Page 72 of The Shattered Kingdom
I was so preoccupied with Lill opening the portal that I didn’t think twice about it, and she wasn’t wearing it when Kie brought her to the faerie realm.
Alpha Theon continues. He’s smiling, his lips curling into a cruel smirk. He’s pleased with whatever he’s about to say. “You’re correct that Callie knew who Abby was, but Lillian didn’t. When that magic made her feel a mate bond with Kie and Mason, she would’ve had no reason not to believe it.”
It feels like I’ve been punched in the gut. I’ve been punched, kicked, scratched, burned, and fucking frayed. Lill thought the bond was real.
Alpha Theon doesn’t give me time to recover before continuing. “You’re also correct that she’s not with us. We don’t know where she is.”
We. He saidwe. So Callie is still alive? Did Lill know that? It doesn’t matter. I betrayed her. She thought Kie and Mason were hers. She was telling the truth.
A hand lands on my back. It’s Kie’s. He’s removed his glove, and he’s touching me the same way I’m touching Mason. He’s afraid I’m going to do something. I bite my tongue until it bleeds.
“I agreed to this meeting because I need your help,” Alpha Theon says. He’s talking to me now. “We must work together to find Lillian.”
That’s not right. Lill’s a strong and capable faerie. If she wanted to be with her mother and Alpha Theon, she would be. She could’ve easily opened a portal to the shifter lands and found her way here.
Kie trails his fingers up and down my spine. I do the same to Mason.
Mason hasn’t spoken in a suspiciously long time, but I can’t bring myself to look at him. I’m frantic, and I don’t want his emotions to rub off on me.
“I believe we’re past the point of helping one another,” Kie says.
“I’m speaking to your mate,” Alpha Theon snaps. “She’s the one who knows Lillian, and—”
Mason interrupts. “Kie.”
His tone is sharp, and within half a second, a portal is violently ripped open and I’m shoved through. I land on my hands and knees, and two heavy bodies follow immediately behind, crushing me.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ABBY
MY KNEES SCRAPE against the ground, the skin most definitely shredding. They just fucking healed, but I suppose it’s better than landing on my face.
Kie lands on my back, but he plants his hands beside my head and pivots at the last second so he doesn’t completely flatten me. The pained grunt he lets out tells me Mason didn’t offer him the same courtesy.
Dead silence fills the air, the absence of sound a stark contrast to the river’s running water. I didn’t realize how loud it was until it disappeared, and it takes me several moments to regain my bearings.
“Are you okay?” It’s Kie who asks. He grabs my waist, pulling me to my feet. We’re back at the royal grounds, surrounded by three panicked guards. “I don’t know why Mason pushed us through like that.”
Mason’s quick to respond. “There were shifters behind us. The rushing water covered their footfalls, and they found a way to mask their scent. One of them was too nervous, and I overheard his pounding heart. There wasn’t time to waste, and Abby’s slow.”
“I’m not slow.” My hands sting, and several tiny pebbles arelodged in my palms. At least they’re not bleeding. “And you didn’t need to be so rough.”
The guards surrounding us awkwardly back away, their movements clunky as they glance between one another. We didn’t tell anybody we were leaving. It must have been a shock for us to suddenly appear through a portal. Did they see the shifter lands on the other side of it?
Anox will be pissed.
“How many were there?” Kie asks.
Mason shrugs. “No idea. I didn’t have time to count.”
I look between Mason, Kie, and my palms, still trying to dissect Alpha Theon’s final words. Was he being honest? Why would he lie? Callie is alive, but Theon doesn’t know where Lill is. What does he want her for, and if she didn’t run to the shifters, then where did she go?
Anxiety twists my stomach into painful knots. Is she okay?
The thought of Callie faking her death and escaping to live with the shifters, leaving Lill behind in the human realm to rot and die, makes my blood boil. Does Lill know what her mother did to her? Does she still believe Kie and Mason are her mates? I went out of my way to touch Mason, and I chose to believe the worst after discovering the bond.
“She wasn’t lying,” I say.
