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My hand comes to hover in front of my belly. I took the morning after pill, but I know there’s a chance it won’t work. If I had already ovulated before Maxim and I had sex, then I could still be pregnant.
And if I am, I’ll be able to protect my child—and all the other people I care about—a hell of a lot better if I’m in charge.
“Maybe,” I murmur. “But no matter what they’re hiding, I’m not sure I have a choice but to go along. We’re out in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by people who aren’t going to make it easy to steal a car. At least Elsbeth and Kelley are acting like our allies.” I sigh. “And it’s not like we have any better options at the moment.”
“And their auras are solid. Helpful, sincere colors,” Diana says, nibbling at the edge of her thumb. “And Kelley’s going to make sure Bane doesn’t punish Jacob again for going behind their backs to help me, so…that’s good.” She shivers as her hand falls from her mouth. “He’s so fucking terrifying by the way. I can’t believe your sister’s been able to pull off pretending to be in love with him for so long. I don’t know what I’m going to do if Bane decides he has time to catch up with his little sister. Probably wet myself and then pass out.”
I take her hand, giving it a firm squeeze. “No, you won’t. You’ll play it the way Kelley said—like you’re angry at both your brothers and confused, but open to being a part of Bane’s court. That’s the safest bet.”
“Right.” She nods, biting her lip for a moment before she adds in an ashamed voice, “I feel so terrible, Willow, for thinking Maxim might be evil. Even for a second. I mean, he’s no angel, but compared to Bane…”
I tighten my grip on her fingers. “I know. But it’s okay. We’ll get through this, make sure Bane’s locked away somewhere none of his allies can find him, and reach out to Maxim when it’s safe.” My lips hook up on one side, “If I’m really going to be queen, he’ll have to make nice with me and behave himself, right? Stay on my good side?”
Diana huffs. “Yeah, he will. He’s going to hate that.” She smiles. “But he’ll make the best of it eventually.”
I nod toward the toilets. “We should go and get back.”
“Yeah, we should. And I really have to pee,” she says with a soft laugh before dashing through the still damp grass toward one of the empty toilets.
I turn to survey the glen and the camp beyond.
People are just beginning to stir, moving around their tents and small cabins, building fires and stepping into the surrounding woods for a moment of privacy. Most of the shifters and Fey here don’t use the port-a-potties. Only the handful of witches who’ve joined the cause make the journey all the way across the wide glen, which means the forest behind the row of johns is nearly deserted.
If Diana and I were going to try to escape, this would be the best direction.
I still don’t think escaping the camp would be easy—or maybe even possible—but there’s no harm in looking.
Taking advantage of the fact that we’re still the only people here this early, I circle around the portable facilities and into the thicker forest behind them. I’m only intending to walk a little way, but just a few yards in I see that the trees come to an abrupt end not much farther ahead.
I glance over my shoulder, debating whether or not to tell Diana where I’m going, but then decide it’ll be faster and safer for both of us if I hurry and finish my scouting mission alone. I break into a jog, moving as fast as my ill-fitting shoes will allow, and reach the edge of the timber line in just a few minutes.
I slow to a walk, propping my hands on my hips as I scan the cliff ahead.
A closer inspection reveals it shears straight down nearly five hundred feet before the rocks disappear into a wide mountain stream. On the other side of the stream, through a stand of trees, is a road.
It’s a thin rural highway, the asphalt gray with age and the yellow divider lines almost completely faded away, but it’s a real road, running east to west. If we can get down there and start east, we’ll eventually run into a larger road and potentially motorists willing to pick up two lost young women looking for a ride to the nearest city.
And from there we can call Maxim and have him send as much backup as he can spare down to…wherever we are now.
I’m still not happy with Maxim. I don’t know if we’ll ever be friends again, let alone anything more, but I don’t have the luxury of only working with my besties. Bane must be stopped before he takes control and destroys every spark of joy and fairness left in our world.
That priority trumps all others.
Right now, I’d make a deal with the devil as long as I knew he wanted Bane out of the picture as much as I do.
Which is probably exactly what Maxim was thinking when he made the decision to drug me. He wasn’t doing something he wanted to do; he was doing something he felt he had no choice but to do.
We really are more alike than I’ve wanted to admit.
I turn, my thoughts still full of Maxim’s face and his voice and the tortured look in his eyes when he finally started being honest with me that night in Diana’s kitchen. My head is so full of Maxim that for a moment I think I must be hallucinating the scent I catch on the breeze.
But if I were hallucinating my fated mate’s signature smoky, sunshine and cedar scent, it wouldn’t be tinged with blood and sickness.
I freeze and lift my nose into the air, every muscle straining as I will the smell to come again. My logical mind insists I’m crazy, but just when I’m about to give up and hurry back to the glen before Diana gets worried, I smell it again.
It’s Maxim.
No doubt about it.
