Page 70 of The Never List
“Oh, I have no doubt,” I manage to say, my voice level despite the fear climbing. “She’s nothing if not resourceful.”
Kal gives me a sideways glance, surprise and a little hurt registering in his eyes at hearing the news. I try to give him a silent apology, but my focus is on the man across from me, my history in his hands. He’s about to read a much worse secret.
I shift in my seat. If I blast them with a wall of wind, I may clear this room, but I don’t have a shot of outrunning them through their own palace.
I glance around, noting the floor-to-ceiling windows. One of them is cracked open to let in the night air, and Baydel’s elite enforcer—the tall, broad-shouldered guard with the number one emblazoned on his uniform—is standing just in front of it. If I could make it past him, I might be able to jump out the window.
Would Kal catch me? He promised he always would, but who is to say he’d keep a promise to a girl he never truly knew?
“Birthplace,” Baydel says, and I feel the contents of my stomach climb up my throat.
How could I be stupid enough to believe I’d fool them—
“Cedar and Silk,” he continues reading, and I have to blink a few times to make sure I haven’t slipped the mental rung of sanity in my mind. “Lottery winner number 617805.”Baydel’s brow furrows, confusion flickering over his face. Almost as if he’d expected to read the truth I’ve buried.
Brooks leans back in his chair, the golden lights flickering over his dark-brown skin as the same calculating eyes that Pierce so often scans me with fall on me. I can’t tell if he’s surprised or disappointed, but I’m too panicked to care.
Jullian smiles softly at me, then Kal, returning to his dessert. Lucas strikes up a conversation with Brooks as if he’s used to ignoring Baydel when he’s on a tangent.
How in the goddess-damned sky does his research into my past say that?
Ivy?
She’s a master forger, but would she risk the repercussions of getting caught tampering with official royal documents?
She would.
In my heart, I know she absolutely would. We’re sisters not by blood but by soul; Layce, too. My chosen family. Erin used to round out our group, but that was before…
“When was the last time you saw your sister?” Kal asks.
“Over a year ago,” I admit.
“So, your potential didn’t even tell you she had a sister?” Baydel snatches up the opportunity. “Interesting. What else are you keeping from him?”
I weave a mask of innocence over my face. Baydel has been testing me from the second Jax chose me. I don’t know if he’s doing it because he wants the strongest mate possible for the Legends, or if he’s doing it in the hopes he’ll terrify me to the point of rejecting the Legends, leaving him in his ultimate position of power.
My money is on the latter.
I turn to Kal, sincere apology in my eyes as I lay my right hand over his, the ruby flickering under the golden lights. “I wanted to,” I admit, and it’s the truth. There were so many times when we were swapping stories that I wanted to tell him about Erin, but… “It’s hard for me to talk about her,” I continue. “Missing her is something I’ve had to live with and accept every day for a year. And after what happened to my parents, I have no hopes that she’ll ever return.” Tears catch up with my words, pooling in the corners of my eyes.
If Baydel is telling the truth and she’s really on a Never List mission…then I won’t see her again. I knew it was a possibility, but the reality of the situation punches me right in the chest.
“I understand,” Kal says, squeezing my hand in his.
Of course he understands. What part of me hasn’t Kal understood this entire time?
Jullian looks between us, his eyes settling on me in a curious way. There is something in that look, something I can’t quite—
“Thank you all for dinner,” Kal says, sliding back from his chair. His dessert is half eaten, but he keeps my hand in his, urging me to rise as well. I do, more than ready to get out of here.
“You can’t rush off yet,” Baydel says, pushing away from the table.
Kal pauses our retreat.
“I wanted to get your potential’s take on something,” Baydel continues, snapping his fingers as he rounds the table.
Kal shifts in front of me so subtly, it’s hard to notice.
