Chapter 262
My jaw clenched as I looked at the case. Sisters killing sisters.
In my experience, when it came to someone like that, there was always something to gain in their eyes.
I stood there for a while after that, not saying much. Edmund seemed to understand, because he left me alone in the room for a bit and went to make tea.
I walked the perimeter of the collection slowly, looking at everything. The information was intriguing, and it bore some similarities to my own situation, but it didn’t give me many answers when it came to my death.
I would definitely need to look further into that as soon as I could. But one thing was for certain: I wasn’t about to let the same thing happen to me that happened to the princess. I was going to survive this time, by any means necessary.
Finally, I stopped beside her portrait again, looking up at it as if looking in a mirror. In the glass, my reflection hovered over hers. There were many differences in our appearances, but the eyes… Those were the same.
Sharp and clear, too light to be natural. Like two stones placed in the sockets.
Maybe, in a way, even though the princess hadn’t survived, she had done the world a service by telling everyone her story. Even if they thought she was crazy. Even if it didn’t change anything for her in the end. She hadn’t hidden away, afraid and waiting for the inevitable. She had acted, to the best of her ability. And now, thanks to that, there were records of it.
For a moment, I almost wondered if it was wrong of me to keep my situation a secret for so long. What if I didn’t make it out alive, and never wrote my story down for someone else, hundreds of years from now, to read?
I was still mulling that thought over when Edmund came back with two mugs of tea and pressed one into my hands. We both looked at the portrait.
“Most people assume they died out,” he said, sipping his tea.
“Most people?”
He smiled at that. “The abilities have a way of persisting. Diluted, maybe. Scattered. But not gone.”
He said it like he meant something specific by it, and he glanced at my eyes when he did. I quickly looked down at my tea.
After, I thanked Edmund and shared dinner with he and his wife. The night was pleasant and quiet, and I fell asleep to the peaceful sound of crickets chirping under my window.
Early the next morning, I bought a small trinket from the gift shop-just a little branded tchotchke to add to my keyring-then headed out.
I was about forty minutes out when my phone rang through the car speakers. I looked at the name on the dashboard screen and decided to let it go to voicemail when I saw the name.
Vivian.
Unfortunately, she called back two more times. On the third attempt, I finally decided to answer. “What?”
“Well, hello to you too.” Her voice crackled through the car speakers. “Where are you, Ellie?”
“Busy,” I said.
“Well, you’ve really mucked up this time. Dominic is beside himself,” she said. “He’s not sleeping, he’s not focusing on pack business, and he was even late to an important meeting this morning.”
“That doesn’t sound like my problem.”
“It is your problem so long as you’re his Luna. When he’s a mess, the pack feels it. And right now you are the reason he’s a mess,
1/2
+30 Bonus
which means that…” She paused. Sighed. “You have to come back, Ellie.”
“You sound awfully excited about that.”
“Just come home, will you?” she snapped. “I can’t clean up your messes forever.”
I rolled my eyes, but didn’t comment further. “Well, look, I’m already on my way back. I’ll be there in a few hours.”
“Oh.” She sounded a little disappointed, like she’d hoped that I would refuse and never come back. “I’ll let him know, then.”
“Kay.”
“Ellie-”
I hung up before she could finish.
Just as I rounded a bend in the road was when I saw it. A car, nose-down in the ditch off the right shoulder, hazard lights blinking. I slowed automatically, pulling onto the shoulder behind it, and put the car in park.
I got out and walked up to the car. The driver’s side door was open, and a man was standing beside it, looking down at the front wheel with his hands on his hips. He had his back to me.
“Hey,” I called. “You alright? Do you need a hand?”
He turned around.
I stopped walking.
I knew that face. I had seen it before, years ago in a life that wasn’t supposed to exist anymore.
Vivian’s fated mate. The one she had spent years trying to run from. The one whose arrival had changed everything.
My mouth went dry.
“Colt?” I breathed.
