Page 61 of Calling of the Crown

“Hell, I think everyone here is confused,” Ardley replied as his eyes traced me from head to toe. “We all thought you were dead.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

THE ROOM SEEMED TO SPIN, and I had to grip Dallas’s arms to keep from toppling over. “Excuse me?”

“You disappeared, Bria,” Khalani whispered. She’d been frozen next to Ardley, watching me with fingers covering her agape mouth. “You—You—”

“You turned into water,” Jesiah said. His brow creased as he studied me in the way one might examine an illusion. “Right before our eyes. One minute you were there, and the next, your entire body morphed into water and disappeared.”

“You’ve been gone for three fucking days,” Dallas whimpered as she shook me slightly. Her voice cracked as she repeated, “Three days.”

The sound of static started to play in my ears, and I shook my head. “No. No, there’s no way. I was only gone for two hours, three at the most.”

It wasn’t possible. I—I hadn’t been gone that long. At least, it didn’t feel that way. But maybe I’d been drifting with the water a lot longer than what felt like mere seconds. The idea was hard to swallow, and as I repeated her words in my head—three fucking days—a new realization hit me hard.

They’d all thought I was dead.

Me.

Dead.

And Rune was missing.

Ice pricked my veins, and my mouth dried. “Where’s Rune?” A new tension permeated the air, and I was met with uneasy silence. This only spurred the lead in my gut to sink faster, and I snapped, “Where is Rune?”

Akira came over to me with his arms wrapped tightly around his small frame. Worry chipped away at his usual bright spirit, and his lips quivered. “When you didn’t come back, Rune lost it. He stayed down in the training room where you’d disappeared, but when you still hadn’t come back after a day, he … he broke. He went on a rampage, and to keep everyone—including him—safe, I flew him to a lone island in the Morardian Sea.”

“We were waiting to deal with him until we figured out what happened to you,” Angus added. “Since none of us knew where you were, what exactly happened, or if you were alive, we’ve been in a slight state of panic.”

Having a panic of my own, I started to turn. “I have to go get Rune. He needs to know I’m okay.”

“Bria, wait,” Ardley called. He grabbed my shoulder and forced me to face him. The typical easygoing glimmer in his eyes had been traded for a seriousness that looked scary on him. His voice dropped. “I don’t think you should go to him right now.”

A burning fury engulfed my veins, and I glared at Ardley. “Why not? You know how torn up he must be right now.”

“Exactly,” Ardley hissed. “I know what he’s like right now, thinking you’re dead. That’s not Rune right now, Bria. What you’ll find won’t be him. I don’t even think seeing you could bring him back from where he is right now.”

I swallowed hard. A thousand emotions darted inside of me, the next more powerful than the last. Impatience. Uncertainty. Alarm.

Rune had experienced his fair share of grief, the most painful being the death of his dad, Balgair. Recovering from that sorrow had taken him years, and it had left Rune so scarred that he’d closed off his heart from anyone who tried to get too close. He’d turned into a bitter and hateful man, and it was only with great effort during our early relationship that I’d managed to get him to open himself up. That’s when he admitted he’d been afraid to give into his feelings, because when he lost people he cared about most, he became a monster—and he didn’t want to be a monster again.

Ardley’s warning was a reminder of Rune’s confession, but I knew that regardless of what kind of terror I’d find, I had to get to Rune. He needed to see I was okay so that he could come back from whatever dark place his mind had gone to.

I pulled away from Ardley. “Thanks. But I’m still going.” I faced the rest of the room and promised, “I’ll explain what happened when I get back.” Looking at Dallas and her dull green eyes, I whispered, “You look exhausted. Go rest while I’m gone. We’ll talk when I come back, okay?”

She shook her head and wiped her eyes. “No. I have to go with you. I have to make sure you’re safe. If—”

“Dallas,” I snapped, squeezing her hands. “Rest. That’s an order. I’ll take Akira with me. Okay?” Before I let her respond, I looked over her shoulder at Rance. “Make sure she sleeps while I’m gone.”

He placed a hand on Dallas’s shoulder. “I will.”

Turning to Akira, I asked, “Will you come with me?”

He nodded. “Of course.”

The two of us left the room with different people calling for us to stay. I ignored their pleas, and Akira seemed just as determined as he walked next to me with his head held high.

“How bad is he?” I asked nervously.

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