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I grab Aurelia’s duffel, and we head down the hallway to the bottom-level game room. John is sitting in his comfortable leather armchair, half-sprawled, with his head in his hands. He seems to be either trying to rip his hair out or squish his own skull.
Cam and Asher are on either side of his chair, standing like sentries. Nicola is perched on his right with a glass of iced tea in her hand. She appears at ease, either because she knew we were coming, or because she has little to fear with Kyle at her side. Kyle is smugly lounging on the couch next to Nicola with his arm thrown over the back near her shoulders.
I make a mental note to kick his ass in the near future.
Aidan and Ian are sitting at the bar, looking worried and spoiling for a fight. Evan and West are sitting on the loveseat next to the pool table. Evan has her hand entwined with West’s, squeezing it hard enough I can hear his bones creaking from here.
“Come to ask me for forgiveness?” Nicola asks, and I suppress a growl.
“Fuck, no,” Aurelia answers just as Carver emerges from the hidden basement door. “I came to ask you if Iva’s been killing the Aegis her entire reign. I also want to know if soldiers are coming tonight during a thunderstorm. And finally, I want to know if old Carver here is going to get the chance to stab me in the fucking lung.”
Javier is on his husband’s heels and goes from a smiley, good-natured guy to half-phased in less than a second. “Carver wouldn’t do something like that.”
“Yes, he would,” Nicola counters. “If it meant that you would live, he would do anything. You know that.” Her eyes drift in our direction. “I am—what’s the word you used earlier? Oh, yes. I am disinclined to answer your questions.”
“Look, you catty little bitch,” Aurelia says with a cruel twist of her mouth. “I’ve had about enough. I didn’t like you one hundred and sixty years ago, and I sure as shit don’t like you now. But it’s good you’re showing your true colors in front of the people who could be killed if you hesitate. I love how you are so reluctant to stop mass murder. I love how fucking cruel you’re being right now. Because you can’t see the look on their faces, but I can, and it’s just dawning on them that you’re no better than Iva. You’re just wrapped in a different fucking package.”
“Do. Not. Compare me to that bloody woman,” Nicola snarls, abruptly rising to her feet, the glass in her hand shattering from the force of her grip.
“Then don’t act like her,” I growl. “What’s your problem? You came to us. Just talk to us without the ridiculous hierarchy you’ve made up in your head. We’re not going to bow to you. Get over it.”
“Right. Just answer your questions, because that’s all I’m bloody well good for. Absolutely,” Nicola says bitterly. “I don’t know if Iva has killed the Aegis children. She has shielded herself from my abilities, more so over the last year. She is an expert at hiding herself. Based on the atrocities she has committed over the last three centuries I have been with her, it is within her character. I don’t know if soldiers are coming here today. My future is unclear to me and has been for the last three weeks. I can see other peoples near future, but the past few days…” She trails off, shaking her head before lowering herself onto the couch. “I don’t know. And yes, Carver would stab his best friend in the back to save his husband. But you all knew that already.”
“Great,” Aurelia quips. “You know exactly dick. Awesome.”
“Oh, I know a few things,” Nicola insists, her tone ominous. “Your future just isn’t one of them. I know Iva is sending soldiers away from their charges to exterminate wraiths, leaving their oracles unprotected. I know she has sequestered the scholars away from their families. I know the oracle population has grown over thirty percent in the last century, and their numbers have increased to the highest our race has ever had. I know she has revoked the exile covenant, and any seer who refuses the transition to oracle is put to death. And the gentry have been called back from their posts. They are no longer sending souls on to be reborn. As I said, I know plenty. I just don’t know what happens today.”
“Are the head families just letting this happen?” I whisper in utter disbelief.
“Yes. All four of the original families have several oracles under Iva’s care,” Nicola answers matter-of-factly. “She can do whatever she wants, and their soldiers are not there to protect them.”
“Well, fuck. So, we can’t leave, and we have to stop the bitch.” I direct my attention to the king. “John, how do you want to play this?”
“We have plenty of weapons in the house, and there is a bunker hidden under the basement gym. Those who cannot fight should be taken to safety,” John says, likely referring to Nicola and Evan, even though Evan can hold her own.
“John, I think you should leave,” Aurelia cautions. “I saw Asher and Cam ripped to shreds in my vision. Can they go as your guard? I don’t know who wants to stay, but those two need to get out of here.”
“I must go as well. But I won’t go far,” Nicola says, her face almost appearing sheepish at the confession of her inability. “Without my visions, I am of little use in combat.”
“I’ll go with you,” Kyle says gruffly.
Nicola’s head tilts toward the sound of his voice, and she reluctantly nods.
“Okay, who’s staying?” I ask as a roaring clap of thunder shakes the house, and the lights flicker out.
“Everyone,” Aurelia whispers. “It’s too late.”
Chapter Fourteen
AURELIA
“Can you get her out of here?” I ask Kyle, jerking my chin in Nicola’s direction.
“Absolutely,” he says as he grabs her up from the couch, surrounding her with his thick arms. “I’ll be back as soon as she’s safe.” He promptly smokes out of the room, leaving faint whisps of blackness in his wake.
Now that I think about it, all the wraiths could abandon us here to die—just up and leave us to Iva’s little invasion. The dread growing in my stomach swells so big, I think I’ll drown in it. I shift my gaze to Evan, and it’s as if she can read my mind. She shakes her head at me.
She won’t leave us.
