Page 60 of A Silent Prodigy for the Lycan Princess

I’m holding her hand while Jazz holds the can. Eventually, I see the color returning to her face.

“No more drinks or tonight,” she mutters. “I’m done.”

“Do you want to go back inside?” Jazz asks.

“No,” Tori shakes her head. “I actually just want to go home.”

“Let me gather the others,” Jazz says.

“No!” Tori exclaims a bit too harshly.

Jazz blinks at her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, but they are still enjoying the night. And… and Terry and Marilou are anxious about Marilou turning eighteen in a couple of days. I want Terry to enjoy his time.”

I squeeze her hand. “Maybe they are mates.”

“Maybe,” Tori says. “Maybe not. The Goddess is weird sometimes.”

She is not wrong, though it feels weird for Tori, the ever so romantic living-in-the-moment type of girl, to say it.

“I will take you home,” I say.

“Then, you will miss the rest of the party,” Tori says.

“I don’t mind,” I reassure her. “Arden promised he’d wait for me, and it’s already past midnight. I don’t mind heading home early. Actually, you would give me the perfect excuse.”

Tori looks at me in relief. It’s all the answer I need, so, I make sure to talk to our bodyguard. Jazz alerts Val without anyone noticing, and she meets us outside. She discusses further with the bodyguard in French, which amazes me to no end. She has learned French so fast and with such dedication.

“He will leave with you,” she tells me. “The other guards will stay here with us. Jazz and I will keep an eye on everyone.” She hugs Tori and me before heading back inside.

Tori and I climb into the car the bodyguard has organized and travel home. “You really don’t mind?” Tori asks.

“Not at all. I actually only wanted to stay another hour maximum,” I assure her.

“To imagine you were the girl who used to stay until the end of the party.” She chuckles.

“So were you,” I tease right back.

Tori’s smile falters. “Yes,” she says.

“Is something wrong?” I ask her, remembering when we picked dresses for the winter solstice. Tori is my oldest friend, my first friend. We were already friends as babies. “You know you can talk to me, Tori, right?”

“I think I like someone,” she says.

“Wait… what!?”

“But I’m not sure if it’s leading anywhere, and I don’t think the feelings are mutual,” she mutters, resting her head against my shoulder. I try to ask her some more, but she doesn’t answer. I let it rest eventually, hoping that when she is ready, she will tell me more.

When we arrive at the Council, I take Tori to her room, making sure to wait for her to shower and crawl into her bed. She is asleep the moment her head hits the pillow. I brush her hair, gazing at her in worry. “It’s going to be alright,” I mutter.

Once I’m sure she is deeply asleep, I make my way to Arden’s room, noticing that it’s empty. Judging by the untouched bed,it looks like he didn’t return to it. I wonder what he is up to. A part of me clenches in worry at the thought of something having happened to him.

I can sense him,Maxima reassures me.

I allow her to lead the way, and soon, his scent fills my nostrils, and I step into his office. He is still working? To my surprise, he is sitting on the ground with folders of all the possible victims around him. On the whiteboard, he has pinned Meg’s picture. I also notice he has started with the geographical profile, pinpointing the orphanage Meg lived at and where she was last seen.

Arden hasn’t even noticed me yet; he just keeps looking at Meg’s picture while sometimes shuffling around some of the others. He closes some of the folders and puts them away and instead pulls others out.