Page 67 of Living Legend

“It is nice to finally meet you, Soul Seether. I’m Isabel.” She brought her hand out, which I grasped with my own.

“It’s nice to meet you as well.” Her hand was warm and inviting. She enclosed her other around our joined fingers before glancing back at Natalia. “See, I told you all you had to do was talk to her and you’d get along.”

Natalia moved her dress around her feet and rolled her eyes. Isabel released my hand and dipped her head down to whisper, “I know she can be a handful, but she really does want to help. If she gives you any problems, come talk to me.” She winked, turning around, and reaching her hand out to Natalia. They started to walk up the hill towards the party when Natalia turned back. “You should find your friend. Come find me when you are ready to go back.”

“She’s not my friend.”

“We’ll agree to disagree, Soul Seether.”

I ran my hand through my hair, my finger getting caught on a few tangles. “Dani.”

Natalia gave me a quick nod. “Dani, it is then.”

It took me a full thirty minutes to find Elise in the crowds of Enchanters. When I did find her, she was tipsy off some cherry wine Natalia had told me was meant for taking sips of and not chugging. Elise had, thankfully, started to sober up a bit when we got back to the room.

“You get out for five minutes and you get drunk.”

“I’m not drunk,” she argued, scowling at me. “Tipsy. Not drunk.”

Elise started to undress herself, letting her clothes scatter the floor as she walked in circles. I let my eyes follow her, but she started to make me dizzy. She finally sat on her bed and let her head hit the pillow, her eyes wide open. “What did you and the Queen talk about?”

“Nothing of importance. I’ll fill you in when you’re sober.”

“Fuck you, I am perfectly cohear-hat,” Elise muttered, trying hard to shove my knee, but I moved out of her grasp.

I shook my head, but tucked her in, watching as her eyes fluttered close. She was nice when she was quiet and exhausted, too much alcohol in her system. It would wear off quickly and she would be back to her old self, but for now, I let myself sit in the quiet. I would speak to Elise when she was coherent, but in the meantime, I settled on thinking about Natalia’s words.

“Jonah may be your answer, but I would look closely at everyone. Jonah may be the head of them all, but I wouldn't count anyone out.”

Nicholas had been trying to say the same thing, but I just wasn’t getting it. He was accepting of Jonah looking like the enemy, but to him, it didn’t make sense. Maybe I wasn’t opening myself up to all the options. Maybe I wanted the guilty party to be the leader of them all. It didn’t have to be that black and white. I knew it could be any of one of them or even all of them, but I was dead focused on Jonah. Had I blinded myself? I inherently knew that Lilith was a bad person, so there was truly nothing to defend her with, but with Jonah, there were pros and cons that made decision making difficult.

If I stopped staring at Nicholas’s biceps or his mouth for two seconds, I could focus. If only he had a horrendous face, my mind wouldn’t wander so much. I listened, but clearly not hard enough. It wasn’t something I said or took lightly, being wrong. At least, beingthiswrong.

I needed to talk to him and explain what I now understood. I thought I could potentially have one of the guards get him for me. They always came to get us, so it seemed like a logical move to ask to speak to him in return. I glanced over at Elise, softly snoring in her sleep. I walked over to the door and turned the knob, preparing to address the sentries, when I was met with a familiar chest, biceps, and when I looked up higher, a familiar mouth.Nicholas peered down at me, and a nervous smile escaped his lips.

Fuck. That mouth would seriously be the death of me.

The sentries made no move to look at him. He tried to let himself inside, but I placed a hand on his chest, stopping him. He glanced down at my hand, and I moved it away.

“She’s sleeping,” I said, pointing to Elise.

Nicholas looked over my shoulder and I could see him press his tongue to the inside of his cheek. He swallowed hard. “We need to talk.”

“You can come back in a few hours. I’m sure she won’t be ready to talk, but she’ll be awake.” I wanted it to sound like a joke, but his face was unmoved.

“No, I need to talk toyou.”

“Me?”

He nodded, his dark hair swishing at his movement. It looked as if he had been running his hands through it repeatedly.

“Okay, talk.” I leaned against the doorframe to make myself more comfortable.

Nicholas looked at both the sentries and shook his head. “Not here. Come with me.” I stepped out, closing the door behind me. Nicholas was already a few steps in front of me, moving towards one of the side doors we normally took.

“Where’s your partner in crime?”

“Sleeping.” Figures.

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