Page 21 of The Court of Truth

“What’s that?” Nora asks, planting her hand on her father’s shoulder as I gape at the hole in the wall.

“Adrianna opened that… thing when we came here on a field trip,” I offer, my eyebrows bunching together when his gaze whips to mine.

“Did she go down there?”

I shake my head and he seems to sag with relief. “But that was then. What are the chances of her going down there now?” I ask, and pained eyes find mine once again.

“I can feel her magic in the walls.”

He doesn’t have to say anything else before I’m marching toward them. Darkness greets me as I swing the door open, but I don’t care. I blindly take the steps two at a time. I’m only aware of the company that follows me because of the soft glow that seems to flow with them.

I stumble to a halt at the bottom, gaping at the open door and what lies inside. Orwholies inside, more specifically.

Adrianna.

She’s slumped in the corner of the room inside some kind of play pen with a toy horse resting in her lap. Her cheeks are damp, tears trailing down her soft skin as her eyelids remain closed.

“Adrianna,” I rasp, emotion clogging my throat as I scurry toward her, clearing the fence that separates us before I ghost my thumb over her cheek.

I can see she’s breathing, I can hear her heartbeat.

“Is she sleeping?” Nora asks, curling her hands around the top of the iron bars that stand between us, and I shake my head.

“I don’t know.”

A beat passes, then I hear the annoying Reagan sister gulp. “What is this place?”

As if sensing the question, Adrianna gasps, eyes wide as she blinks up at me, and my heart pounds frantically in my chest. “Adrianna.” Her name tumbles from my lips again, but all she offers me is another blink before she latches on to something behind me.

“Dad.”

One word, a plea, riddled with pain.

I don’t want to tear my eyes away from her, but I have to, and when I see the pained expression on his face, anger boils in my veins.

“What do you remember, Addi?” he asks, head hung in a mixture of defeat and desperation.

“I saw a glimpse of a moment. I saw Mom in… and I was glowing again, and Nora was… fuck,” she croaks, her words nothing more than a scrambled mess. She takes a deep breath, her eyes fluttering closed for the briefest moment before she opens them wide again. “Why was she restrained?” she asks, nodding toward the opposite corner, where I notice the dangling chains for the first time.

Nora frowns, folding her arms over her chest as Adrianna takes my offered hand and rises to her feet.

August clears his throat, staring at the corner as if he’s replaying the memory. “Before everything happened, there was a two week build up where everything was changing and nothing made sense.”

A bit like you right now.

Thankfully, I keep my thoughts to myself as Adrianna squeezes my hand. “What do you mean?” Her voice is soft, vulnerable almost.

“There was magic at play.Darkmagic. And someone was controlling her, or her wolf, really. She wasn’t herself. She was scared of hurting one of you again, and I?—”

“Again?” Nora interjects, frowning at her father, and a sad smile tilts the corner of his lips.

“You have a scar on your right knee. She didn’t mean to. She loved you, or I thought she did. I don’t know anymore, but what I do know is the woman that was chained to these walls in a bid to protect you from herself was the mother who loved you dearly.”

“Who would do that? Who would make her wolf lash out at us like that?” Adrianna pushes, her knuckles white around mine as she vibrates.

“I never learned the truth. I always thought it was Kenner behind it, but now that I’ve seen Fairbourne take off with Clementine, I can’t help but wonder if it had something to do with them,” he admits, and I pinch the bridge of my nose as I take a deep breath.

It seems this family is not much better than mine.

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