“You should go,” Mauricio interjects. “It’s getting late.”
“You’re not coming with us?” Vaughn asks.
“No, I have to smooth things over with Larsson, and I also need to debrief Dean. Neither is happy with you right now.”
Vaughn’s Adam’s apple bobs up and down. “How screwed am I?”
Mauricio pinches his lips together. “To be determined. Tell me, how did you manage to piss off the leader of the Red Guardandthe dragon kingpin in the span of an hour?”
Vaughn rubs his arm, grimacing. “I’m that talented.”
The towering familiar shakes his head. “I’ll say. Perhaps King Raphael should use your power of destruction against his enemies.”
Vaughn glances at me with round eyes. “He’s kidding.”
“Yeah, I know.”
“You lot talk too much,” Derek grumbles. “Let’s fucking go already. I have better things to do.”
He walks away, expecting us to follow him, I guess. Before I do, I stick my tongue out at him. It’s childish, but it’s the only thing I can do to show my displeasure. I’m out of juice, and if I try to run away, where would I go? My apartment’s location is compromised, and I can’t return to my father’s house. He’d probably lock me in my room and throw away the key.
No, I have to see this through.
Twenty-Five
VAUGHN
Ididn’t think Sophie would agree to get in Derek’s car. To be fair, I wouldn’t be so keen either if I were in her shoes. He wasn’t pleased that I insisted on riding in the back seat with her instead of shotgun.
The entire scenario is so weird. How can King Raphael have access to Tatiana, his archnemesis, if she’s not his prisoner? I don’t know Derek that well, but the king trusts him, so that’s good enough, I guess. I have many questions, though I try to keep them bottled up because I don’t want to freak Sophie out even more. But my tongue has a will of its own. I last two minutes.
“If the plan was for you to drive us to see Tatiana, why did the warlock drop us off near Bloodstone?”
“It was the safest location. The area is protected by Solomon’s wards.”
“But the warlock could breach through?” I press, even though it’s a stupid question. He clearly could or we wouldn’t have ended up there.
“Obviously,” Derek grumbles.
“My father told me Queen Tatiana was ill and not seeing anyone,” Sophie cut in. “How can you have access to her?”
“Has he told you what ails her?” Derek asks.
“No, he was vague about her illness. Does he not know?”
“It’s possible he doesn’t know the details if she hid it from him.”
I watch Sophie’s profile. Her jaw is clenched tight. “Do you know what’s wrong with her?”
Derek doesn’t answer for a couple of beats, and the silence is deafening. I take that as a bad sign.
“I do know,” he finally replies. “You must be prepared. She’s not the person you used to know.”
Sophie crosses her arms and looks out the window. “I don’t think I’ve ever truly known her.”
I want to take her hand and console her, but she’s closed off now. I stay on my side of the vehicle, and the gap between us feels like a chasm. I wonder what seeing her mother will do to Sophie’s psyche. Will she decide that getting involved with me is a bad idea? Will she take her mother’s side? My heart is beating so fast, but not as fast as my mind is conjuring up all sorts of crazy scenarios—each one worse than the last.
I look out the window too and think about how my life went from ordinary to this chaotic existence. It’s while I’m lost in my head that I feel Sophie’s fingers on my hand. Her touch sends a jolt of electricity through me—proverbially, not literally—that makes my heart skip a beat.
