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“Okay,” Holly conceded. “Should we go now?”
Kallan scrubbed a hand down his face. “I would have liked more time, but we should move quickly before he discovers anything missing.”
Holly nodded. “I redid the spell, but it won’t hold up under scrutiny.”
“Do you have a recording orb in that closet of yours?” Kieran smiled as he pointed at her satchel.
Holly laughed and rolled her eyes. “Of course. Everything and the kitchen sink.”
She dug around for the orb in her satchel and found it after a few moments of searching. She pulled it out and hung it on a chain around her neck. It looked like a pretty bauble. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too out of place to her papa. Normal recording orbs were large things, but Desmond had been experimenting with these smaller ones.
When she looked up, Kallan laid a hand on her knee. “And about the other things you said. I shouldn’t have accused you of not wanting us. I was thrown off by your father last night and I was hurt. None of us have much experience with relationships, but we’re willing to work on it. Deal?”
“Deal,” Holly said with a smile, accepting his hand up. Things weren’t fixed all the way with her mates. They still needed to have lots of conversations, but that could wait.
“One more thing,” Kallan said as Kieran helped her to her feet.
“What?” Holly asked.
“It would be best to not tip off your father that anything’s amiss. And that means Luca should probably shift back.”
Luca frowned but nodded. Holly could see the fear in his eyes. What if he couldn’t shift back again?
Holly broke away from Kieran to kneel next to Luca. She took one of his hands in hers, tracing over his palm. “It’ll be okay,” she promised, her voice soft. “I’ll always call you back. I won’t let you get stuck.”
Luca gave her a tight smile and nodded. Holly backed up, and Synora placed an arm around her waist as the air shimmered around Luca. Smoke burst from his form, and his dragon spread his wings, flapping them to clear the smoke away. He snaked his head around to Holly, who gave him a pat on his nose.
“Let’s go confront my papa,” she said, with more bravado than she felt. No big deal. She just needed to get her extremely smart papa to admit to being a traitor to the Realm.
CHAPTER25
Like last night, Holly let herself into her house, giving Synora, Luca, and Kallan a quick smile and wave as she shut the door behind her. She took a few centering breaths in the foyer and made sure the recording orb was activated before squaring her shoulders. She could do this. If not for herself, then for her mates and Claire and the Realm. Her papa needed to be stopped before he could do any more damage.
She knocked firmly on the study door.
“Enter,” her papa’s voice called from within. The butterflies in Holly’s stomach fluttered, but Holly forced them down.
Her papa didn’t look up from his desk as she entered, and Holly glanced at the hidden compartment quickly. It didn’t seem disturbed, but she wouldn’t be able to tell without probing it with her magic, which her papa would notice.
“Good morning, Papa,” Holly said as she crossed the room with sure steps, settling into one of the chairs across from him. Before coming in, she had changed into one of her travel outfits—a brown pair of pants and a soft white long-sleeve shirt. An outfit her papa would surely disapprove of, and when his eyes lifted from his paperwork, they narrowed as they traced over her clothes.
“Holly,” he said in a disapproving tone, taking the glasses off his sharp nose and placing them to the side. She didn’t know why he wore the glasses—his vision was excellent.
“I’m glad you’re here,” her papa said. “We need to talk about last night.”
“I agree,” Holly said. But not in the way he was thinking.
“After last night’s… events, I’m not sure those people are a good match for you.”
The original plan was Holly was going to get him talking and slip in some veiled questions that hopefully led to a confession. But at his words, her anger sparked. And maybe his surprise at her challenging him would make him slip up.
“I disagree,” she said firmly.
Her papa’s eyebrows shot up. “You what?”
“I disagree,” Holly said again, evenly. “In fact, I came back here last night to tell you that.”
“I retired early.” Her papa leaned back in his chair. “The events of last night were stressful to me and your mama.”
