Page 83 of Iridian

“And more importantly, we’re all in this together whether you like it or not,” Aurelia said.

“Funny howfamilyonly means what you want it to mean when it’s convenient,” said Taland.

“The boy has an army of dead soldiers to command, so he’s grown balls,” Kaid said, hands fisted at his sides as he forced himself to smile.

“He’s always had balls—it’s the audacity that surprises me,” said Seth.

And I could tell just by how Taland’s grip around my hand tightened that he wasn’t about to say anything nice next—but before I could tell all of them to shut up for second, Aurelia spoke.

“Simmer down, children,” she said. “Let the adults speak here for a moment, will you?” She flashed me a grin. “Rosabel, good to see you. We’re all glad that we’re all in one piece. We’ve come for a reason and we want to talk. Can we go somewhere to sit down and do just that? You know, likeadults?”

I swallowed hard, looked at Taland, who only looked back at me. No expression on his face, and I knew that he would rather we talked here. He would rather his brothers and the Mergenbachs be on their way already because he was uncomfortable in his skin right now, but the fact that they’d come meant something, and I wanted to know the reason why they’d bothered.

“Of course,” I ended up saying. “Follow us.”

We turned around, Taland and I, and the soldiers behind us stepped aside to make way. Taland looked at me only for a split second but he said nothing, which was almost worse.

“I want to know why they came,” I said in a whisper as we led them up to the house.

“Then we’ll know,” Taland said, perfectly calm still.

“Are the soldiers really necessary though?” He had four of them walking with the others. Though they kept their distance, they were perfectly alert of everyone’s movement.

“I don’t trust them near you,” Taland said. “They’re just a precaution.” He brought my hand to his lips and kissed the back of it. “It’s okay. We’re safe.”

As if I didn’t know that. “It’s not that. It’s just…a feeling,” I muttered. A bad feeling in my gut that had started the moment I saw the others coming up that mountain. Because of that reason Aurelia mentioned—the reason why they were here,nowof all times.

“Let’s hear what they have to say first,” Taland said, as if he, too, had that same feeling gnawing in his gut, that premonition that whispered in his ear even before we made it to the porch of the safe house and decided to stop there to talk. There were no chairs, but the wooden top of the railings on both sides was as wide as benches, if any of them wanted to sit down for real.

“We’re all ears,” I said to Aurelia when we stopped in front of the doors, standing in a wide circle, while the four soldiers who’d followed us remained just outside, looking away. That didn’t mean much, though—they could see through Taland’s eyes just fine.

“So, you just get them to follow you around like puppies?” Seth asked as he watched them curiously.

“And how exactly do you do that? How do you give them orders?” Zachary asked.

“Are they really one hundred percent obedient to you?” Kaid.

“How are they walking around when they’re obviously not breathing? Some creepy shit going on here, I swear…” Seth again.

“Boys, let’s behave, shall we?” Aurelia said. “We’ve got more important issues to discuss.”

“But I doubt that, really,” said Radock. “What could be more important than the dead army you command with such ease, brother? You’vebecomeone of them yourself, it seems. The eyes give you away.”

“If you’re trying to pick a fight, Radock, you will not win this round, either,” I said because he was fucking infuriating, and it wasn’t fair to Taland at all. He saved us, all of us, when he brought back Titus’s army. Hesavedus. He deserved more respect than this, even without them knowing what it was costing him to keep those soldiers alive.

Seth laughed. Zach, too, but he masked it with a cough. Aurelia grinned, step forward with her hands on her hips.

“We’re not here to pick fights, actually. We’re here to ask for help,” she said.

“Help with what?” asked Taland. “You’re perfectly capable of handling Selem, are you not?”

“It’s very obvious that you haven’t watched the news recently. Not that they show much of the real world, but still,” Seth said.

“We haven’t,” I admitted, pretending my heart didn’t just trip all over itself. “Why?”

“Because everything’s gone to shit, Rosabel,” Aurelia said. “The Council has turned on the people. They’ve been killing Iridians left and right, especially Mud, and imprisoning people based onrumors. There are no trials, no proof needed—it’s a fucking slaughter out there.”

No way,a voice in my head whispered, while the other said,of course they did…

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