Page 27 of Whispers of Wisteria (The Garden of Eternal Flowers #5)

Julian POV

It was dawn when I came home from my double shift. I expected a house of arguments—Damen, Finn, Brayden, and Bryce were all early risers, and there was always drama. But it was quiet instead.

Something was wrong.

It was probably the reason why Bianca hadn’t answered my messages since yesterday afternoon.

I’d been trying to convince myself not to panic. She was okay. Someone else would have called in an emergency.

But…

Bianca was generally very good at responding to my texts.

This meant only one of two things. Either she was upset with me for some reason, but I couldn’t imagine why. Or she’d done something that she knew would anger me.

But I had no reason to believe the latter. She wasn’t that kind of person.

The others would have told me if there were anything else.

Hushed voices drifted down the hallway, and I hung up my coat before making my way toward them. My shoulders were already tense, and I shoved my hands into my pockets and entered the living room.

Conversation stopped, and the room’s inhabitants startled at my entrance.

The stone in my stomach grew larger. Only Damen, Titus, and Miles.

Where were the others?

This was a calculated intervention, then. Whatever this was, it was bound to piss me off. Miles hadn’t spent the night since he left to work on his stupid book.

“Alright.” I glared at them. It hadn’t escaped my notice that someone else was also missing. “Where’s Bianca? Please tell me she’s not somewhere with Finn.”

That would upset me, and knowing the others, they’d eventually be okay with the two being friends.

“She’s still in her room,” Damen said, moving to his feet. “She’s been there since yesterday afternoon. She said she wanted to be alone.”

I watched him with caution. The onmyoji had moved to the other side of the room, possibly to put more distance between us. He stood in front of the burning fireplace and glared down at the flames.

A muscle on the corner of his temple twitched—he wasn’t worried about me. He was angry.

“Do I even want to know?” I asked.

Both Titus and Miles were focused on Damen. A heaviness was in the air, and the tension grew darker.

So, it was really bad.

When he didn’t answer, I turned from them. “I’m going to go see Bianca.”

If they wouldn’t tell me, she would. Unless, of course, they’d done something to her. It wasn’t likely on purpose, but they’d been ignoring my warnings.

“No!” Damen called after me, and I glanced back at him. “No,” he repeated, much more calmly, as his eyes met mine. “You can’t see her until you talk to us first.”

For some reason, I had a gut feeling that I was going to end up killing someone.

“Then talk.” I crossed my arms. “Don’t just stand there, brooding in silence. Tell me what happened.”

Damen clenched his jaw, stood up straighter, and said, “Bianca started helping us with the Eric Richards investigation.”

Right.

I breathed in and forced myself to smile, then stuck my finger in my right ear to clear it. I just wanted to be certain before any blood was spilled.

Miles glanced between us, ready to step in. But he wasn’t important right now.

Damen alone held my attention.

“I must not have heard you correctly. It sounded like you said that Bianca is helping you investigate Eric Richards. But of course, that couldn’t be, because none of you would be that stupid.”

They would. They’d totally be that stupid.

“She is.” Damen gave me a look that dared me to protest. “In fact, Titus and I took her to the orphanage yesterday afternoon. She gave a tour.”

“I see…” I could feel the calm serenity I’d been holding drifting further away. “Well, then. I take it that everything went well?”

It obviously hadn’t. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be so afraid of my reaction.

Miles and Titus looked at each other.

But Damen didn’t appear to notice.

“Actually, no.” His gaze stayed on the fire, voice even.

“The mention of Jason Patterson set her off—it seems the cases are related and she’s familiar with him.

She stopped talking, got sick, and went somewhere else in her head.

She blinked and Titus and I found her hiding in her old bedroom. She didn’t know who we were.”

Was that so? I remembered the place. I didn’t want to think of her anywhere near there.

“So you lost her.” On top of taking her there, they’d left her alone where she’d been tortured. I was amazed my last thread of calm hadn’t already snapped, but it was inevitable. “How did that happen?”

“She lost control of her abilities,” Damen said after a moment. “Titus had to intervene.”

Right. I had to get out of here before I killed them.

“Julian, no!” Miles was pulling at my sleeve, and I resisted the urge to punch him. After all, he’d not been named in this betrayal. “She’s never seen you like this. You can’t go—”

“Don’t tell me you care.” My throat ached from holding back, and the edges of the accent I fought so hard to hide were slipping through. It just made me angrier, because he was the one who had the temper. “You’re a hypocrite.”

