, dude. We’ve got a problem.’
Dammit!
Why did crap always happen in threes? Hadn’t we already had enough?
My attention jumped back to Sariah. “If I give you a note, can you get it to Nai? Please?”
She nodded. “Of course. I’ll take it to her as soon as I’m able.”
‘Rage!’Noble yelled again as I leaned over Justice to rummage through the glovebox.
‘I’ll be there as soon as I can,’I shot back, my frustration mounting as I pulled out gum wrappers and empty mint tins.
Justice pushed me back with one hand and held a pen out to me with the other.
‘This is important,’Noble snapped, his tone sharp with fear. ‘A bunch of lower mages are here—’
Lower mages weren’tmyproblem.
‘This is more important!’I growled, grinding my teeth together when I considered my abysmal options for a note to my mate: crumpled gum wrapper or Nai’s aunt’s hand.
“If you want me to just pass along a message…” Sariah said, resting her fingers on my arm. “I’ll remember it word for word, I promise.”
I nodded and nudged the car back into drive.
“Will you please tell her…” I thought of all the things I wanted to say, but really, all my thoughts boiled down to two sentences. “Tell her I love her, and … please,please, come home to me.”
“I’ll make sure she gets the message,” Sariah said.
As soon as I’d murmured my appreciation, I glanced at Justice and jerked my head back toward the island. “Noble’s in a panic,” I muttered to Justice. “Something with a group of lower mages.”
After bidding Sariah goodbye, I spun the car around and raced back through the deepening night to the boat docks at top speed.
* * *
A cacophonyof revelry still thundered from the coronation party in the auditorium, but Justice and I avoided the melee and headed straight to the conference room where Noble told me he’d be. We walked down the stone hallway, approaching the heavy oak door. Two guards stood outside in the passageway, each with a mace and broadsword, their presence a foreboding omen for what lay within.
I’d been present for a few meetings over the last couple of years with Declan, but never in charge. It was time for me to step up to the plate. When Justice slowed his pace as if he weren’t going to attend, I placed a hand on his shoulder,‘Come inside. I may need your help.’
I surveyed the two guards. Both were at least two decades my senior, old enough to be my father. Noises came from behind the thick wood and stone barriers, voices raised in consternation, but the words were muffled and indistinct.
“What’s going on?” I asked, as much to feel the guards out as the situation. On our way back to the castle, I’d reached out to Noble, but he’d been so occupied, dealing with whatever was happening behind these doors, our conversation had been clipped short.
The man on the right, Tad, shook his head. “Your brother, Noble—”
“Prince Noble,” Justice growled, correcting the slight.
The guard’s lip twitched and then curled in a sneer. “Yes,PrinceNoble is inside with a bunch of mages from Dark Row.”
I frowned. From Dark Row? What the heck were they doing on Alpha Island? Why would mages behereasking for help? Unless…
After a nod to Tad, he opened the door, and I strode in, Justice on my heels.
Nearly a dozen lower-level mages, identified by the mage marks on their foreheads, stood around the table, their robes stained with soot and ash. The stench of sweat, blood, and char hung in the air so thick I could taste it at the back of my tongue. The crowd bickered, tones sharp and heated.
“We clearly can’t trust the high mages anymore. They don’t care about us!” a young, brunette, female mage snapped at a bald mage near her.
We can agree on that, I thought as I zeroed in on the speaker and paused, waiting to hear more.
