Page 193 of Whispers of Wisteria

Which meant he’d be coming back soon.

“Outside,” I said, already striding for the door. Gregory’s brow furrowed and the others stared, but I didn’t have time to explain. “Now.”

I didn’t wait to see if they’d follow.

I was watching the clouds when Julian stepped next to me. The others lingered behind—of course they’d send him.

“What are you looking for?” he asked.

I looked back at the sky. “Titus can fly again.”

There was a collective pause over the group, and Miles stepped forward, joining us. “But he hasn’t been able to do that for ages.”

They didn’t doubt it, at least. They knew there were certain things only I could feel within our Quintet Bond.

“I know,” I replied. I couldn’t see him yet.

He’d finally stopped holding on to the past. And I should be happy, but I wasn’t. Only something devastating could have forced the change.

I didn’t want to think of what’d make him desperate enough. But it was, most definitely, regarding Bianca. There was nothing else.

Julian crossed his arms, expression severe, and joined the watch.

That’s when the silence hit.

It was different—we could all feel it this time. Julian stiffened and Miles staggered back as the numbness spread.

I clutched my chest against the loss as a piece of my soul was ripped away. There was only emptiness in that place where, an instant before, something of softness, warmth, and life had lived.

“Damen?” Bryce placed his hand on my shoulder. On the other side of us, Gregory and Joe stopped talking. “What’s—”

“She’s dead,” Miles interrupted. His eyes were wide with shock as he fell to his knees.

Julian didn’t speak, but had covered his eyes with his hand.

Dead.

Panic threatened to consume my thoughts.

I should have known Bailey was a trick. I shouldn’t have been fooled. Because this feeling—this—was what the void felt like.

“Dead?” Brayden, who’d been pacing, froze. “But…”

Bryce turned me to face him. His eyes were wild, and his voice shook. “Is it true?”

“It’s…” I didn’t want to say it—that’d make it more real. “Let’s not assume,” I said, mostly to myself. I had to keep it together.

Miles and Julian needed me to keep control.

I sucked in a breath, bracing myself, before calling Kiania.

But it wasn’t the tiger that responded.

Kasai arrived, lowering its head, as it greeted, ‘My lord.’

“I didn’t summon you.” My stomach turned uneasily. “Where’s Kiania?”

‘She is indisposed,’ Kasai said. ‘She’s been injured in battle.’