Page 66 of Blood Currents
As Aurora rushed out, still covering her eyes and muttering apologies, Cyrus caught my hand.
“To be continued?”he asked, hope and heat mingling in his expression.
“Definitely,” I promised, squeezing his fingers.“But first, we save Parker.”
Ten minutes later, the heirs were assembled in the common room—hastily dressed but alert.The air still carried traces of the magic Cyrus and I had shared, and I caught Elio’s eyes lingering on us with something that looked like understanding rather than jealousy.
Aurora arrived with Lucas and Raven in tow.
The guys glanced at me, but they didn’t argue.
They stood awkwardly in the doorway, looking out of place against the royal dorm’s opulent backdrop.Lucas’s eyes darted around the common room with barely concealed academic curiosity while Raven’s posture remained stiff, defensive.
“We’re here to help,” Raven said, her chin lifting slightly.“Like we agreed.”
I moved forward, relief washing through me.“Come in.We’re just going over the plan.”
Raven hesitated at the threshold, something flashing in her eyes—discomfort, resentment, or something darker.Boris perched on her shoulder, his tiny legs tapping that same strange rhythm I’d noticed earlier.
“Fancy,” she muttered, finally stepping inside.“So this is how the other half lives.”
Lucas followed more easily, nodding politely to the others.“Raven set up the preliminary distraction spells in the academic building.They’re ready to trigger on her command.”
“Good,” I said, gesturing them toward the group.“This is everyone.Aurora you know.And, well… everyone knows everyone.”
The awkward tension was palpable.These worlds rarely collided—the royal heirs and the scholarship students, the privileged and the outsiders.
“Tell us everything,” Keane said, settling beside me on the couch while deliberately ignoring the tension.
Aurora took a breath, steadying herself.“I was monitoring the council session through the family communication channels.Lord Alstone requested an emergency recess an hour ago and then demanded immediate enhanced security protocols.”
“What kind of protocols?”Elio asked, his voice sharp.
“Shroud Guard rotations for what he called ‘temporary detention and enhanced interrogation.’”Aurora’s expression was grim.“Your father pushed back, Cyrus.He demanded to see detention records, asked pointed questions about prisoner locations.”
Cyrus’s flames flickered blue—pride mixed with worry.“That’s good.It means he believed the evidence I showed him.”
“It also means Uncle’s panicking,” Keane said grimly.“Which makes him more dangerous.”
“Where is Parker being held?”I asked.
Aurora hesitated.“The same underground laboratory you discovered before.Alstone’s been using it as a temporary holding facility.”
Ice flooded my veins.“He’s keeping her in the torture chamber?”
“He thinks she was the one who broke in originally,” Aurora explained.
“When will they move her?”Cyrus demanded.
“Midnight.”Aurora’s voice was tight.“If we don’t act tonight, she disappears into his private fortress.”
Keane went very still.“He’s going to use the same equipment on her that he used on me.”
The quiet pain in his voice reminded us all what was at stake.Not just Parker’s life but the chance to expose the conspiracy that had already destroyed so many others.
“Then we don’t let that happen,” I said firmly.
“This is insane,” Elio said, though his tone carried determination rather than protest.“The lab is compromised.He knows someone broke in.Security will be ten times what it was.”
