Page 128 of Incoronate
The relief of that hit me before anything else did, the simple, almost embarrassing gratitude that at least these walls were still intact, that the ceiling was where it was supposed to be, and that I hadn’t landed in another gutted skeleton of a house. I knew every corner of this room. I’d paced the mantle more times than I could count. I’d drunk endless drinks at thebar. I’d sat on that sofa and bled on that sofa and cried on that sofa and laughed on it too…something that felt so far away from me now that it might as well have been a dream.
And then the sheets registered.
White linen draped over every piece of furniture, the sofa and armchairs reduced to pale, shrouded outlines that turned the room into something that belonged to no one, as though the entire house had purposely been put to sleep. The curtains were drawn and the fireplace was dark. Even the air was stale and cold, the kind of cold that seeped into a space when no one had been in it for a long time. The whole room appeared to have just sat there, silent and waiting and thoroughly unconvinced that anyone was ever coming back here.
Dominic stepped away from us first, moving through the room without a word. He pulled the sheet from the side table in one clean motion, then the one draped over the sofa, dropping them both to the floor before reaching for the table lamp and clicking it on. A low amber glow filled the room, washing over the uncovered surfaces, and somehow that only made it worse
Glancing back at me once, he crossed to the window and pushed the curtains back to crack the window open. Cool evening air drifted in, carrying the smell of wet leaves and something earthy and seasonal that had no business being there. Because it smelled like autumn. And the last time I’d stood in this room, it was winter.
“This is bad,” I said, and I meant it more broadly than just the room. I tore my gaze away from the dust on the mantle and looked between them. “I need a phone. I need to call Tessa and make sure they’re okay.”
“I may have a spare burner in the study,” said Dominic, already walking out of the room.
His footsteps faded down the hall and left me standing there in the amber glow with Trace, the house quiet around us in a way that made the back of my neck prickle.
I could feel his apprehension humming through the bond before he even opened his mouth.
“I’m sure they’re fine, Jem,” he said, his hand lifting as though he wanted to touch me, to comfort me, but then decided against it, like he wasn’t sure how it was going to be received.
“Are you?” I looked at him sideways. “I can feel you, Trace. You’re just as worried as I am.”
He didn’t admit he was but also didn’t deny that I was right. He just pressed his lips together and looked away for a second, which was answer enough for me.
I turned and leaned back against the bar counter, needing something solid against my back. I couldn’t make myself go any further into the house. I didn’t want to check the other rooms. I didn’t want to look around and find more evidence of all the time that had passed without us.
“What if they had to run?” I said, more to myself than to him. “What if the Order came for them after we disappeared and they had to move? They could be anywhere right now.”
“They could be,” said Trace, his blue eyes pinned on me.
“Gabriel would have gotten them out,” I said. “He’s smart. He would have had a plan.”
Trace nodded slowly. “He always does.”
I wanted to believe it. I did believe it. I just needed to hear Tessa’s voice on the other end of a phone to stop the low, persistent hum of dread that had taken up residence somewhere behind my ribs the moment we landed in those ashes.
“How long do you think we’ve been gone?” I asked, barely able to get the question out without gagging on it.
He looked at me, and those dimples appeared, the reluctant ones that showed up when he was working his way toward something he knew I wasn’t going to like. He wet his bottom lip. “I don’t know, but I think it’s a lot longer than we think,” he said gently, as though trying to prepare me.
I swallowed roughly at his words, but neither one of us said anything after that.
Dominic’s footsteps came back down the hall before the silence could get too heavy. He strode back into the room with a small phone in his hand, already working through the setup as he walked. He crossed to me without slowing and held it out, the screen open and a number already keyed in and waiting.
I took it and hit the call button before bringing the phone to my ear.
The line rang once before an automated voice came through the speaker, flat and unhurried and completely indifferent to what it was telling me. To the fact that it was dismantling my entire world with sixteen simple words.
The number you have dialed is not in service. Please check the number and try again.
Ice scraped against my back as I slowly lowered the phone from my ear.
“What is it?” asked Trace, his gaze bouncing from the phone to my eyes and then back again. “What happened?”
My mouth opened and then closed as I failed to produce any words.
He grimaced and then grabbed the phone from my hand, bringing up to his ear and then listening for a short beat. Lowering it, he clicked ‘end call’ and then looked up at Dominic. “The line’s been disconnected.”
Something shifted in Dominic’s expression, a flicker of understanding settling behind his eyes before his face wentstill again. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to. Or maybe he didn’t want to.
