I laughed. “Thank fuck for small miracles,” I drawled.
“I’d call that a major fucking miracle,” he corrected.
I grunted. He was absolutely right about that.
As he undid the enchantment to allow himself to leave, I picked up my phone and sent a quick text to Zeph.
Fixed it. But Tray pretty much knows everything.
Zeph’s reply came a few minutes later.Something tells me he already knew and was just waiting for the right moment to catch you in the truth.
I considered that with everything Tray had just said and replied,You’re right.
I usually am,he shot back.
I rolled my eyes.Take care of Aflora. Tell her I’m sorry.
Will do,he returned.
I set my phone down and slipped into my sheets. Tomorrow would come all too early, and I needed to be prepared, just like Tray said.
And I also needed a much better plan.
Chapter Thirty-Two
AFLORA
Eight dayslater and I still couldn’t stop thinking about what Kols had told me about my parents.
It was like finding out they’d died all over again, except I never really knew about it the first time. I’d felt their souls detach from the source—a life-altering experience for a seven-year-old—and I’d understood what it meant. Yet I’d never knownwhyit’d happened. Or how.
And now I did.
The Midnight Fae Elders assassinated my parents.
Because they were Quandary Bloods? Because they were helping Quandary Bloods? I didn’t know. But Kols had promised to find out everything he could, including who, specifically, had killed them and how.
I didn’t blame him. I knew better than that. Yet that didn’t stop me from feeling uneasy around him and his direct connection to the source.
He was their future leader.
The Midnight Fae King who would be in charge of exterminating Quandary Bloods and anyone perceived to be assisting them.
What violent lives these fae led. I missed my elemental home surrounded by thriving energies and a love for spirits and general existence.
However, I couldn’t go back to them.
Not in my current form.
Because I was an abomination of unknown origin. Who knew if my parents were even the rightful earth source heirs?
Shade came up beside me, his palm finding the small of my back as he leaned in to kiss my temple. “Want to skip class?” he asked me softly. “I’m sure Zeph won’t mind.”
I looked at up at my Warrior Blood mate and watched as he stretched beside Kols across the yard. He’d insisted we return to the Academy after two nights in New York City, saying we needed to present a normal front and pretend we didn’t know anything about the Council’s plan to use me as bait.
I’d argued that it put the students in danger to keep me near them.
My mates had then reminded me that keeping me safe at the Academy would be easier than out in the open world. Because here they had snake vines and other nefarious wards in place that would automatically guard me as a student. Thereby making it less obvious when they protected me as well.
