We want to know that we can trust you.

  The words mock me because if I would have known the words that would closely follow them, there’s no way I wouldn’t have been out of that bed sooner, running away.

  Plans change.

  Elyjah’s fist clenches as he steps in close enough for me to feel his body heat as I’m sandwiched between him and Walker.

  His cold eyes meet mine and in them, I don’t see a bit of humanity. They’re the eyes of a Fawcett.

  My enemy, my undoing, my end.

  “We need to talk, Roxanna.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  That’s not my name.

  I want to spit the words out since apparently we’re all making shocking revelations tonight, but my lips remain closed.

  I trust these men even less after the bomb they’ve just dropped on me and there’s no way I’m about to reveal my cards to them.

  They don’t deserve my truth.

  “The area isn’t secure enough for this conversation,” Walker says to Elyjah. His mouth is so close to my face that I feel his warm breath blow across it.

  Elyjah’s eyes trail over me, remaining blank. He gives a jerky nod. “You’re right, we should return to the castle, we’ll have more privacy in the study.” He turns on his heel, walking back in the direction of the castle.

  I don’t ask what the fuck the study is or what the men plan on doing to me when we get there.

  They said they were going to talk; you have no reason not to believe them.

  The men are still my enemies, but if they actually wanted to hurt me, it’d be done already. They’d have left me to die by Delia’s hand, but instead they rescued me…

  Still, I keep my wits about me as Walker releases me. I’m not left without his restraint for too long though as he grabs my wrist in a steel grip. “Walk and don’t bullshit around or you’ll regret it.” His words are sharp.

  I turn my head slightly to glare at the big man. His stare remains steady and hard. “Those are bold words considering that we both know I can kick your ass.”

  A humorless smile tilts his lips up. “When you’re capable, you put up a hell of a fight, but you’re currently an injured, exhausted mess. I’d have you under my boot within seconds.” With that he begins to follow Elyjah, yanking me merciless behind him.

  The twins fall in place at the rear and they mutter among themselves softly.

  I remain silent as we trek through the trees. They’re thick and tall, ominous as they hover over us. Something about the twist of the trees seems so eerie tonight as we move past them.

  Twisted and dark, like my life.

  Instead of going back over the wall to get inside the kingdom, the men guide me to the entrance. The guards don’t bat an eye, letting them through. No one spares me, my tattered gown, and battered body a second glance.

  They’ve been trained not to question members of the monarchy. It doesn’t matter that the crown prince and his friends are dragging a stolen woman behind them. They’re royalty so they can do whatever they won’t.

  If they change their mind and decide that they want to kill me, they could do so here, in the middle of these guards. No one would utter a word, other than to offer to move the body.

  I hold my head high, refusing to let my sinister thoughts make my pride waver.

  There isn’t much movement amongst the grounds, but I don’t miss that the men are trying to keep a low profile. They look before they turn corners, listen for any sounds, and pause when they catch movement.

  If I really wanted to spoil things and piss them off, all I’d have to do is scream and bring attention to our group.

  But I’m not an idiot. If we were caught, nothing would actually happen to the men, though there’d definitely be some questions and accusations thrown at me.

  Wandering around the grounds at night in a red gown with four royals. Yeah, it wouldn’t go over well.

  I’d be labeled a slut and accused of seducing the royals for favors in The Calling.

  Just as we’re about to round the corner to the entrance of the castle, voices break through the air.

  “Yes, and what of my son and his friends? Where are they?” Queen Pamula.

  Walker’s grip on my arm tightens as Elyjah pulls to a stop. He turns his head slightly as the voices grow closer. “Shit.” His eyes snap over my head to the twins before he moves forward quickly.

  Confusion takes over as Elyjah grabs my free wrist and nods. “Orrael.”

  “Got it,” are the last words I hear before a hand grabs my neck gently and I’m falling. My eyes close under their own accord as a strange feeling takes over my gut.

  This seems familiar.

  It’s only when I become aware of voices speaking again that I open my eyes and have to hold in a gasp.

  We’re no longer outside the castle, no instead, we’re in a room. One I’ve visited only once before with Orrael.

  That’s why the feeling felt familiar. The last time you were here, you felt like you were falling moments before you ended up in the room.

  I shake my head as a throbbing starts behind my temple.

  Magic is dead.

  If I needed more evidence to the fact that the statement is a lie, then here it is in my fucking face. Because once can be written off as me temporarily losing my mind, but two times can’t. Traveling within the blink of an eye without using a portal.

  Magic is very much alive.

  And the men in this room know something about it.

  My head starts to spin for a moment, and I find myself blindly reaching out to grab onto a table to stay on my feet.

  Finally, my vision comes back to me and I find myself looking at the four tables I saw in here last time with a new view. Four tables for four men I seem to know absolutely nothing about.

  Two tables with books crowding them.

  Orrtyn and Orrael.

  One table almost completely bare, empty, less than the others.

  Walker.

  The last table has a couple of books, but it’s mostly covered in paint with canvases lining it.

  Elyjah.

