Page 138 of The Silent Note

I pull the giant fabric around my shoulders, allowing the warmth to swallow my frame. Zane must have noticed me shivering and mistaken it for the cold.

“This entire idea is ridiculous and I didn’t like it the first time I heard it.” Finn looks askance at Dutch. He seems antsier than normal. Rather than sitting down with an e-reader or a book, he’s standing—lounging, really—near the door.

His legs—just as impossibly long as his brothers’—are bent and the sole of one vintage sneaker is flat against the wall. Despite his casual pose, his finger taps on his knee, reminding me of Zane when he’s drumming on the desk during a quiz.

“I don’t like it either.” Zane walks back toward his brothers. “You guys already know that.”

Cadence glances at me from across the table.

I share her concerned look.

The boys are talking like they had a discussionbeforethis. It means they really did make plans and share information without us.

“I’m for it,” Dutch says, dragging out the chair next to Cadence. I’m not surprised that he’s sitting next to her. But I nearly fall off my chair when he looks at me and dips his head in something close to respect. “If you want to take the risk, I say do it. Hall might as well make himself useful.”

“I’m so confused,” Cadence says. “What do you mean ‘use Hall’? For what?”

“As an errand boy,” Dutch explains.

Cadence’s eyes bug. “But he broke Zane’s wrist! You really think he can be trusted after that?”

Zane scowls and looks pointedly at me. “He did a lot worse than just break my wrist.”

I glance away.

“We’re split two and two,” Sol says, his eyes skipping past Cadence to land on me.

I wonder if he’s ignoring Cadence on purpose. I’ve noticed how soft Sol is with her and always thought they would have worked out naturally if Dutch wasn’t so… well, Dutch.

“What does that mean?” I ask.

“It means it’s your decision,” Zane says, twirling a drumstick in his fingers. I have no idea where he got it from, but it makes sense that he would break a drumstick out now. I can feel his restless energy from a mile away.

“Sol thinks we can trust him, but I don’t think it’s worth the risk,” Finn says. “If we wait, we can come up with a better solution.”

“If we wait, I’ll explode,” I reply honestly.

“It’s your decision,” Zane says again, emphasizing each word.

I glance at Cadence who raises both arms in surrender. “I stayed out of it when you and Zane decided not to punish Hall. I’ll keep that position.”

I stay quiet, trying to decide if I’m annoyed by this sequence of events or not. This ismylife.Myinvestigation. This is not a group decision. Or maybe it’s that I feel so strange having a group supporting me.

A part of me doesn’t want to get cocky and turn my back on The Kings. I’ve remained alive for this long because of their constant watch and paranoia.

But the other part of me wants my independence back.

And it seems like I lost it the moment Zane looked me in the eyes and said ‘I do’.

“I want to take the risk.” I nod.

Sol leaks a tiny smile of approval, and I wonder how far I’ve stepped off the right path.

“Finn and I discussed the details. I already have the location and I’ll send Hall there now,” Sol says, rising to his feet.

“Martina will meet him at the drop-off point.” Zane checks his watch. “She usually takes a walk at dawn. It won’t be suspicious.”

Cadence yawns and stretches her arms over her head. “If we’re done here, I’ll go check on Viola.”

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