Page 45 of The Never List
“Where?” Kal asks, immediately standing. Axl and Pierce follow him, and only after a second do I realize Jax is waiting for me to get out of the way before he can move. I hurry out of the seat, stopping next to Mirren. She gently puts her hand on my wrist when I try to draw closer to Kal.
“The teashop near the library at the edge of the city,” Riggs says.
“Is anyone harmed?”
Riggs dips his head. “Five,” he answers. “They’re being cared for.”
Regret flashes in Kal’s eyes, but they harden as he turns to the other Legends. “We need to go.”
“I’ll have them bring our transports around,” Jax says, disappearing with a catlike grace that sends shivers over my skin.
Axl and Pierce follow him without a second glance my way, but Kal pauses, even as Riggs hurries down the stairs. “I’m sorry,” he says, hands on my shoulders. “There’s something I have to take care of.”
I read the fire in his eyes, the concern and anger mixing together. “Where are you going?”
“Somewhere I can’t take you.”
“Why?”
“It isn’t safe—”
“I don’t need protection,” I cut in over him. I’m not some simpering princess. I’m an Ashlander. The last thing I am is timid, and if this is some test from the kings, the last thing I want to do is fail.
“Rylee,” he says, a plea to his tone. “There are things you don’t need to see. Things you don’twantto see.”
“That’s not fair,” I say. “You can’t possibly know what I do or don’t want to see, to know. If this is a test—”
“Kal!” Jax shouts through the crowded space from the entryway doors. He raises his arms, securing a black cloth mask over the lower half of his face. Axl and Pierce have done the same, and each of them has also donned a matching black leather jacket with the Legend crest on the back—a crown of stark white with five points, each topped with a circle in the Legends’ four colors, except for the middle one, which is blistering gold, a nod to Lumathyst itself. The crown looks like it was painted in a hurry in its conception, paint streaks dripping down the leather, giving the crest the illusion of movement.
“It’s not a test,” Kal assures me, bending down to brush a kiss over my lips. It’s long enough that I close my eyes—
He pulls away. “Take her home, please,” he says, and it’sa heartbeat before I realize he’s speaking to Mirren.
And then he’s gone, blinking out of sight so quickly, I have to wonder if he was ever there in the first place.
I turn to Mirren.
“He does that,” she says. “Speed and flight. One of his finer talents.”
I’ve heard of that power, but seeing it is another thing entirely.
“Come,” Mirren says, tugging on my wrist. “Let’s get you to Kal’s estate.”
I half expect the Legends to still be outside when we make our way through the entrance doors, but there isn’t a trace of them. I can’t even hear the rumble of their magical velomages on the busy roads. Mirren ushers me into her carriage, instructing her driver where to take us as we settle in the velvet-lined compartment.
What could’ve warranted Riggs’s urgency and the Legends’ intervention? Something so common that each of them caught on immediately without any explanation? The worry builds and builds until my chest threatens to crack from the pressure.
“What was that about?” I ask, my mind whirling.
Mirren shoots me a scolding look. She eyes the small, open windows, then softens her expression.
“Let’s get you to Kal’s estate,” she says again, with more emphasis this time. “He’ll want you prepared when he’s ready for you.”
I frown but catch sight of an unnatural shadow keeping pace with our carriage. The Occuli. Goddess, they’re unnerving.
And she doesn’t trust them. Fine, fair enough, but Ishoot her a silent look thatdemandsanswers the second we’re out of earshot.
And I just have to hope that whatever those answers are, I can handle them, because watching the Legends assemble like that, donning those jackets and masks, seeing their moods switch to that terrifying edge of anger has me worrying the same will be turned on me if I’m discovered for the liar I am.
