Page 96 of The Court of Truth

I expect him to pull me away and hurry me back inside, but instead, he shortens his strides to fall in step with my small legs. I raise a brow at him and he shrugs.

“If you’re going, then so am I,” he insists, and I tilt my head.

Apparently, all of my expectations are out the window today. That’s what I get for making assumptions.

“Is that a good idea?” I ask, and he scoffs at me, the sound reminiscent of the one I made not so long ago.

The humor quickly fizzles out as his eyes meet mine and I see the true strain crinkling the corners. “Something in my gut doesn’t feel right, Nora. I can’t let your sister out of my sight. I fear her life depends on it.”

I’d say he was being dramatic, but that’s usually my role, and he’s not wrong. All of our lives hang in the balance. If he’s as determined as me, there’s nothing I can do about it.

Instead, I wrap my hand in his and climb into the closest carriage.

There’s no turning back now. Whatever changes Addi has up her sleeve, we just have to trust in her.

The carriage ride feels like it takes an eternity. I should have chosen one with someone more entertaining than my father and Beau. They’re both silent, staring dead ahead, deep in thought as the world flies past us.

I’m not allowed to pull the curtain aside to look out because it’s dangerous.

I’m not allowed to sit up front with the soldier steering us because it’s dangerous.

I’m not allowed to breathe too loudly because it’s dangerous.

The last one is a lie, but it sure freaking feels like it.

The second we roll to a stop, I’m out of my seat and tumbling through the door. I blink at our new surroundings, a hint of confusion furrowing my eyebrows as I try to figure out where we are.

A town is a half a mile to the right, but there’s nothing around us. Just grass, grass, and more grass.

“What are we doing all the way out here, Addi?” Arlo shouts the moment he’s out of his carriage. Flora hides her face as she climbs out behind him, but as my sister appears from her carriage alone, she barely pays them any mind.

“Keep up, Arlo. It’s lovely out here in Evermore. It’s the last place Clementine and her ghastly band of misfits would think we’d ever come.”

“That’s because we wouldn’t,” Raiden grunts, stepping out of the carriage behind Flora with a sigh. He shakes his head like he’s trying to make sense of it all, but he seems to come up as empty as I do.

Ghastly band of misfits?Where the hell is she hearing that crap?

“What’s the plan now?” I ask, perking up since she said I could come. I’m not going to quietly follow along this time.

Her eyes meet mine and she winks. “We’re going to bait them out.”

“Bait them out?” The question comes from Kryll, who scrubs at the back of his neck. “We’re all the way out here and the soldiers aren’t here yet. Princess, I think this is a little too exposed.”

Addi’s gaze snaps to his so fast I’m sure her neck is going to snap. “I’m not a princess anymore. I’m a queen, and don’t you forget it.”

She curls her hands into the sides of her cape as she swirls away from him. We’re in the middle of an exposed field.

What the hell was that?

I take a step toward her, ready to take up the role of humbling her, but Raiden is in front of me before I can blink, finger pressed against his lip as he blocks Addi from view.

“How do you make your mind thing work without killing me?” His words are so quiet I’m practically lip reading.

“What is it you need me to do?”

He hushes me, eyes wide before he glances over his shoulder, but whatever he was worried about seems to fade as he turns back to me with an even sharper frown than before.

“Get in my head without killing me.”

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