“Hypocrite?” Miles let me go. “How—”

“I’m not about to start in on you two.” I jerked my chin toward Damen and Titus. “You were both there for this mess. But you—” My gaze locked on Miles. My voice had already slipped. “How in the hell could you back something like this?”

Miles was frowning at me. “Because I trust her to be able to handle it.”

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” My thoughts went red, and I swung at the door frame, slamming my fist into the dark wood beam.

I wanted to hurt them, to tear them apart. How could they not see that Bianca needed to be treated gently?

“Julian.” Miles’s cajoling prodded through my defenses. “I know you’re upset, but it was her decision to—”

“Because that’s what she does!” I swung, barely missing his face. He lightly pushed me and I stepped back into the hallway. “It’s always the same! She’ll sacrifice herself every time. Don’t you remember how many times she’s died because of this?”

“We can’t talk when you’re like this,” Miles said, and Titus stepped behind him. “Why don’t we calm down and—”

“I’m done.” I stalked towards the stairwell. “Don’t bother us.”

“Us?” Miles asked. “What do you mean—”

“Miles. Titus.” Damen’s voice reverberated through the space. Titus stopped short of grabbing my shirt. “Let him go.”

They both fell back. Damen stood in the doorway, features shadowed by the light. “Control yourself, or you’ll regret it.”

I wanted to laugh. “You’re one to talk.”

“Julian.” He wasn’t smiling, nor did he seem moved by my anger. “I mean it.”

My throat closed, and my rebuttal died at the calm—yet serious—look in his eyes. I tsked before turning away and moving up the stairs.

The journey through the hallway was too short, and I was already in front of her room before I could regain my bearings.

I didn’t knock. Instead, I pushed open the door and said, “Come with me,” before I even saw her.

I looked up and my breath caught.

She was sitting with her back against the headboard. The neck of her lace nightgown had slipped down one shoulder. She was holding a stuffed rabbit and a pink blanket covered her lap.

But it was the look on her face that made me pause. It was blank and delicate, almost like she wasn’t even there.

She glanced up, and her messy hair fell into waves around her as she shivered.

“Come on,” I said again, softly, trying not to let the sight stir my fury even more.

Her dazed eyes met mine, and she shook as she pulled the blanket to her mouth.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. She was upset. She’d been through a lot.

I couldn’t let any of my frustrations out on her.

“It’s fine, darling.” It wasn’t. “We’re just going to go somewhere.”

She stared down at her lap, then picked at her sleeve.

A little bit of fight left me then. “Get dressed first, okay?”

She nodded.

Just hurry, please, I added mentally. I needed to get away for a while.

She was already in the hallway by the time I was done changing. I was still exhausted, and I smelled strongly of antiseptic, but there’d been no time for a shower.

She would always be my priority.

She wore a tan sweater over a green dress and had put on black flats. But her expression was still closed, and her hair hadn’t been touched. Her legs were bare, so it was possible she hadn’t considered the plunging temperatures.

“All right,” I said, touching her shoulder. “Let’s go.”

I grabbed our jackets and an extra blanket from the linen closet, then we were out the door.

Bianca remained silent during the fifteen-minute drive with her temple pressed against the window. Her breath caused the glass to fog, and there was no way she could see anything, but it didn’t seem like it bothered her.

My stomach twisted.

“How do you feel?” I asked. It was a struggle to keep my voice under control, but thankfully, I didn’t slip.

“Fine,” she whispered. She still didn’t look at me.

Her shoulders were tense, and it was so hard not to reach over and grab her hand. If I could touch her, I would know if she really was ‘fine.’

“Okay,” I replied instead. I didn’t know what else to say.

I parked the car near a chain-link fence. I was already on the other side of the vehicle, opening her door, before Bianca could even move.

“Here.” I held out my hand. “We’re almost there.”

Her eyes were cloudy, and I thought she’d refuse. But then she let out a small breath and, tentatively, laid her hand in mine.

Her body was thick with stress and fear—and exhaustion. It sank into my skin like slowly spreading poison.

However, the only thing I could do was breathe and keep going.

In silence, she followed me past the gate and along the cobblestone path. And she didn’t complain when the terrain turned rough and we stepped over the moss-covered boulders.

She was there, but barely.

My pulse was soaring by the time we’d arrived.

“We’re here,” I told her, pulling back the veil of branches and leaves. I gestured for her to step through the passageway.