Page 41 of Iridian

“There was this kid—Jace, who lived in the Blue House with us…” Seth started, telling story after story about how he basically tormented Jace in his sleep because Jace was a big kid and he beat the shit out of him whenever he got him alone during the day.

Meanwhile, half my attention drifted back to the mansion, to Poppy and the talk we’d had about Taland. How relieving it had been to tell her the truth about everything, even the Iris Roe, and even Fiona had been there and had heard everything. I hadn’t cared and I’d feltfreefor the first time in my life.

Even better when Poppy was so happy about it she literally did a dance in the kitchen before she grabbed me in a bear hug.

Before leaving, I told her about Taylor Maddison, too, and asked her to make sure she was okay at all times if something happened and I didn’t make it back. Just in case.

And even though she insisted that there was nothing in the world that could kill me, Poppy agreed to check in on her regularly without Taylor knowing about it. That was good enough for me.

When I made it back to my room, I froze by the door and had to pinch my arm to convince myself that this was real—Taland was in the bed, naked, waiting for me with one of my books in his hands.

The way my heart fucking burst at these small, ordinary things. I craved a simple life with him so badly it wasn’t even funny.

Then Taland made me come with his mouth first, then his cock, then his fingers, just like he said, but to his horror, we’d only gotten one hour before Fiona came to the door to tell us that they were waiting for us downstairs.

Now here we were. We’d eaten. We’d rested as much as we could, and we were driving to what the original Council hadcalledPerriaback in the day—what was now a mountain site in West Virginia.

Seth kept on talking. I was starting to think he was nervous—more nervous than before, and unfortunately so was Taland. I could tell by the way his eyes darted from the windshield, to the rearview mirror, and to me lightning fast every couple of minutes. I could tell by how white his knuckles were, too, and by howfuriouslyhe switched gears while he drove.

To be honest, so was I.

There was a good chance that David Hill was waiting for us with an army of revived Laetus at the end of this road. Even though I laughed at Seth’s jokes and interacted when it was appropriate, the closer we got to our destination, the heavier the situation became. The morerealthe whole thing seemed—we were actually doing this.

“Hey.” Taland reached for my hand on my lap, kissed the back of it, and held it there over the stick for a little while. “We’re going to be okay.”

I nodded, and even though I was starting to feel like I had rocks in my stomach, I smiled for his sake. “We will.”

“Are you guys even listening to me?”

Seth stuck his head between our seats.

I laughed. “We are. You were telling us about when Aurelia pulled that prank on you and your friends,” I said because I had been listening to him as well. Only with half my attention.

“Good,” Seth said and sat back again before he continued to tell us his story.

I kept my hand over Taland’s because it felt so much better when I was touching him. But eventually even that didn’t help. Eventually, the gravity of the situation fell on me and no amount of Seth’s stories or Taland’s warmth calmed me down.

And the worst part was that we were already there.

Breathing wasn’t helping. Wishing we’d stayed behind now wasn’t doing anything, either.

What the hell were you thinking?!my own mind kept screaming at me.Both Selem and the Council have joined forces to come here today, and I thought I was ready for something this big?!

Goddess, I was going to throw up.

“We have movement.”

I blinked my eyes and focused on Ferid, who was standing next to a soldier dressed in a dark blue uniform that covered his face almost all the way, and he’d whispered something in the ear of the councilman.

“It seems he has close to fifty men with him,” Ferid said, his cheeks paler than usual as he looked at Helen.

“David is here,” Radock said, and she nodded.

“We’re expecting a visual from the drone that he took down as soon as it was close enough,” said Helen, looking at a tablet one of the soldiers had given her—could have been the same guy who was still standing behind Ferid.

“You okay?” Taland asked me, and I nodded automatically.

“Yep. You?”

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