Page 5 of Balance

I doubted Bryce would ever do the same for me. He was already overbearing and rude, and on my case about everything. He would sooner rat me out than lie for me, and then tell me it was for my own good.

Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen him yet today. He had better not be up to something.

Julian glanced at me, his annoyance soothing into a calm mask. Even so, he couldn’t hide the hint of sadness—and something darker I couldn’t quite place—through our connection.

“It’s nothing.” He ruffled my hair, then booped my nose. “Do you want to get something to eat?”

What I wanted was to not be left in the dark. Then again, this did seem to be a family matter. So, really, it was none of my business.

Besides, now Julian had brought up the promise of food. “Okay.”

“Wow,” Anthony said, eyeing me with humor. “Finn really was right.”

Finn was rarely correct about anything. “About what?”

“Never mind,” Julian interrupted, hand at my lower back as he guided me back to the front entrance. “Let’s go. We have to go home. We have things to do today.”

What things? Things had been rather boring lately. Even so, my heart was suddenly racing, desperate for a change in routine—and something else.

He’d saidhome. The word brought up a magnitude of feelings I didn’t quite understand yet.

While Damen had created a bedroom that reflected my personality on a personal level (minus the naked cherubs on the ceiling), and the boys had been very welcoming, I had to admit that it was hard to feel entirely at home.

But I knew why. I wasn’t an idiot. And it had nothing to do with the fact that the house remained in a state of such disrepair.

No, it didn’t feel likehomebecausethere was a missing piece. Nothing had been the same since Miles’s disappearance.

And nothing would feel right until he was back.

Chapter Two

Bianca

Treasure

Julian left me at the entryway once we’d arrived back at the house, disappearing, he said, to take care of some things that needed doing. Damen was offsomewhere, and Titus still hadn’t returned from his mission with Maria.

The house felt so dark, and there was a lazy silence rolling through the space. I poked my head into the living room, where a giant fire was roaring. Brayden and Finn were there, sitting with their noses in their textbooks.

I blinked at Finn—this was possibly the first time I’d witnessed him reading anything other than a laptop screen.

“Bianca?” Brayden looked up from his book, closing it slightly and using his thumb to mark his place. “Is everything all right?”

“Where’s Bryce?” It had been too quiet, and I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that he was up to something.

“Bryce?” Brayden raised his eyebrow, and even Finn glanced up from his book. “Why?”

“I want to talk to him.”

Finn frowned. “Do you really?”

“You stay out of this!” I snapped. I’d been avoiding Finn since our last meditation session. I loathed the way my heart began to race while in his presence, and how it was becoming more difficult to remember—and latch on to—all the evil things he’d done.

But, sometimes, when he called out my motives—especially when no one else could pick up on them—it was easier to recall my annoyance.

He should just mind his own business.

“I don’t have to have a reason,” I told him, trying to ignore the growing heat in my face.