Page 56 of Whispers of Wisteria (The Garden of Eternal Flowers #5)

“We should have made her leave when we had the chance,” Ada spat back.

“This is pointless,” Gregory cut in. He placed his hands on the table. “I want facts. How long ago were they taken? Where is Gloria?”

“Not even ten minutes ago,” Maria answered quickly. She sounded winded, like she was moving even as she spoke. “Bianca blinked onto the plane when we were fighting. Titus was already in there. Gloria is here. She’s still ripping up wolves—she’s in a frenzy.”

Gregory tensed. “What do you mean?”

“She was cursed or something,” Maria replied. “Bianca broke it. Now she’s pissed and eating faces. She’ll snap out of it in a bit.”

Gregory and Pops looked at each other, probably wondering how Bianca had done it, but that was the least important thing right now.

“Check for any flights in the area,” Brayden said, turning to Finn.

But Finn was already on his laptop. “I am,” he said dryly. “But if Jameson’s involved, he’d have prepared for this. We’re not going to find them.”

“Bianca’s hurt.” Damen sat forward. “What happened? What is her condition?”

There was a pause, and the cold pushing against my chest grew stronger.

“She’s not in great shape,” Maria said finally. “Both Jameson and Albert fed from her.”

That… They’d taken her energy? It was never supposed to happen. Not to her. Not ever.

Damen’s eyes blazed as he pushed back from the table and stood. “What?”

Meanwhile, Miles had gone still, and the slow darkness that he normally kept hidden—that the others refused to even acknowledge—began to gather beneath his feet.

“She got roughed up too,” Maria added. “But she killed them before they got too far. After that, she fixed Gloria, and we escaped.”

“There are no necromancers here,” Ada added sharply. “And she has no reserves left. If she keeps at this same rate, she’ll die.”

A haze dropped over my vision.

“And you just let her stay?” There was an edge to his voice that Damen rarely showed.

“She refused to leave,” Maria replied. “What was I supposed to do, drag her out by her hair?”

“Yes!” Damen shot back.

Bryce’s emotions finally burst, and he stepped forward. “You shouldn’t have given her a choice!”

“Control yourselves,” Gregory snapped. He looked at Damen, then Bryce, and a chill came down on the air.

“She never should have been there in the first place. Brayden—” Gregory turned his attention to the younger fae brother.

“Contact Declan. His forces can reconvene at Ms. Maria’s location.

They’ll be able to retrace events, and maybe we’ll find something they left. ”

Brayden nodded and pulled out his phone.

Gregory looked around the room. “Until then, we track and wait. None of you needs to like it,” he added quickly, cutting off all protests. “The window before they disappear entirely is narrow, and wandering aimlessly will solve nothing.

“Therefore,”—Gregory’s posture tightened—“the fae will move from the outside, we cover here in case they make it back on their own. If we lose every lead, then we go to the Council.”

The Council.

I clenched my fists over my legs.

There’d be no more hiding, no more control. And—unless played exactly right—we could lose access to Bianca entirely. Without knowing their stance, we were gambling that their reaction wouldn’t be worse than the Guild’s.

But what other choice did we have?

Bianca POV

I stepped into the round, windowless room. A gold-framed mirror with black glass glimmered in the corner, and there was a large chalk circle on the floor. The whole thing felt eerie, and I hesitated only for a second before all of that fell away.

Titus.

I ran to him, hardly able to breathe. He was slumped forward, seemingly unconscious, on his knees with his arms tied above his head. Black shackles bound his wrists, and the chain holding him up went to the ceiling.

Still, if it had anything to do with locks, I could get him out. He would be safe now.

His face was almost even with mine while on his knees, and I stopped in front of him and touched his cheek. He was dirty, and his skin was warm—too warm.

The heat beneath my feet was spreading through him.

I didn’t understand why, but he had to be in pain.

My heart was pounding as I opened my mouth. I had to say something… anything.

But still, I couldn’t seem to speak.

My fingers shook as I pressed my hands to his face and shifted my touch along his rough jaw. I let my touch linger as I moved my fingertips to his forehead and pushed back his hair.

What could I do? Even if I were able to get him free, I couldn’t carry him. And we were trapped in an airplane.

He said he couldn’t fly.

I looked at his wrists. The stone was similar to Gloria’s—it seemed to have a nulling effect on shifters—but if I could get him free…

I grabbed a bobby pin from my hair. I had to hurry before someone came. I didn’t know if Albert… or Jameson was trapped here with us.

