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“What do you mean?” Terin asked, now standing with his arms crossed beside Dani. With his hair now past his ears, it was jarring how much he looked like Fynn.
Graeson straightened and tipped his head in Emmett’s direction. “Ask him.”
Emmett held up his hands in defense. “Hey, now! Don’t go blaming me,” he said as he pushed himself off the door with his foot. He pointed a wandering finger at Graeson. “Youwere the one who ran off.”
“Of course he did,” Dani spat.
Graeson ignored her. “That shouldn’t have mattered. You can hide hundreds of identities back at the cavern, yet you failed to hidethreetonight!”
Armen scratched the back of his head. “I mean . . . my identity was—”
“Shut up, Armen!” Graeson shouted.
Armen threw his hands up. “Fine. Whatever. If you don’t want my opinion, fine. I’m going to bed. Just try to keep it down, will you? Some of us like to sleep.”
Sylvia stood to follow, mumbling something about not wanting to be involved in whatever mess they had created.
Ignoring Armen, Graeson returned his attention to Emmett, who was trying to sneak away. “We’re not done here,” Graeson said as he reached out to grab him.
Emmett ducked, slithering away from Graeson’s reach. He rubbed his palms against his face, exasperated. “I already told you. It’s a delicate business.”
Graeson crept forward, but Dani and Ellie’s arms simultaneously smacked him in the chest. He grunted.
“Three people, Emmett!” Graeson growled. “How isthata ‘delicate business?’”
Emmett shook his head. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he meandered toward the couch, his lengthy body hunched over. Nearing the sofa, he spun around and began walking backward. He held up a finger. “First, the environment matters. I am at the cavern almost daily. Most of the people who come there are very familiar to me. Their identities, who they are—their general aurora, if you will—are easily recognizable. It’s like seeing an old friend. Familiar, welcome,easy.”
Graeson stared at Emmett, the incredulity plain across his face. “Again, you’ve hidden my identity before, Emmett.”
The back of Emmett’s legs hit the back of the couch. He shrugged, then plopped onto the dark red couch, rolling over the top of it and onto the cushions on the other side. He waved a hand in the air dismissively and threw up two fingers. “Second, the cavern is practically my home. I know it well. This—” he waved his hands in a circle in the air, “is completely foreign to me. Your identity would have been safely secureifyou hadn’t run off. Those walls . . . I don’t know what it is, but there’s something about them. They’re thick,mushy.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” Graeson argued.
If he claimed that the castle walls were blocking his ability, they had bigger issues. Tonight was only supposed to be surveillance. Graeson wasn’t even supposed to talk to Kalisandre. No one was. While she didn’t know Graeson was working with the Tetrians, there would no doubt be an influx of guards. If Kalisandre revealed their presence to the king, their situation would become more complicated than it already was. Add Emmett’s inability to keep their presence a secret, and it was almost impossible.
Emmett popped his head up and peered at Graeson over the couch, squinting in the flickering light from the lamp. “I never said it made sense. I’m just telling you how I see it.” Emmett picked his teeth with his nail. “Like I said, if you hadn’t run off or if you had asked me to go with you when you went gallivanting after your girlfriend, this wouldn’t have happened.”
Graeson’s hands rolled into fists at his side as Ellie held him back.
“She is yourprincess, Emmett. Act like it,” Graeson said, snarling.
Dani walked over to the couch. Leaning down, she stared at Emmett, then sniffed.
“What’s she doing?” Medenia mumbled to Terin.
Terin shrugged, scratching the back of his head. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
Unfazed by Dani’s intrusion into his personal space, Emmett twirled his hands in the air and reached toward Dani. When Dani jerked back, something akin to a whine escaped Emmett’s lips as he laid back down.
Turning around to face the rest of them, Dani leaned her hip against the couch and pointed her thumb over her shoulder. “The walls aren’tmushyor whatever he claims. The bastard’s drunk.”
“Goddess above! You all are complete imbeciles!” Ellie shouted, throwing her hands into the air. She turned to the Tetrian princess. “Medenia, I do not care if they are our friends. We are going home. We are going home now before they kill us all!”
Medenia shook her head. “No, we are not.”
“What do you mean we’re not? We’redoomed, Medenia! This whole plan of theirs was idiotic, to begin with, but now? They can’t even keep it together for one night. And tonight was supposed to be easy,simple.We have this love-sick puppy over here—” Ellie pointed at Graeson, “and this other buffoon who can’t even hold his liquor. Dani can barely stand straight. I mean, look at her; she’s growing green already.”
“Wine, actually,” Emmett said, holding up a finger.
