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“Calm the fuck down,” Leo grunts. “It was Cummings. I’m sure she’s still dodging spittle from his lisp.”
Ignoring him, Barclay asks, “When was this?”
“A couple of hours ago.”
The doorbell rings, interrupting his response. He drops his bag and strides toward the front of the hall with me hot on his heels. Something is wrong. Eden would’ve texted me if she were doing something else. Or going somewhere. Or basically anything.
Then again, she would’ve if I didn’t let Leo fucking Jarvis lock her in her room all night like a barbarian.
Doubt creeps in, but it’s squashed when I spot the bouquet of black roses sitting on the front step.
“Fuck.” Barclay grabs the roses, looks both ways, then slams the door. “Jarvis!”
At the end of the hall, Jarvis rolls his eyes like he’s sick of our shit, but when he spots the black roses, his face clouds over like the storm of the century’s rolled in. “Fucking mind games.”
I pluck the note from inside the flowers and tear the envelope open. In red ink are the words “To the death of your partnership…unless you can find her.”
Jarvis’s face darkens in shadow tenfold as he reads the note in my hands. He grabs it, fingertips turning white at his fierce hold. The blood devoid skin highlights the note just above it: “Knights–1 , You–0.”
“I can’t believe this,” Barclay spits. “I leave to go to class and our charge gets abducted.”
I swallow my anxiety. What if this isn’t about the Trials? What if it’s about Delilah?
It’s possible the Knights could have figured out the real reason why Eden’s here—why I’m here. I wouldn’t put anything past them.
It’s clear the other two are coming at this as strictly a Trials problem though, and I’m fucked because I can’t say anything.
“I knew they were going to do something like this. I knew it.”
Barclay’s simmering anger triggers Leo. “If you knew, you shouldn’t have gone to class at all.”
“Because you two are apparently inadequate to do a simple thing like make sure the Elders don’t get a hold of her?”
Leo’s unfazed, but my fury ripples through me. “No, he was too busy trying to piss the world off.”
“I grabbed that guy off her. What would you have done? Ordered him not to take her arm in a gracious tone?”
I get in his face. “You don’t think I would’ve protected her? I’d protect that girl with my life.” I push against his chest. “Stay fucking clear of her. You’re the reason why she was even walked off.”
Leo growls back, recovering from my shove easier than I would’ve liked. “Careful, Royal. Wouldn’t want you to break a nail.”
“Focus, please,” Barclay interrupts. “Tell me exactly what happened.”
I peer at Leo, but his lips are in a defiant, thin line. “The barista? You know, the one who mistook Edie for Delilah? He wanted to talk to her after we got out of the café.”
“Talk to her? He grabbed for her.”
“Anyway, this guy,” I say, hiking a thumb toward Jarvis, and then continue to fill Alaric in on what he missed while he was in class.
“So, Daniel took her?” He glares at Leo. “You know he’s a Knight.”
Leo’s face morphs into one devoid of emotion, which is somehow scarier than his normal, ever-present scowl. He grabs his phone from his pocket and prods his screen a few times. When someone picks up, Leo growls, “Where is she?”
Unperturbed, the man answers, “The question is, where are you? I’m wholly disappointed in the situation you find yourselves in.”
“What’s new?” Leo grinds out, and I’m not exactly sure of the nuances of the conversation, but he’s clearly called someone he thinks knows where Eden is. He probably shouldn’t be giving him shit. “I got your message.”
The man on the line laughs, and I’m struck by the comparison of how close it sounds to Jarvis’s own dangerous laughter. “Is Barclay there?”