Page 95 of Origins of Eternity

“I can help you. Let me help you.”

“You’re the reason Arwen is in danger right now. I can’t trust you, Zara. Did you plan this with Cassia? To get Arwen away from me so she could kidnap her? God, what were you thinking?”

“No, Iro. I had no idea this was going to happen. Cassia suggested that I talk to Arwen, yes, but only to keep a closer eye on you two. That’s what she told me. If you don’t want me to go, fine. I understand. I will give you the address. But, Iro, she’s not alone. She’s never alone.”

“Trust me, I know that. Cassia can’t be alone. It’s not in her nature.”

“She wants to turn her, Iro.”

“I’m sure she does. She thinks that she’ll have me all to herself if Arwen blames me for it and that she could give her to you like she’s some sort of toy.”

“At first, she said she wouldn’t hurt Arwen because she knew you’d be angry. I don’t know why she’d do this now.”

“Because she knows I’m not in love with her anymore, and she can’t stand that I’ve found the woman I want to be with. I have to go, Zara. I need to find Arwen now.”

Zara pulled her phone out of her pocket and said, “Give me your number. I’ll drop a pin for you. She’s probably got Miranda and Gigi there with her, at least, if not three or four more vampires. There are a few humans, too.”

“Her blood bags,” Iro muttered before she told Zara her phone number.

“There,” Zara said after sending her the location.

“Zara, do not leave this house. If you do, I’ll find you, and if Arwen doesn’t come out of this, I will–”

“I know,” she said. “I won’t go anywhere.”

“If I don’t come back from this, and Arwen… If she’s already… I need you to get her away from Cassia. Can you do that for me?”

“Yes,” Zara answered.

“You love her?”

“Yes,” she repeated.

“Then, promise me you’ll take care of her if I can’t.”

Zara swallowed and said, “I promise.”

Iro nodded and said, “Stay here. I’ll be back, or I won’t, but don’t run, Zara. If it’s not me, Cassia likes the chase when it’s something or someone she really wants, and it would be worse for you if you run.”

Zara watched Iro head to the back door after grabbing something Zara couldn’t see from a bottom drawer in a table next to it. Then, she was gone, and Zara didn’t know what to do. She stood. She paced. She checked her phone repeatedly for a message from Arwen or even Cassia. She had no idea how long she should wait for Iro to return, hopefully with an unharmed and unchanged Arwen. She sat down on the sofa again and looked around the room.

Anxious, she rose again, deciding to look around some more, and when she went to Iro’s bedroom, she smelled it. She smelled their sex and saw the unmade bed, a bra hanging over a chair, and a shirt on a dresser. There was a bag on the floor that she knew belonged to Arwen. They’d made love. Arwen had told her as much when they’d met for coffee. Zara had tried to cover her disappointment at the news, but Arwen was in love, and she was happy, so Zara had decided that she had to be good with that. Then, Cassia had appeared.

As if on cue, her phone rang, and itwasCassia.

“Shit,” she muttered, not knowing what to do.

Should she answer it? Should she leave it? She remembered what Iro had said about not running and decided to pick up the phone. She had to confront her problems head-on, right? It was about time she did, anyway.

“Hello?”

“Oh, Zara… What a mistake you’ve made, my dear.”

“You’rethe one who made the mistake. You took her. Why would you do that?”

“I told you, I got impatient. Now, somehow, I made it to Iro’s house before you because she believed me. I assume you’re with her now?”

“I’m not with Iro.”