Page 20 of The Court of Truth

Love.

A father, a mother, a daughter, a sister.

A family.

Broken. Truly broken. And I don’t think I’ll ever understand why.

13

RAIDEN

Ifeel like death. I feel like I haven’t slept in weeks, but the desire to find Adrianna is more pressing.

We’re no closer to figuring out a way to put ourselves one step ahead of Clementine before the situation gets out of hand, not without spooking her and triggering carnage beyond her murder of Bozelli and a couple guards. It’s exhausting. This entire situation is exhausting, but what causes the most pain is the distance that wedges itself between Adrianna and me. Well, all of us really, but we’re all grown-ass men, my priority is getting time with my little Troublemaker. The rest of them can figure it out themselves.

I left Beau in the office almost twenty minutes ago and I’ve been stumbling through the halls in a state of blind delirium ever since. I have yet to find where she’s tucked herself away, but I know she’s here somewhere, Arlo confirmed it, and there’s no way she would have sneaked out. I don’t think.

Scrubbing a hand down my face, I fight back a yawn as the sound of a door closing in the distance rings out. Rushing toward the sound, I fall short, heaving a sigh when I see it’s Nora and August returning from the dragon kingdom. Their general love for one another dances in the air around them at all times. It’s sickeningly sweet. Intoxicatingly wondrous. I hate it. I hate that those words are always associated with a romantical kind of love, but not with them. It’s in their bones, the core of their family.

Love.

“Have you seen Adrianna?” I blurt, opting to look at August instead of Nora. You would think anyone would prefer to look elsewhere than at the man who used to reign over this kingdom, but he’s a safer bet than Adrianna’s younger sister. She lives to break me, and not in the way that I like.

“What’s the matter, Fangs? Have you lost her?” she muses, and I cut a withering gaze in her direction. The amusement dissipates as she stares at me. “Raiden?”

Oh, so she does know my name?

“Don’t worry,” I grunt, turning away from them, but before I can take a single step, August speaks.

“Raiden, what’s going on?”

I sigh, slowly pivoting around to face him again. “I’ve been in a meeting with Beau since we got back,” I explain, scrubbing at the back of my neck nervously, which feels way too out of character for me, but I’m starting to feel a little nervous and there’s no denying it. “We called it quits a little while ago and I’ve been searching all of these damn halls for her ever since.”

“And she’s here?” he asks, slowly making his way toward me with Nora hot on his tail.

“Arlo says so. I’ve connected with our bond and I can feel her close, but I’ve opened every door, taken every corridor, but I keep coming up empty.”

“Do you think something is wrong?” Nora asks, her voice bleak in comparison to her usual chipperness when Adrianna is around.

I purse my lips. “I don’t think so. I don’t feel any panic or concern, but this is also Adrianna we’re talking about. She’s not the queen of the Floodborn Kingdom because she relies well on others,” I grumble, earning a half smile from her father.

“That’s accurate. A little insulting, but totally accurate,” he states, walking by me, and I feel compelled to follow him.

“Have you checked outside?” Nora asks, sidling up beside me, and I glare down at her.

“I haven’t, but that’s because the soldiers patrolling the perimeter confirmed they haven’t seen her.”

She nods, worrying her bottom lip as we follow her father into the kitchen. He stops in the middle of the room, tapping at his chin as he thinks.

“She wouldn’t have run off anywhere, none of us are in danger. That’s the only reason she would do anything reckless. If she was napping, she would be in her room and I’m going to assume you checked there, and if she was eating, she would be here,” he rattles off, spinning on the spot until he comes to a complete stop.

Five measured steps. Four clenches of his knuckles. Three short, sharp breaths. Two knees cracking as he crouches down. One curse word tumbling from his lips.

“Fuck.”

“Dad, did you just curse?” Nora says with a teasing gasp as her father droops his head. A moment passes and the short glimmer of amusement quickly fizzles out to nothing as she rushes toward her father. “Dad?”

He doesn’t say anything. He simply presses his palm flat against the panel of wood in front of him. It’s so quiet, you could hear a pin drop from the other end of the castle, so when the click of a lock echoes around the room it’s almost deafening.

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