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“What do you think that’s about?” With his father and Eli vanishing into the mess of the crowd, Sebastian leaned in.
“I don’t know.” Adrien’s gaze snagged on the Pack Hall’s pearly stained-glass window, a glittering gem amidst the swirling storm clouds. A watchful eye. An involuntary shiver trailed up his spine. “It could be anything.”
Sebastian had resumed picking at his teeth, letting out a low hum. “I overheard that Kai wants the warriors gone. Thinks they can handle the rogues on their own.” His voice wobbled slightly in question, given what Malakai had disclosed. “Maybe he wants to stay.”
“Why would he want that?”
“Who knows? He was also making a bid for my sister, and from all I’d seen and heard before, my father encouraged the pairing, even if nothing formal was done about it since Isla would’ve gone on a rampage.”
Adrien could only imagine. Not forcing Isla into anything was probably the best thing Kai could’ve done for his chances with her.
Adrien glanced down at the food he’d ignored, skewering a cold, charred bell pepper with his fork. “Well, she’s clearly off the market now, but if Eli stills wants to get into the Imperial family…”
Sebastian laughed. “Not my type.”
Adrien smirked, lifting the roasted vegetable lazily in front of him, avoiding his friend’s eyes. “You know, you’ve been oddly quiet about Ameera.”
He met them now, watching Sebastian’s eyes flash and a grin he’d seen countless times since they’d come of age start sliding across his mouth. “Who?”
Adrien snorted. “You son of a bitch.” He brought the pepper back down to his plate. “You got her to sleep with you. How?” It seemed like there had never been a girl that Sebastian had wanted that he hadn’t managed to tangle in his web.
“We didn’t sleep together,” Sebastian said, but that glint in his eye…
Somethinghad slipped a leash.
“She told you whatever it was would never happen again if you told anyone,” Adrien concluded.
“I will not confirm nor deny that statement.” He gave the area around them a once-over and then suddenly shoved to his feet. “Want to take a walk around?”
Adrien found no reason to say no.
Sebastian clapped his hands down on a shoulder of each of the Imperial guards that had been with them. They were relatively young, newer recruits that Adrien was surprised Malakai had approved to come along. He felt like an asshole for not remembering or bothering to ask for their names. “You two can take a load off. Eat, drink, and enjoy the holiday.”
One of them sat up taller. “But the Imperial Heir—”
“Made it across half the continent without drawing any attention,” Adrien cut him off. “We can manage without the escort.”
* * *
With his hands slid into his pockets, Adrien tipped his head back to the chilly night air, the scent of autumn spices digging into his nose. He was careful to avoid the laughing children whizzing through the streets, a few being chastised by their parents as they got too close to the river’s edge. Some of them, he noticed, wore masks they’d decorated or beaded necklaces and bracelets they’d made—the former a tradition of the Equinox, and the latter, somehow, honoring their new queen.Others had their eyes aglow, claws exposed as they engaged in a game of tag. It was reckless, dangerous even. They’d probably just gotten a hold of their wolves.
Fifteen years ago, he, Sebastian, and Isla were probably doing the same thing.
A glance to his side, where his best friend stood, also embracing the night, it seemed, made the next breath that fell from Adrien’s mouth easier than it had been in far too long.
Goddess, he’d missed his friends. Selfish as it was, he wished Sebastian would come home, too.
“So,” he began, his eyes tracing the luminescent crystal path before them, “isAmeerawhy you want to stay so badly? Because whatever you just fed your father about being here for Isla, I get it, but…Isla is the luna. She has guards, and she has Kai, and she’sIsla. I don’t think she’ll need your protection.”
Sebastian opened his mouth. Closed it. He went quiet for several paces toward wherever they were moving before finally muttering, “I’m going to sound fucking crazy.”
“More than usual?” Adrien joked, but Sebastian yielded no other emotion. So, this was serious, then. “What happened?”
A wave of emotions cascaded over Sebastian’s face as he cracked his knuckles, stretched his neck, and observed the leafy-garland-covered storefronts as if they held answers. “I think…” He cleared his throat and swallowed. “I think my mother’s alive.”
Adrien stumbled, stopped, and then forced himself to keep walking.
His eyes tore over his friend’s face to find any type of mirth or joke. But what kind of twisted joke would that be? Of course, that stone seriousness, now layered with a coating of doubt, still sat on Sebastian’s features.
