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Soft sprinkles quickly turned into a deluge, tamping down the madness and the strange green fire. As the smoke settled, Romy saw Dane first, then Daphne, Selene, and Loren.
Another loud clap of thunder and both the lycan and vampire were gone. It was just as well. Her family didn’t need to know everything.
“Romy… oh darling, you’re safe.” Daphne reached her first and pulled her close. “Forgive me, dear. I’m so sorry this happened. We couldn’t move.”
“Like… in shock?” Romy asked.
“No!” Loren shook her head. “Like literally paralyzed.”
“Was I the only one who noticed a green glow when we first walked in?” Selene collected a broken torch from the muddy ground. “Emotions were high tonight, but this meeting descended into bedlam quickly.”
“Was the meeting sabotaged?” Dane’s hand went to his mouth as soon as he realized he’d spoken out of turn. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insinuate that any of the council leaders would… you know… try to hurt anybody.”
“That’s exactly what’s happened, Dane.” Despite no one around them, Daphne’s voice lowered an octave. “And you know what that means?”
Romy feared her answer, and by the faces of her family, they did too.
“We have a traitor in our midst.”
CHAPTER13
a path of destruction or a road to life
Finally back at Delacroix Manor, Romy bypassed her parents and ran upstairs to Thora’s room. Daphne had escorted her home and reassured her no one could have done anything different to prevent the evening’s events.Unprecedentedwas the word she’d used. Truthfully, Romy didn’t care if the meeting’s mayhem was an everyday occurrence. What mattered to her was that her parents put her in a situation she wasn’t prepared for, and then—to add insult to injury—they were sitting on the couch watching the news like nothing was wrong. They weren’t even with Thora.
“Sometimes our parents suck, Thor.” She smoothed an errant curl from her sister’s face. Still unconscious, Thora resembled a sleeping porcelain doll. A single line of fluids ran from a hanging bag to a vein in her forearm, but there were no medications. Romy didn’t understand it. Why would they not exhaust every resource, go down every avenue, doevery single thingin this world to save their daughter?
The opposite of love is not hate. It is indifference.Elie Wiesel’s wise words haunted her heart. Didn’t they love Thora? Didn’t they loveher?
“Of course, we love you, my little sunrise.” Cyril stood in the hallway outside the bedroom as if he was afraid to enter.
“Get out of my head, Dad.” Romy was grateful her ability to block had strengthened over the years. Otherwise, Cyril would have had some extremely salacious thoughts to sort through about a lycan and a vampire.
“When you’re tired and upset… it’s glaringly obvious. You’re a neon sign flashing high in the sky like the bat signal.” He gestured above them and made a funny face, making it hard for Romy not to snicker. “Can I come in so we can talk?”
Romy shrugged. She really didn’t want to debate the same issue again, but he’d always been a persistent man. “Free country.”
Cyril went over to Thora and pushed the same wayward curl from the girl’s face. “I know you don’t understand anything happening with our family right now. Honestly, I’m confused, and so is your mother. It’s not easy having kids, Ro. Whether you believe me or not, having you and Thora out in the world is like having my heart exposed twenty-four seven.”
“Then why aren’t you doing more for her? Why isn’t she in a hospital with more medicines instead of this little line of fluid? Why did Mom send me into a fucking gladiator arena with no preparation whatsoever? See my dilemma?”
“I do. And you have every right to be upset about Thora. But we’re doing everything we can for her right now. Our laws say we are forbidden from doing anything but believing in her healing and waiting on a miracle, but I promise you, wearedoing more.”
“Tell me, then. What are you doing?”
He shook his head. “I… can’t. I just need you to trust me.”
“Hmmph. Last time Mom said trust her, I almost got crushed by a centaur. Not giving me much hope here, Dad.”
“Your mother would kill me if I told you…”
“So how about trustingme? You want me to trust you? Trust me.”
Cyril slumped his shoulders as if the weight of the world had descended on them. “Cassia and I went searching for a plant… flower, actually. We know its properties could heal Thora, and we’ve been combing the swamps, the marshlands, the Lycan Woods,everywhereto locate the damn thing.”
Romy brightened. Could they be looking for Fenrir’s Rose too? “What’s the name of the flower?”
“I don’t know. Cassia isn’t sure. The name was never mentioned.”
