Page 12 of Third Offense

“Excellent. Then I suppose that means we can move forward for now,” Vasilios said, glancing at Ketos. “Yes?”

“Of course,” he agreed with the ease of a man with nothing to lose.

I studied him for a long moment, trying to discern the flaw in his act and finding none. He’d perfected it somehow, presenting a charade of perfect hospitality.

But I didn’t trust him.

Not in the slightest.

“Good. I expect you to bring them both up to speed,” Vasilios said, interrupting my contemplation of Ketos’s motives. “And here you thought I was done testing you.”

“You’ll never be done testing me,” the prince drawled, sounding amused. “But I do think this might prove your most difficult task yet.”

Vasilios glanced at me, his lips twitching. “Indeed.” His obsidian gaze resembled glittering black diamonds as he returned his focus to Ketos. “Good luck…” He drew out the word before diving off the cliff and flaring his wings, breaking through the elixir with an ease I envied.

And took off toward the water with three warriors on his tail, all of them equipped to guard him.

Well, that was certainly a cruel move on the king’s part,I mused, my mood vastly improved.

Because the king had just left Ketos alone.

With me and Auric.

Next to a deadly-looking cliff.

CHAPTERFOUR

LAYLA

Gold and white opulence,I mused, glancing around the palatial estate with a sense of ease I hadn’t felt in a long time.

This place felt like home. Not the one I’d lived in as a Nora, but a new sort of home.Myhome. As though I’d always been meant to find this palace and call it my own.

Windows lined most of the exterior, the glass all easily removable with a latch along the silver-stained frames. Gaia,my mother, showed me how to remove one in the hallway upstairs, explaining that it was designed that way to enable easy arrival and departure by flight.

“Can you still fly with the elixir?” I asked, my invisible feathers ruffling at my back.

She nodded. “It feels a bit strange at first, but the incantation is easily broken.” She considered that a moment. “Well, that may not be the right term. It feels like breaking through a fog, but the substance sort of sticks to your feathers. Which is how it appears again when you land, camouflaging your wings once more.”

That all sounded a bit suffocating, a reaction she must have read on my face because she reached out to squeeze my arm in a reassuring manner.

“Do you recall the first time you took flight?” she asked softly.

I swallowed, nodding. “Yes.” My mother, or the woman I always thought was my mother, pushed me out a window and waited for me to master my wings. She’d been right behind me in case I fell, but I’d instinctively pushed out my plumes and soared through the wind for several glorious moments before stumbling onto the ground below.

A misty gleam met Gaia’s gaze, but she blinked away the emotion and cleared her throat. “It’s similar to that. Only a little trickier because our adult minds are used to sensing wind a little differently after years or centuries of flight.”

“Oh,” I whispered.

She paused in the hallway, glancing at me again. “Would you… would you like me to show you?” she asked, a hopeful note in her tone. Like she wanted the opportunity to teach me something. “Maybe after we see your room?”

I nodded. “Yes. I think I would like that.”

Her lips curled, her face lighting up with excitement. “I would like that, too.”

She threaded her arm through mine again and led me the rest of the way down the overly wide hallway—obviously created to accommodate wings—through a pair of double doors at the end.

“We… we created this wing for you,” she said softly. “I’ve kept it maintained throughout the years, hoping you would come home to us some day.” That sheen returned to her gaze, her voice choking up a little at the end and causing her to clear her throat again.