Page 13 of Third Offense

My heart gave a little pang, not just at her watery expression, but at the knowledge that they’d been waiting for me to come home. To return to them. To behere.

As their daughter.

Because I’m a Noir.

I swallowed, the notion making me uneasy.

It was a feeling that only worsened when I realized that we had an audience waiting for us on the other side of the doors.

Two Noir guards.

They stood at attention against the wall, their weapons on full display at their hips. But I caught the subtle scent of metal, too, suggesting they had at least one knife between them, probably in the seam of a boot.

Auric had taught me how to scent out weapons. A defensive maneuver, one that Novak had enhanced over the last few months with his own version of training.

I glanced out the window to my left, searching for them instinctively.

My heart told me they were okay. However, that didn’t stop my mind from whirring with possibilities of how quickly that could change.

Be safe,I thought at them, aware that they couldn’t hear me, but hoping they felt me all the same.

“You’re uncomfortable,” my mother murmured, intruding on my thoughts.

I blinked at her and caught the concern knitting her otherwise perfect brow.

She glanced at the guards and waved them away, wrongly interpreting my worry. I could handle a few Noir guards. It was my mates that occupied my mind and their inability to remain…polite.

“Stand guard at the entrance to the wing,” my mother told them. “There’s no need to linger inside my daughter’s suite.”

My heart did a strange stutter when she saidmy daughter.

Home. Noir Princess. Daughter. Not a Nora.

My head spun, each thought seeming to swirl in circles inside my mind.

This was all so much to absorb.

But I did appreciate the guards leaving. Their presence reminded me a little too much of the Nora Palace, and ultimately the prison I’d been wrongly sent to when my wings turned black.

Because I’m a Noir. Because I’m supposed to have black wings. Because King Sefid is not my father. King Vasilios—

“Your father is overly cautious,” Gaia said, interrupting my thoughts and making me wince at the timing of her statement.

These are my parents. Gaia is my mother. I’m a Noir.

She gave me a sad smile, likely sensing my continued unease. “I’ll tell him to only station the guards at the end of the hall from now on.”

That wasn’t the problem at all, but I nodded anyway, not wanting to voice the wandering thoughts in my head.

“Well,” she murmured, taking another step deeper into the room. “This is yours.”

Such a simple statement.

One that had me blinking my eyes.

But of course she’d already said this was mine.Because they’ve been keeping it prepared for my arrival for two decades.

I swallowed, the emotions threatening to suffocate me as I forced my eyes to take in the room around us.