  I’ve never seen the prince actually do anything other than act like the royalty he was born to be. By process of elimination the paint table has to belong to him, though. Walker only seems to be interested in things that destroy, not create. The twins are scholars and I saw Orrael sit at the table with the most books on it the last time I was here.

  More books line the wall of the room in various sizes and colors. Like last time, I don’t see a door.

  That falling feeling, it’s the same as portals.

  Teleporting.

  “I’m such a fucking idiot,” I mutter. I fall into one of the chairs and it gives a soft creak under the force of my weight. Walker’s hold is no longer on me and I guess that’s because there’s nowhere for me to actually go, no clear exit.

  I’m trapped.

  “I should have known the last time I was here,” I say to no one in particular.

  The last time I was here, I had the same falling feeling before I was suddenly in the room. I recall the moment. I couldn’t figure out what happened, why I’d suddenly switched rooms. I’d asked Orrael where we were.

  That’s not important.

  When I left, Orrael made me close my eyes, but again, the falling feeling happened. I didn’t hear the opening of a door or the sliding of one.

  I should have pushed the man for more information then, but I’d been too disoriented. I’d let it go even though I should have pushed him for answers.

  What the fuck did you think was happening?

  “When was the last time you were here?” Orrtyn asks with his brows pressed together.

  My eyes flit to Orrael. He didn’t tell him?

  Orrtyn’s eyes follow my gaze to his twin, who is now sitting at his table. His head is tilted down and he avoids both of our gazes.

  “Orrael brought her here once to keep the guards from catching her snooping.” Surprisingly, the words come from Elyjah. The man’s shoulders are relaxed as he lounges in a chair, but his eyes are cool.

  So Orrael told the prince but not his twin?

  Which confuses me even more about the dynamics of this little group. They all hold a close bond with each other, but they seem to also have complex relationships in pairs. I can’t say that any pair is particularly closer… just different.

  How much of their interactions have you even watched to know this?

  “And why didn’t we know about this?” Walker asks, breaking my thoughts. His pale arms are folded over his chest as he leans against one of the walls of books. His foot is propped up behind him but from the tension in his body, I know he’s ready to charge into action at any given moment.

  Elyjah’s gaze meets his and there seems to be something heavy in it. “Because you and Orrtyn were off doing…” His lips purse slightly, and he glances at me before turning back to his friend. “Whatever it is you two do when you disappear.”

  The words hang heavy in the air.

  I know exactly what Elyjah is implying. I’m surprised that he isn’t aware that I know about Orrtyn and Walker’s relationship, at least to some degree. It looks like Elyjah and Orrael aren’t the only ones keeping secrets.

  Walker’s lips press together tightly as he peers at Elyjah.

  The memory of the exact same lips on mine seconds before Orrtyn came into the room pops into my head and I feel my cheeks heat. It’d only been hours before that I’d learned of how close the two men are.

  No, you don’t have time to think about that right now. You need to focus on the fact that these men have enough secrets to supply a small country.

  “The last time I was here,” I say, bringing everyone’s attention back to me. I look at Orrael. “You didn’t use doors. I don’t know how I was distracted enough not to realize, not to put the pieces together. You can teleport.”

  No one in the room denies it and that’s enough confirmation for me.

  I pinch the bridge of my nose as my thoughts start to spin out of control. There’s so much here that isn’t making any sense. “Magic is supposed to be dead. Can you explain to me why the fuck it isn’t?”

  People said The Calling wasn’t supposed to have as much magic as the previous ones because of the lack of it. Only a select few Caelestin, those with pure blood and descendants of those who help a lot of siel magic, supposedly still hold magic. And that magic is supposedly weak. Yet the obstacles I went through were most definitely full of magic and no one questioned it. I barely questioned it myself, figuring the royals had their ways, before pushing the thought aside.

  But then there’s Pamula who controlled my body as if it was hers the one time she summoned me. Her power was strong, and she’d been smug about it as she wielded it against me.

  Magic is sitting in the face of all of Caelumine, on a throne, and no one even realizes it.

  My gaze shoots between the four men who all look at me blankly.

  “Fuck, can someone answer me?” I hate that my thoughts are running wild and no one seems inclined to give me answers.

  “It’s complicated,” is the response I get from Elyjah. It’s a good thing I don’t have Gwev or I’d try to take the prince’s head off in this moment.

  “I don’t care if it’s complicated, I want an answer.” I stand up, my fists clenched.

  Walker moves off of the wall, his eyes dark as he watches me. His body is pulled tight and it looks like he’s going to explode at any moment. “Don’t act so surprised, you have magic too.” His words are sharp and the instant he says it I know why. “You did burn my hand after all.”

  Heads snap in our direction as I grit my teeth.

  I did burn Walker, but it was completely by accident and he’d told me he would keep it a secret until he changed his mind. It should have been another thing to tip me off about the magic, but Conrad and I had written it off to it being a fluke. Magic didn’t just disappear, it’d faded with each new generation and my parents didn’t have much of it. It hadn’t even been enough to be considered a power. Yet, Conrad has said it wouldn’t have been a surprise if I had just a flicker of the stuff and it’d been woken up by being back in Caelumine.

  But it’s not real magic.

