Page 20 of Illusory

“Adjust,” I cut in unenthusiastically since he’d already given me that exact line several times yesterday. “Got it.”

What I’d really wanted to hear was that it had gone spectacularly perfectly, and that all of Trace’s magnanimous Tracenesshad been miraculously restored overnight. I mean, a girlcoulddream, couldn’t she?

“And Dominic?” I glanced around the room, pretending like I’d only just noticed his absence. “Where is he?”

Gabriel cleared his throat and then scratched his neck again, looking everywhere in the room except at me as if hoping someone else would step in and answer the question.

Tessa clicked her tongue at him. “Good grief. Grow a pair, will you?” she said and then swung her steely gaze back to mine. “He hasn’t shown back up since he took off last night.”

I schooled my features as a hoarfrost spread beneath my ribs.

She eyed me for a moment and then added, “In his defense, itismorning so he can’t exactly stroll on over.” At that, her expression soured a little as though she were physically affected by having to defend him for my benefit.

“Right. Because he only hadall nightto make it back before sunrise.”

Gabriel looked like he wanted to add something, to somehow soften the blow for me but couldn’t manage to tell the lie. Surely it was clear toevenhim now that things had shifted in a major way between me and Dominic. And not in a good way. Why else would he not be here? Why else would he have acted so cold and distant with me last night?

His absence was speaking volumes, and this time neither of us could ignore it.

Jutting my chin, I squared my shoulders and faced my sister. “Bad news first.”

“The Senior Magister reached out to Gabriel this morning.Personally,” she said, emphasizing the word as if she needed to further convince me of how serious this was. “They’re asking a whole lot of questions about why you didn’t show up for your meeting with them.”

“You mean theambush,” I corrected.

She nodded grimly. “I’m guessing they’re starting to get suspicious about how much you know.”

My gaze snapped to Gabriel. “You didn’t tell them anything, did you?”

“Of course not.” He looked offended that I’d even ask him that, but I had to make sure we were still all on the same page. It was no secret that Gabriel had given the Order the benefit of the doubt more times than they ever deserved. “I told them something personal had come up and that you would be in contact to reschedule the meeting.”

“Okay…that’s good. Nice and vague. Let’s keep it like that. The longer they stay in the dark about why I didn’t show up and what we know, the better it is for us.”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Unfortunately, theyarerequesting another meeting,” informed Gabriel, his voice and eyes far more severe then. “I told them I would arrange it with you and get back to them but…”

A chill crept down my back. “But what?”

His brows banked together as he folded his arms along his chest. “I’m not sure they’re prepared to wait very much longer, nor do I think they intend to make the next meetingoptional.”

My stomach knotted at his ominous words. “Meaning what?”

“Meaning they’re getting desperate,” answered Tessa, drawing my attention back to her. “They’re trying tointimidate you. To pressure you. That’s a good thing.”

“How do you figure?” I asked, obviously not following her line of logic.

“Because desperate people make desperate mistakes.”

“That may be true, but the Council doesn’t exactly strike me as the kind of organization that makes uncalculated, careless moves,” I said and then took another sip of my coffee. “At least notthateasily.”

“Either way, it’ll buy us some time until we figure out our next step. All we need to do is postpone the meeting for as long as possible without tipping them off,” explained Tessa as though it were as simple and straightforward as that.

“And how do you suggest we do that?” I asked, knowing the Council wasn’t going to make it easy to do that. I highly doubted they’d be okay with just patiently waiting on the side lines for me to return their call.

“Well, we’re not telling them about Trace for starters. They’ll assume you’re still busy trying to chase after a cure that doesn’t exist.”

“That’ll only buy us so much time, though,” argued Gabriel, and he was right about that.

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