Page 71 of A Dagger of Twisted Starlight

“Enough.” Damien’s tone was pointed. He looked between my brother and me. His glare always dumped ice-cold water on whatever argument Maddox and I were having. “It’s Xavier’s choice whether he stays or doesn’t.”

“And I’m not staying.”

“Then it’s decided,” Damien said. “Now, let’s keep figuring out our plan of action. We have to make sure there isn’t any room for error on this.”

As the plan continued to take shape, the room buzzed with a mix of anticipation and apprehension. We discussed the finer details—how to coordinate our attacks, what to do if something went wrong, how to communicate between the teams. Every possible scenario was considered, every potential threat addressed.

But through it all, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing, some crucial piece of information that we hadn’t yet uncovered. And Claire’s discovery about the dragons being experimented on only made me more nervous. I looked over at Cassius, who had remained silent throughout the entire discussion. He sat off to the side, his eyes distant, as if he was lost in his own thoughts. The haunted look on his face hadn’t left him since we found that photo of his dad and the rest of the truth began to unravel.

“Cassius,” I said, drawing his attention. “You’ve been quiet. Do you have any thoughts on this?”

He looked up, his gaze unfocused for a moment before he seemed to snap back to reality. “I… I’m not sure. This plan… it’s good, but… there’s something that’s been bothering me.”

Everyone turned to look at him, the room falling silent as we waited for him to continue.

“What if… what if we’re walking into a trap? My dad… he’s been involved in this somehow, but I don’t know to what extent. He might know we’re coming.”

A heavy silence fell over the room as we absorbed his words. The possibility of a trap had crossed all our minds, but hearing it from Cassius made it all the more real.

“We have to be ready for anything,” Claire said finally, her voice firm. “If it’s a trap, we’ll deal with it. But we can’t afford to back down now. We’re too close.”

I nodded. “She’s right. We go in prepared for the worst, but we go in. We can’t let them keep that dagger.”

Blake reached out and took my hand, his touch grounding me in the moment. “We’ve got this.”

I squeezed his hand, grateful for his presence. “Together,” I said.

The discussion continued, with everyone contributing their ideas and strategies. Despite the risks, there was a shared understanding that this was our best shot—our only shot—at stopping the Time Turners and retrieving the dagger. We couldn’t afford to fail.

As we wrapped up the final details of the plan, I glanced over at Blake, who was deep in conversation with Warrick. Seeing the two of them together, the bond they shared as friends, filled me with a renewed sense of purpose. We were a family, and we would fight for each other until the very end.

With the plan set and the roles assigned, we began to disperse, each of us retreating to our own thoughts as we prepared for what was to come. But as Blake and I made our way out of the living room, I noticed Cassius still sitting there, his expression troubled.

Blake must have noticed, too, because he turned to me and said softly, “I’m going to go talk to him.”

“I’ll be in our room if you need me.”

Blake gave me a reassuring smile and a soft kiss before heading over to Cassius. As I watched them start to talk, I felt a mixture of pride and concern. Blake had become an integral part of our team, and I had to trust that together, we could face whatever was coming next.

As I walked down the hallway back to our room, my thoughts were filled with the plan we had just solidified. The risks were high, but the stakes were even higher. We had to succeed, no matter what. But even as I tried to focus on the mission, my mind kept drifting back to Blake. The fear of losing him, of something going wrong, was always there, lurking in the back of my mind.

Had I made the right choice in bringing him? Should I have fought harder for him to stay?

As I entered our room and closed the door behind me, I took a deep breath, trying to center myself.

For now, I could only hope that our strength, our unity, would be enough to see us through the brewing storm creeping over the horizon.

Chapter 29

People Change

Blake

The living room had emptied,all except for Cassius, who sat on the couch with a purring Bambi on his lap. “Hey, Cass.”

My best friend looked at me with the saddest eyes I’d ever seen. His normally bright green gaze looked clouded over with a dense fog. He had been walking through the house like a ghost with an iron ball chained to his ankle, and I didn’t blame him. I had tried to talk to him on a few different occasions, but he never felt as though it were the right time, and I respected that. I gave him space while trying to do things in the background that made life a little easier for him. I made sandwiches for him and had done a load of his laundry without him asking. But things were getting to a head, and it was time we confronted the issue at hand.

“This is so fucked,” he said, dropping his head into his hands. Bambi looked up with a little “coo,” her long teeth rubbing against the leather couch.

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