Page 204 of A Warrior's Fate

“I’ve never met Zahra,” Davina moped, though her eyes were bright, excited, as she took a seat on a small leather armchair. “Did you tell her the big news?”

“She’d figured it out, actually.” Isla laughed. “Some kind of mother’s intuition, she called it.”

Ameera scoffed. “Don’t tell my mother that’s a thing. She’ll travel around the pack talking to anyone, trying to find who she can marry me off to.”

Jonah snickered from his place at the table, behind his tall stacks of books. They nearly shrouded him. “Goddess, help that man.”

“Fuck off.”

Isla turned fully to face him, finding the book held open to a page by the marker. The pieces of the diadem, the dagger, and her scribbled messages sat at its side. She reached for the final jewel in her jacket pocket and stepped towards him.

“Did you listen to the broadcast?”

She spun. Rhydian had descended from the mezzanine and stood beside Davina.

Lip curling, Isla nodded. “Yes.”

Tight smiles graced everyone’s faces, and they shared uncomfortable looks. Who would be the one to broach the subject?

It was Rhydian.

“Talk about a family reunion from hell,” he offered, earning a light swat on the stomach from his mate.

Ameera shuffled back to her ladder spot, taking the open air to ask, “Will your father be coming with the Council?”

Isla swallowed. “I don’t know.”

“Does he know about you and Kai?” Davina asked.

Isla shook her head. “None of my family do, but my brother and Adrien.”

Isla wasn’t keen on the tenseness that had befallen the room with the mention of his name. The exchange, yet again, of those awkward looks.

Rhydian broke the silence for a second time. “Imperial Heir Adrien?”

“He’s family to me,” Isla said pointedly. “They’re the only people that know besides you guys and”—she gestured to Ameera—“your father.”

Ameera scowled.

Isla saw it as an opportunity. Shuffling on her feet, she asked, “Does he seem like he’s acting…strange to you?”

“Always,” Ameera snipped with a roll of her eyes. “Define strange.”

Isla breathed deeply, aware of what she’d be accusing him of and very familiar with the fact familial annoyance didn’t negate a sense of loyalty. “What are the chances he knows about the tunnels?”

Ameera’s features dropped, and she turned to Jonah.

Isla, shocked by the action, did the same. Rhydian and Davina retreated, eager to become solely observers.

“High,” Jonah answered, the amber of his eyes darkening. “It’s not knowledge that’s freely shared. It’s a secret of this pack on its way to being lost to time, but Alpha Kyran—being the alpha—would’ve been aware of them.”

“And they did everything together,” Ameera commented begrudgingly. “He hid nothing from my father.”

Isla blinked. If Alpha Kyran had known…

“But Kai’s never heard of them,” she said.

“Kai was a scion,” Ameera countered. “He’d even tell you himself that his only role was to not fuck up so much that he marred the family’s reputation.”

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