Page 148 of Incoronate
It had been weeks, maybe months, since I’d last been in his office. Everything looked exactly as I remembered it and yet nothing like it at the same time. It was the same furniture, the same layout, the same smell of old books and wood polish, but the air in the room carried an emptiness to it that hadn’t been there before. An absence so total it felt like it had texture. The cold of a space that had held someone for decades and now held only the memory of them.
Trace released my hand and moved immediately to the study door, pressing his ear against the wood and listening as Dominic let go of my other hand and grimaced, rolling his jaw like he’d just bitten into something rotten.
“That,” he said, his entire expression broadcasting exactly what he thought of the experience of being flung through the void, “was deeply unpleasant.”
“Coast is clear,” said Trace, pulling back from the door. He looked at me. “You good?”
“Yeah, I’m good,” I said, grazing my fingers absentmindedly over the back of my neck. The talisman pulsed faintly beneath my skin, and I suppressed the shudder that followed it. It was definitely going to take some getting used to. “Does everyone know where they need to be?”
“My Alt’s still downstairs with Ben,” answered Trace and then ticked his chin over at Dominic. “Yours should be dropping off Isa at home.”
“I’m aware of where I was,” replied Dominic dryly, already moving toward the window and pulling the curtain back a half inch to look out at the driveway below. “I should be arriving back any minute now.”
“Perfect. You should probably get downstairs before you do,” I said, rubbing my nervous palms against my hips. “You can go ahead and make contact as soon as you have the chance, but whatever you do, don’t engage my Alt. At least not until she leaves the kitchen. I need everything to go exactly as it’s supposed to before I corner her in my room.”
Trace frowned. “You want to let it play out?”
He was referring to Alford’s ambush, no doubt.
“It has to,” I said, nodding into it. “We need them to believe they have us exactly where they want us for as long as possible. As far as the Order is concerned, their plan is still moving forward without a hitch. Once that’s done, I’ll make contact with my Alt and complete the transfer as soon as she comes upstairs,” I explained, doing my best to keep my voice level and then looked at Dominic. “Which means you need to be back before then.”
“There’s still plenty of time,” he said, letting the curtain fall.
“And after the transfers?” asked Trace, his baritone dropping lower than usual. “What’s the actual plan?”
I tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear as I turned back to him. “We’ll take the next step when we get there.”
He didn’t blink. “That’s it? That’s the whole plan?”
“For now, yeah.”
He crossed his arms as stormy blue eyes locked with mine. “We’re going after the Order. This isn’t something we should be playing by ear.”
“We aren’t. I promise, I’m not being lax about it,” I said, inclining my head as he stepped closer to me. “I’m being intentional.”
His brows furrowed. “So, you’re purposely going in blind without a plan?” he asked, skeptically.
“It’s the only way to make sure they don’t see us coming,” I said, looking between the two. “Every time we locked something in, every time we had a plan, the Order’s been ready for it. Because they can see us coming the second we make the decision. We’ve played right into their hands every single time.” The anger that rose in my chest at that was clean and clarifying, nothing frantic about it. “So we’re not going to give them a chance to do that this time. At least not right away.”
Dominic tilted his head, his dark eyes glinting as he looked at me, the corner of his mouth twitching just enough to tell me the plan had his full attention.
“This time, we stay unpredictable,” I continued, standing a little straighter. “We don’t give them anything fixed to read. We move when we need to move and we decidehowwhen we get there. They won’t see us coming because there isn’t anything to see yet.”
Trace held out for another second before the tension across his shoulders eased. “You’re going to give me gray hairs, but I think this might work.”
I smiled up at him. “Lucky for you, you don’t age.”
“It’ll work,” agreed Dominic as he pushed off the wall. “A fixed plan is a readable plan. This way the advantage stays ours.” He caught my gaze as he moved toward the door, something dark in his expression that was equal parts approval and anticipation. “I’ll be back before the transfer.”
“Don’t be late.”
He pulled the door open a crack and glanced back at me. “I wouldn’t dream of it, angel,” he said and then slipped out into the corridor without a sound.
Trace lingered with me in the study, seeing as our Alt’s were still preoccupied downstairs in the kitchen.
He looked at me for a long moment, something working behind his eyes that he didn’t bother dressing up.
“For what it’s worth,” he said finally, the smile reaching all the way up to his brilliant blue eyes, “I think you’re the bravest person I’ve ever met. And I’ve met a lot of people in my life.”
