Page 168 of Resurgent

“You need to be able to do it anywhere.”

Recognizing that he’s not wrong, I close my eyes and focus as I run through my warm-ups.

My hair shifts first. Then height. Nose. Jaw. Eyes. Voice.

I practice until my mind is as numb as my ass, and then we make our final stop.

Chapter fifty

Annalise

Afew miles from town, Tyr keeps a lookout as I change my clothes and morph my features, taking the appearance of a mid-twenties girl with dirty-blonde hair in a white summer dress with heels. My legs tingle as I grow a couple of inches, my boobs go down a few cup sizes—though there’s still enough to be enticing in my gown tomorrow night, and my eyes change to a hypnotizingly deep blue.

“How—” I clear my croaking voice, needing the changes I made to my vocal cords to settle before trying again.

“How do I sound?”

“Annoyingly…peppy. Please don’t use that voice in your mind; it’s worse than a squeaky hinge.”

“You don’t like it?” I tease aloud.

“I’m leaving now,” he chuffs in annoyance, but I feel his amusement sitting just below the surface.

I run back to him, throwing myself against his chest.

“I won’t be more than a few minutes' flight away at any time. Say the word and we leave. Okay?”

“I have a mission, Tyr.” I take a step back, letting him feel my determination. “We need this information, and we need their future king out of the picture.”

“They could have sent someone else! Our magic isn’t for them to use to send you on a suicide mission.”

Steam rolls from his nostrils, nearly knocking me over. His reaction probably would have sent me into a dissociation spiral a few months ago, but I know he’s still furious that we’re here.

“I won’t get caught. If it gets too dangerous, I’ll tell you, and we’ll leave.

He’s still tightly wound, and I know that he won’t relax until this mission is over and we’re back at Scion.

“I promise,” I say out loud and into his mind, wanting to reassure him in every way possible.

He doesn’t say anything else before he steps back and launches into the air.

As much as I wish I could run the few miles from where Tyr just left me and my hotel in the capital city, I need to get to town to get settled. Pulling out my burner phone, I call one of the taxi companies listed in my dossier.

“How did you get stuck all of the way out here?” The driver asks as I buckle into the backseat of his cab.

“My boyfriend and I were coming to the city for a little getaway, but we got into a big fight,” I lie, making my voice a tad shaky. “He pulled over, told me to get out, and sped off without even letting me grab my suitcase. Luckily, I had my purse on me, so at least I still have the really important things.”

“You’re kidding me! Anything could have happened to you; it’s not safe for a lady such as yourself to be this far outside the city walls alone!”

Despite probably being in his seventies, he looks mad enough to beat up my fake boyfriend for me.

“I’m so thankful you were able to get to me as fast as you did.”

His weathered lines and soft eyes bunch up, smiling in the rearview mirror at me. “Now what are you going to do? Where can I take you?”

“I was lucky and got the last room at the StoneBridge; everywhere else said they were sold out.”

He whistles as the tires start to roll, “I’m not surprised with the royal engagement party tomorrow night. The city has been flooded with people just hoping to see the rich and powerful of Clowess.