Page 69 of Midnight Reign
“Okay, who can do that?” Addy asks. “Runes are not my thing. Mind you, none of this is.”
“I can,” I say. “It’s a piece of piss.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” Zephyr mutters. “Piss is liquid, How can you have a piece of it?”
“It’s a fucking saying, you prick.”
He snorts and gives me the finger.
“Do we think your dad is holding back anything?” I venture.
“Always,” he replies immediately. “And speaking of Dad’s, where exactly is yours, Corvus?”
“Another good question. He was here for the board meeting, but I haven’t seen him around.”
“Do you think he and Malachar are in cahoots?” Addy asks.
I snort. “Cahoots?”
She giggles. “Hey, it fits.”
“If they are, I’m afraid of what that means. They imprisoned Crimson before. Are they planning on doing it again?”
She sobers instantly. “But don’t they need your dad, my dad and Ig’s dad as well?”
“Who is to say they aren’t already here?”
“Well, mine isn’t. He is in the NetherRealm.”
“Not necessarily. You saw him go in, but who knows? Maybe he came back out.”
She gulps. “Do you think?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. We need to be prepared for everything.”
“Do you think they might stop us?” Zephyr asks slowly.
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
“We don’t know what their end game is,” Ignatius says. “And asking will likely be as fruitful as asking Crimson.”
“Yeah, I’m not even trying that,” Addy states. “We focus on whatwe’redoing and then improvise if they show up. Crimson will be on our side if they want to imprison her again. That gives us the advantage.”
“Six against five.”
“Six, including one pissed-off Queen,” Ignatius says.
“Randall wanted to kill her, though, so we have to assume that the end game is not to imprison but to kill.” Zephyr’s words are the sound of doom.
“Then we will show them that trying that is not in their best interests,” I state.
“You’re talking about treason,” Zephyr says. “For me. It’s treason.”
“I know.”
We hold a steady stare, and I know without even asking him that he would lay down his own life for Adelaide. We all would. Our bond, our fate, is stronger than anything else out there, and that is what is going to see us through this to the other side.
“We make a pact, right here, right now,” Corvus says. “It’s us against them. Always. We don’t fall, we don’t fail, and we protect Adelaide and each other above all else.”
