Page 26 of Kingdom of Chaos (Creatures of Chaos #2)

Sixteen

Dinner feels oddly strained, though I can’t tell if it’s just me.

We trade small talk, careful not to touch on the questions we’re all really thinking.

Talon and Imogen speak just enough to avoid suspicion, but I catch them sizing up Tobias and the others throughout the meal.

I’m not sure if it’s warranted or just their natural suspicion kicking in.

I want to believe they are truly allies, but the way Tobias watches us when he thinks no one’s looking makes the fine hairs on the back of my neck rise.

By the end of dinner, my body is flagging.

The aches and pains from our fight with the swamp beast are catching up with me.

My joints are stiff and my eyelids heavy.

It takes more effort than it should to follow the light banter floating around the table.

At one point, my eyes drift shut and I pitch forward, nearly faceplanting into my half-eaten burger and fries.

I jerk upright so fast my chair screeches across the linoleum floor.

Everyone turns to look. Ensley, sitting across from me, barely covers a snort and grin with her hand.

Tobias takes the hint and suggests getting us settled for the night. He assures us he’ll contact the New York chapter tonight and that we’ll set off in the morning. If I weren’t so exhausted, I might argue for a delay, but right now, rest is the only thing I care about.

Before bed, we put on fresh clothes from our packs and clean up in the upstairs bathrooms, which is a welcome relief after spending all day in swamp-soaked gear. When I come back downstairs, air mattresses, blankets, and pillows are waiting for us.

We spread out around the great room, each claiming a spot. I take the couch; it’s too short for anyone but me or maybe Imogen, but she snags a twin air mattress near one of the windows. Titus and Ensley set up their beds side by side, and Talon picks a spot close to the front door.

I don’t wait for everyone to settle in. The second I lie down on the couch, I’m out, slipping into a heavy, dreamless sleep.

Until I’m ripped awake by a hand clamped over my mouth.

I lash out without even identifying my target, but someone snatches my fist mid-swing.

“Shh. It’s just me.” Talon’s breath tickles my ear and I immediately go limp with relief when I see his face hovering above me. “Follow me,” he says, and then removes his hand.

Sitting up, I find the room dark and shadowed. Only a sliver of moonlight streaming in from the open windows provides any light. My human eyes take a second to adjust, and when they do, it’s to see Talon slip from the room.

As quietly as possible, I slide off the couch and tiptoe after him.

I grab my shoes from where I left them in the foyer, and together we slip out the front door into the thick, humid night.

He closes the door carefully behind us, then presses a finger to his lips, signaling me to stay silent, and gestures for me to follow.

My mind is still hazy with sleep, so I don’t question anything as I fall into step beside him. The stillness is broken only by the chirps and buzz of swamp insects as we slip past the house. Overhead, the night sky stretches wide and clear, stars scattered across it just like back home.

Talon leads me into a forested area off to the side of the house, away from the main drive and hidden from view. We weave through white-barked trees until the house disappears completely behind us. Only then does he stop and turn to face me.

“What’s going on?” I finally ask, the short walk helping me shake off the remnants of sleep.

“We need to talk,” he says, and I quirk a brow as if to say “clearly.”

Folding my arms overs my chest, I wait for him to go on.

“How do you think I made it to the gate?”

I tilt my head. “I don’t understand.”

Talon swipes a hand down his face, not in frustration, at least not with me. It feels more like he’s searching for the right words.

“How did I get away from that swamp monster?” he asks. “It’s bearing down on me. I told you to go without me. And then . . .” He trails off, clearly waiting for me to fill in the blank.

Just thinking about that demonic bunny sends a shiver down my spine. And to think I was going to try to make it a pet.

“You used your magic,” I say slowly. “You swallowed it in shadows and made it back to us.”

He nods. “Right. Except . . . I didn’t.”

My stomach tightens. “Didn’t what?”

“I didn’t use my magic.”

“Of course you did. I was standing right there. I saw the whole thing.”

But Talon shakes his head at me. “No. I didn’t do that. I can’t—” he starts and then snaps his mouth shut.

My brows pinch. “What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that I wasn’t the one who commanded those shadows to attack the beast. Someone else did that.”

“Imogen?” I guess, since shadow powers are typically linked to vampires.

He shakes his head, his gaze intense.

“Well, it wasn’t Ensley or Titus. That definitely wasn’t fae magic back there. So that just leaves you and Imogen. And I’ve seen Imogen manipulate shadows back at Grimspire Castle before she used her compulsion on me, so if it wasn’t you, it must have been her.”

Why is he even pushing this? Who cares if Imogen attacked the swamp monster instead of him?

“It wasn’t Imogen,” Talon says firmly, and I throw up my hands.

“Of course it was. I don’t even understand what we’re doing out here arguing about this. We have a long couple of days in front of us, so if you don’t mind, I’m going back to get some sleep.” Turning on a heel, I start back toward the house when Talon’s next words stop me in my tracks.

“It was you.”

I slowly look over my shoulder. He can’t possibly be saying what I think he is.

Talon strides forward until he’s standing in front of me again. He meets my gaze, his expression more serious than I’ve ever seen it.

“The shadows that saved me from the swamp monster. . . that was you. You commanded them. You saved my life.”

I’m shaking my head even as he’s talking. “Did you forget I’m magicless? That I’m human ?”

