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“No, you will bring E.Z. as your ‘Keeper.’ He makes the most sense for this mission. I cannot escort you. A lot of these villagers know me. I often travel between the cities and the camps. We’re not trying to advertise your presence. It’ll be much safer for everyone if you’re tied to someone less well-known,” Aiden explained.
“You want to blend and picked E.Z.?” I asked. “He loves to draw attention.”
E.Z. smirked at me.
“Griff can’t defend you like E.Z. can, and Ash is even more notorious than me. So, you’re stuck with E.Z..”
Griff growled.
I turned to look at him. He looked pissed. What the heck?
“I’m going with her,” Elijah interrupted. “I’m not letting her leave without me, especially with a woman I do not know or trust.”
“Well, you can’t stop me,” I replied.
I needed information about Father, and if meeting these people could help me find it, then Elijah couldn’t stop me from going. I wasn’t going alone. I would be with someone he trusts. It just wasn’t going to be with him. He could take his overprotective bullshit and shove it up his ass. The other guys didn’t seem concerned, so I wouldn’t be. Well, I wasn’t going to be overly concerned.
“I cannot trust her with you, so I cannot let you go without me,” Elijah doubled down. “I don’t know the location personally. I cannot ensure its secure. This isn’t going to work.”
“Ahh. I understand now,” River drawled. “You’re saying that a covert meeting in a private room which we,” Erin Mae’s finger swept between herself, Aiden, and E.Z., “thoroughly secure beforehand, being occupied by an unassuming traveling couple, will be more dangerous than alerting every citizen in the entire kingdom that we’re there? Because that’s what will happen if the soon-to-be crowned prince of the whole stinking kingdom comes waltzing into town.”
Gone was the sickly-sweet Erin Mae, and in her place must have been River— a terrifying, self-assured, outspoken woman with real gumption standing up to Elijah like that. They just don’t make them that way in the capital.
No one said anything. All eyes were bouncing back and forth between River and Elijah. Elijah’s eyes were deep pits of anger that greedily anticipated her upcoming demise. She should have been scared. Instead, she looked happy to have earned his ire.
Aiden shot her a chastising look. “News of Kaia escaping has not traveled down to the village,” he said, stepping between Elijah and his sister. “I checked. I’ll be surprised if the capital raises the alarm at all. She’ll be—”
“They won’t say shit,” River scoffed, elbowing Aiden back out of the way. “They will wash their hands of her.”
“She’ll be safe,” Aiden continued, talking over River but not stopping her from standing beside him rather than behind. “If news or rumors do circulate, no one knows Kaia. She’ll blend in. You will not.”
River cut in again. “I’d like to remind you that word of Ash’s visit would spread so much faster than an escaped criminal with no charges.”
“We don’t need the reminder,” E.Z. replied with a lowered voice and narrowed eyes.
“I would like to remind you that I am only her half-brother and have only just met her in the last few years. But I apologize on her behalf.” Aiden’s demeanor changed from sardonic to persuasive as he turned to look at his sister. “I think maybe it’s best if I just finish—”
River cut him off, as she seemed prone to do.
“Those poor excuses for men will not advertise that they lost a girl. What an embarrassing thing to admit! The heir to the throne and all his little friends stole a girl right out from under their noses, breaking her out themselves. Oh, the shame! No. They’ll excuse your absence for a while, hoping you come home. That news would stir shit up. They need someone to flaunt around as a symbol of the future, and you’re all that’s left. They won’t make it public. That won’t bring you home.”
Griff grunted in front of me. He was either annoyed she’d called him little, or he agreed with her assessment, his noises being so hard to differentiate.
“You told her about this?” Elijah seethed. “You shared our team's secrets?”
Ohh! Good point, Elijah. Maybe Griff was mad about that, too. Ugh! It was so hard to tell with some of his noises.
“I didn’t have to,” Aiden replied.
“What does that mean?” Elijah gritted out through his teeth.
“She’s a Spirit User,” Aiden said plainly, like he hadn’t just said something groundbreaking.
All eyes flashed to Erin Mae.
“Bullshit,” Griffin stated firmly. “They’re practically extinct. And none live outside the capital.”
River gestured to herself. “Despite the crown's best efforts, we’re clearly not extinct. And some of us do exist out in the wild. We just hide well.”