  Or is it?

  The possibility of it being anything more than something small never crossed my mind until this moment.

  “I accidentally burned you,” I say slowly. I don’t need to defend myself but don’t like the accusing look Walker is leveling me with. “I didn’t mean to do it and I’ve only had small instances of magic. Nothing like being able to teleport on demand. Or the other shit I’m sure the rest of you are able to do.” Because I’m sure if I sat down and thought about everything that’s happened while I’ve been with these guys, I can most definitely find signs of magic.

  “We’re just going to completely ignore the fact that you also were keeping secrets for a moment,” Elyjah says to Walker.

  “He told me about it, so it’s no different than you and Orrael,” Orrtyn pipes up. His voice is more pompous than I’ve ever heard as he stares at his twin and the prince.

  “Like I said, we’ll come back to it later,” Elyjah grits out. He pushes a hand through his dark hair. He turns his gaze to me, his grey eyes boring through me as he stands and takes a step forward. “First, we need to talk to you about what you learned tonight.”

  “What part?” I ask dryly, not able to help the attitude. There’s too much going on right now for me to be anything less than bitchy. “The rebels? The magic? Really, pick, and let me know what we’re going to talk about.”

  Elyjah’s jaw clenches and he turns slightly to look at Orrael. The man in question sits up in his seat and turns his blue eyes to me. “The rebel part preferably.”

  “What part of it?” I ask him since he seems to be the designated mouthpiece at the moment.

  “We want you to forget we mentioned it. It was obviously a mistake.”

  I snort out a laugh. “You want me to forget that four royals-”

  “Three,” Walker dips in.

  “Tried to recruit me to join a group of failing rebels?” I finish with a laugh.

  Orrael lets out a tired sigh, his blue eyes pleading as they meet mine. His lips pull down into a frown. “We’d like for you to at least not bring it up or tell anyone about it.”

  I think it over, but I already know my answer. “Fine, I won’t say anything, but… you need to explain what kind of connection you have to the rebels to me and I want to know about magic.”

  I want to know who still has it and how?

  Orrael looks at Elyjah who exchanges a glance with Walker. There’s no clear leader of this group, despite Elyjah being the crown prince, and it’s never been more clear in this moment as they look at each other and have a silent conversation on how to handle this.

  It’s finally Walker who steps forward. The man still looks as if he wants to fight me and I remain aware of that as he gets closer to me. “We’ll give you our connection to the rebels but that’s it. We can’t trust you with the magic stuff.”

  “Yet,” Orrtyn adds on, his eyes meeting mine briefly before moving away.

  “Fine.” A part of me wants to argue but at this point I’ll have to take whatever I can get.

  Elyjah moves closer to me and props up on the table, hovering over me. His grey eyes are hard as he stares down at me, but it isn’t as near as intimidating as he believes. “What we say in this room doesn’t leave it.”

  I roll my eyes. “I understand.”

  “We’ll need a secret in exchange for ours,” he declares. His green eyes watch me closely. “To keep things even.”

  My heart pounds a little quicker in my chest.

  A secret?

  I have plenty of them, none I’m willing to share.

  But when I look between the faces in the room, I know this isn’t up for discussion. If I want information on the rebels, something that will likely come in handy in the future, then I need to tell them something.

  “And how will you know if I lie?” I ask, folding my arms over my chest.

  He glances at Orrael who moves over to stand beside him. “Orrael is good at reading people and distinguishing lies.”

  A power?

  Maybe, considering he’s the one who was able to pick through the lie of my identity.

  “Sure, but that doesn’t mean you won’t lie.” I’m plucking at straws now, grasping for something. I need a reason not to have to give them a truth of mine.

  Elyjah shakes his head, a dry laugh leaving his lips. “I have honor if nothing else, the words to leave my lips will not be a lie. I can promise you that.”

  I want to tell him that his promise doesn’t mean shit to me but choose not to. I purse my lips, trying to decide on what information will be the least damaging to my plans to give away.

  Finally, I settle on, “I didn’t enter The Calling with honorable intentions.”

  “What?” Walker asks, bursting forward and moving in between Elyjah and Orrael. My body tenses at how close he comes to me. “That’s bullshit, we already knew that since you’ve done nothing but make it clear that you don’t really want to be here or protect Elyjah. Tell us something else or the deal is off.” His pale skin is flushed slightly, and his fists are still clenched.

  He’s probably still pissed that you messed up Ragna’s wing.

  I grit my teeth for a moment, my eyes moving to Orrtyn who gives me an encouraging smile but keeps his distance, not moving from his spot across the room. Maybe he’s still upset you punched him. “Fine. The times that you’ve caught me coming back from over the wall, I was meeting with an associate.”

  Which they could have probably guessed, but it’s still something.

  Elyjah’s eyes narrow slightly. “An associate?” The word seems to roll off his tongue with disgust. “One who means harm to the crown?”

  Yes.

  “I gave you what you wanted; I won’t give you anymore. Now tell me your connection to the rebels.” I stand up, not liking the feeling that the guys are above me in any way. I stand my ground and meet their gazes, waiting for an explanation.