My breath caught. I hoped not.

I touched the shackles.

Fire burned through my blood starting from my fingertips, and an electric force threw me to the floor. My ears rang, my head felt full of static, and my thoughts spun as I moved to my knees, grasping my elbows, trying to breathe through the pain.

However, the wave receded as quickly as it’d come. Still, I was left shivering in the aftermath, and there was no mark on my skin to prove anything had happened.

I was still shaking as I touched my sleeve-covered wrist to my mouth.

What was that?

“Bianca?”

I looked up as Titus said my name, and moved my hands to my chest. He was alert now—sharp. His face was serious as his gaze seemed to pierce through me.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, and my breath caught.

Well… I was helping him, obviously.

I opened my mouth, but paused, then shook my head. My vision blurred as I pressed my hands to my warm cheeks.

There was nothing wrong with me. So why couldn’t I talk?

“Look at me,” Titus said, his tone both comforting and commanding. When I met his now-crimson eyes, he added, “You’re going to make it out of this.”

A warmth began to spread through my chest, and my hands stopped shaking.

Even so, he was still trapped.

I bit the tip of my finger when he staggered to his feet, and watched as he pulled at the chains.

They didn’t drop from the ceiling, and he glared up.

He’d grown tense, and his muscles were tight with strain under his tattered shirt.

Glimpses of ivory peeked through his lightly tanned skin before receding.

Like he wanted to shift, but couldn’t.

They were the same manacles as Gloria’s and mine had been, meant to subdue abilities.

So what was this suffocating heat in the air, pressing in around me? Was it why it’d hurt to touch them?

It didn’t matter; I had to help.

I stepped back into the circle and touched his elbow.

Even his skin here was unnaturally warm.

He softened and looked at me, then lowered his arms. The chains had some slack when he stood, and I trailed my fingertips over his forearms towards the cuff.

He stopped me from touching them.

“Thank you for trying,” he said, touching his forehead to mine. “But these are locked by onmyoji magic. They won’t open that easily. I should have listened.”

Listened to what? I tilted my head.

He looked at the black mirror across, and a shiver shot down my spine as I stared at it.

There was a warning ringing in the back of my mind as my pulse skipped. Whatever was over there was more than dangerous.

“Bianca,” he said cautiously. “Princess. Talk to me.”

I looked back at him, meeting his sad, earnest gaze. I’d never really focused on Titus’s human eyes from such a short distance before, and for a moment I was mesmerized by the mixture of emerald and crimson.

A numbness covered me as my skin buzzed, and the echo of a melody rang in my ears.

Why now…

Then he exhaled, and the spell was broken.

I blinked. Poor Titus was chained, half-naked, and I was plastered against him in a most immodest way.

Normally, I’d be embarrassed, and I should be, but instead, I just felt numb.

I stepped back, biting my bottom lip as I studied the floor.

Runes. Mirrors.

I didn’t know much, but Finn had mentioned a few helpful things.

Titus repeated my name, and the shimmering scales under his skin seemed closer to the surface as he asked, “Are they dead?”

I sucked in my breath. I was torn between focusing on him, or enacting the next phase of my plan.

Probably the plan—it was more important.

“You don’t need to say anything.” His mouth twisted, briefly showing off razor-sharp teeth. “I can smell them on you,” he said, and this time he enunciated each word. “Are the fuckers dead?”

A coldness broke through my quiet feelings, and my back straightened.

Smell…

I guess… they didn’t have the greatest hygiene.

I wiped my palms over the shredded remains of my skirt. Nothing had technically happened, so why did I feel this way?

I’d lived through much worse.

Still, my skin crawled as a heavy exhaustion loomed closer. But I couldn’t focus on those feelings; I would be useless.

I nodded in answer to his question and backed up another step.

He drew his brows together as he watched me.

“Bianca, listen—” His voice was low and urgent, but his words fell around me like a mist. “I want you to find somewhere to hide.”

The first semblance of emotion stirred within me, and my throat felt tight.

I staggered back another step. I couldn’t leave him. I pressed my clenched fists against my chest, as the world swayed.

My attention darted to the mirror once more. I had to help him, but I had no idea what to do.

I couldn’t breathe.

“Bianca…” Titus began again, but then his words faded into the background.