Page 47

“Oh, right, of course. Give me two seconds.” The door slams shut before I can reply.

Brax clears his throat as he glances at me out of the corner of his eye. “Does she seem… odd to you?”

I try to bite back my smile, but it’s not as easy as I hope. “She’s acting like there’s someone in there that she doesn’t want us to see,” I remark, watching the confusion gloss over his eyes.

“Why would…”

His mouth pauses as I wiggle my eyebrows and understanding dawns on him.

“Oh, like we’re bothered about that shit. We’re already pressed for time,” he grumbles, scrubbing a hand over his cropped hair.

I shrug. “Girls are skittish with this stuff. Besides, she’s doing us a favor, not the other way around. She doesn’t owe us anything, yet she helps anyway.”

A moment later, the door swings open and a much more put-together Lyra appears, waving us inside. Peering around the room, I don’t see anyone, so I decide to put it to the back of my mind as we head into the private room. The layout is exactly the same as it was and we take a seat on the sofa like we always have.

“Is it Rhys you want to speak to?”

“Please,” I murmur, looking up at Lyra, who smiles.

“Sure. I’ll get it set up.”

The door shuts behind her, hiding us away from the rest of the academy. Brax leans back in his seat, running his hands over his thighs before tapping his fingertips on his knees.

“What do you do while you wait?” he asks, already impatient, and my cheeks heat at the reminder that flickers in my mind. “Wait, did you and Zane…” He doesn’t finish his sentence as I turn to face him, and his eyes widen in surprise before morphing into something else. The memory of being fucked by thin air ripples through me.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say with a shrug, turning away as Brax splutters.

“Sure you don’t.”

Right on cue, Rhys appears, and my cheeks heat even more. Thankfully, he seems more concerned with our appearance than my actual state.

“Is everything okay?”

Gulping, I smile, nodding like a fool, but the exhaustion on his face is noticeable, and concern quickly gets the better of me. “Is everything with you okay?” I brace my elbows on my knees, inching closer, and the sigh that parts his lips feels weighted.

“Honestly, it’s not going the best. I’m coming up against some blockers,” he mutters, wiping a hand down his face.

“How?” Brax asks. “What is it?” he rapidly fires at him.

Rhys glances between the two of us before looking down at his hands. “I think there are connections aligning The Monarchy with Erikel. I don’t know who to talk to, who to trust, or who to rely on, but I’m trying everything I can. I swear it.”

I know that feeling deep down in my fucking soul.

“How are we going to get around it?” Brax asks, and Rhys shakes his head.

“No. That’s for me to worry about. You have enough going on. Tell me what you’re facing.” He laces his fingers together as he peers from Brax to me and back again.

I glance at Brax, who nods at me subtly, and I take a deep breath, but it’s my gargoyle who answers.

“My parents believe Erikel isn’t Erikel.”

Rhys’s eyes crinkle as he processes the words. “How so?”

“Because my father killed him years ago.”

Zane’s father wipes a hand over his mouth. “He could have been on the brink of death before he was brought back,” he offers, trying to see the situation from every angle, and Brax shakes his head.

“They’re both certain that he doesn’t have skinwalker abilities either.”