Page 713 of One More Kiss

This is where my blood should run cold, my face should grow ashen, and shock should set in, but all I could taste was the metallic burst coating my tongue from where I bit my lip so hard it bled along my bottom teeth.

Finding my abductor had always been a fantasy, but so out of reach, I’d begun telling myself I had to move on. Let it go. Because every moment I obsessed over getting even more revenge, the more time he stole from me.

But a grotesque sliver of hope took hold inside me, squashing emotion and tapping into logic. “Who have you narrowed it down to?”

“You’re not going to like the list.”

I glared at her hard. “I don’t like anything about any of this, but we’re in it, so give it to us straight.”

She skidded to a stop and rubbed her palms on her jeans. “Your parents.”

I shot out of my chair and advanced on her. “Impossible.”

River’s gaze slid away as I leaned into her. She gulped, the lump in her throat giving me satisfaction.

“Look, I have to at least consider they’re playing a part, but I don’t think it’s their ring,” she said, fumbling her way through appeasing me.

“So who else?”

“Royce Lane. He’s a—”

“He’s a general like your dad,” I said, cutting her off.

“Yes.”

“And friends with your dad.”

“Yes.”

“What else?”

“And he picked pledges this year. I’m trying to find out who. If it is him, it would fall in line with my suspicion that he’s trying to expand his operations, but I don’t know who he’s pledged so it’s hard to be sure. With how tight-lipped we’re all supposed to be, I may never find out, but I do know he gives out his tests on scrolls with a wax seal. The founding families all have them, but not many use them anymore.

But mine did.

They wouldn’t traffic me. Their faces that night had been the most honest I’d ever seen them and the fact that someone had reached me despite the protections in place and their respected stature, shook them to the core.

“But there is one more possibility.”

“What?” Lexi asked.

“The legend. The pledge who was stung by two scorpions and lived? I think it’s real,” River said.

Talia laughed. “Seriously? That’s just bonfire talk.”

“Except generals have been talking about him in secret emails. They call him Shadow. And if I’m right, he might just be Royce’s son.”

“Royce doesn’t have a son,” I pointed out.

“That we know of. But something there is off and I can’t quite put my finger on it. Whenever I try to connect the dots, they point to father and son. It’s not a loving relationship either. Shadow is allowed to pick two pledges every year since he survived. Kind of a parting gift. A way of saying ‘our bad for accidentally have you shove your hand in a box with two scorpions instead of one,’ hoping to appease him.”

“Or silence him,” Lexi said, pursing her lips.

River nodded. “Or that.”

“Because maybe his father is the one who arranged to have two scorpions in the box. Nice family.” Pain settled in behind my eyes as my blood pressure spiked. “Okay, so—”

“There’s more,” River interrupted.

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