“I know you’re human. But you also won the activation trial and bonded with Shadow Striker. We were separated from the blade before it fully transferred over to you. That’s all new territory. So it’s not out of the realm of possibility that you might?—”

“No,” I say, cutting Talon off mid-sentence.

But even as his mouth snaps shut, it’s clear this conversation is far from over. A muscle jumps in his jaw, and he exhales sharply through his nose, frustration written all over his face. I can see it in his eyes, in the tense set of his shoulders that he truly believes I controlled those shadows.

But he’s wrong.

Right?

“I don’t know what she told you, or why she’d lie about it,” I say quickly. “But it had to be Imogen.”

“It wasn’t. Imogen doesn’t have that magic.”

“That you know of. The Arcane Society is so secret, she doesn’t even know what type of creature you are,” I say, giving Talon a pointed look. “How would you know if Imogen was hiding part of her magic from you?”

Talon’s eyes narrow, his expression hardening as he shifts closer.

“Each of the members shared their power with me,” he says, his voice low but firm.

“I’m the only living person in the Society who knows exactly what powers every one of them possesses.

” He holds my gaze, unflinching. “And I know, without a shadow of a doubt, that Imogen doesn’t have shadow magic. ”

“So maybe you used it without realizing?” I’m grasping at straws, because nothing seems to be adding up.

Talon flinches and I frown, not understanding that reaction. He heaves a sigh and there’s meaning there I can’t even start to interpret.

He gazes skyward, clearly warring with himself about something. I wish he would just make up his mind, because it’s hot and sticky out here, and frankly, I want to go back to sleep.

“I don’t have all my magic anymore,” Talon finally says, and I feel the blood drain from my face.

“That’s not funny.”

“I’m not trying to be. Ever since that last trial—” He shakes his head. “I’ve started to lose some of the powers I received through Shadow Striker. Shadow magic was the first one to go.”

I’m stunned into silence, my mind drifting back to the conversation I overheard between Imogen and Talon at Grimspire. The chilling glare he gave his cousin when she brought up his powers.

Now it made sense.

Emotion flickers across Talon’s face, just for a heartbeat, a flash of uncertainty, raw and unguarded. He looks lost. But then, just as quickly, a shield drops back into place and he’s unreadable again. He didn’t mean for me to see that crack in his armor.

I don’t call attention to it. He deserves that much. And honestly, with everything he’s been through, losing Shadow Striker, his family, and now his powers, it’s no wonder he feels unmoored.

I feel myself softening toward him, and that scares me more than I want to admit. Because part of me knows that if I open the door to Talon, even a little, I may never be able to close it again. And there’s no space in my heart for him when Becks is still there.

At least that’s the line I repeat in my head while I force myself to keep my guard up.

I look at Talon, unsure what to say. I can’t explain what happened in the swamp, but that doesn’t mean I suddenly have magic.

“I think you’re doing it by accident,” he says. “Like, out of instinct when yourself or others are threatened.”

“Talon—”

“I’m sure about this, Locklyn. I saw you do it in the training gym, and when I walked in on you and Imogen. And then again when we were driving. All those instances were you.”

I want to argue, but his argument settles over me like a weight I don’t know how to carry. I remember another instance he doesn’t even know about: what happened with Drake in his library, and the calculated gleam in the powerful dragon shifter’s eye afterward.

I shoved that moment deep into the recesses of my mind, chalking it up to exhaustion and stress. But when I let myself really think about it, I can still see the way the shadows in the room pulsed. And worse, I can still feel it. Just for a heartbeat, I was sure I was controlling them.

“I think when you bonded with Shadow Striker and it didn’t finish transferring completely, it somehow linked the two of us.

Tethered us together, magically. Somehow my magic is transferring to you, and it probably won’t stop with just shadow magic.

” Talon takes a step closer, his voice becoming soothing.

“I know this is a lot, but we need to find out what else you can do. You need to be trained so you can protect yourself.”

My instinct is to deny it. To shove the truth away like I’ve done before. But this time, the wall I’ve built inside me doesn’t rise. A small, terrified part of me already knows he’s right.

My breathing turns shallow as I look up into Talon’s eyes. It’s hard to wrap my head around what he’s saying. I’ve finally made peace with the fact that I’ll never have powers. I’ll never wield magic. I’m human, and that means limits. Boundaries I can’t cross.

And now this.

I don’t know how I’m supposed to react. What I’m supposed to feel.

“Locklyn?” Talon asks, his voice surprisingly gentle.

I meet his gaze and find an emotion I don’t expect. Understanding . I’m not sure how this could possibly be a situation he relates to, but there’s a softness in his eyes that isn’t usually there. It steadies me.

“You’ve got this,” he says, and there’s so much quiet conviction in his voice, I almost believe it too.

I take a deep breath. The last couple of months have been a whirlwind. Competing in Chaos and nearly dying, learning my mom and dad aren’t my biological parents, finding out I’m human in a world where that makes me the anomaly.

I’ve uncovered secrets about myself and about entire worlds. So, really, discovering I might have magic shouldn’t be the thing that shakes me.

But somehow it is.

I look at Talon and the steady set of his jaw, the quiet certainty in his eyes, gives me the courage I need to take the next step.

He’s right. I can do this.

“All right,” I say. “Where do we start?”