Page 130 of Whispers of Wisteria

He didn’t respond, and I held my breath as she took his silence as acquiescence. She didn’t notice his fingers twitch as she brushed past him.

Bianca stopped in front of me and wrung her hands. She wouldn’t meet my eyes.

It took everything in me not to force her to stay. It was so stupid!

“What is it, baby?” I asked instead.

“Don’t send a shikigami to follow me,” she whispered.

My blood turned to ice.

How did she know?

“What?”

“It might compromise the mission,” she said, looking up at me through her darkened eyelashes, and my heart thundered in my ears. “Just trust me. I have a plan.”

She’d said this with such a seriousness that I wanted to laugh.

“Fine,” I replied through my gritted teeth, and my stomach sank further at the rush of relief in her expression.

“Thank you!” she replied.

A jolt shot through me as she touched my hand.

She beamed a smile at me, and then at Miles, before she waved and left the room.

I waited until the front door closed before I turned to Bryce. “Weak.”

“Like you’re any better!” Bryce jerked, shaking his head. “Besides, what the hell was I supposed to do? If you had an issue, you could have stopped her.”

“I didn’t want to go there yet.” I frowned, ignoring my rising guilt. “Besides, she was pulling fae hierarchy. She needs to learn somehow.”

“At what point was it decided not to tell her that Gregory’s authority doesn’t disappear just because he’s from her mother’s side?” Miles cut in. He leaned against the counter as he watched Bryce with a disapproving expression. “Plus, he is her magical guardian. If she understood what it meant, she might not have argued with him.”

The fight left Bryce then, and he rubbed the back of his neck. “He decided not to tell her when she started fighting him.”

“Why?” Miles asked.

“Because she needs this,” Bryce replied, not looking too happy. “Even if she’s wrong.”

I nodded.

Miles tilted his head. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

But I understood.

“He’s respecting her boundaries,” I muttered. He was trying to give her autonomy where he could. “She’s standing up for something that she wants. He doesn’t want to be the one to silence her because she’ll eventually not have a choice in other matters.”

Bryce nodded. “He figures she already suspects anyway. She studies with Brayden and does research on her own.”

“Do you know why he’s so against her working with Gloria?” I asked.

“You don’t think she’d put them in danger?” Miles straightened, alarm crossing his expression. “They’re just looking for a shikigami.”

“Exactly.” Bryce shrugged. “But Uncle Gregory is always concerned about vulnerabilities.”

“Vulnerabilities?” I frowned. “How is Gloria vulnerable? She’s the mate of the Grand Wolf Alpha.”