Page 27 of Anchor

Still Redfire,I said to myself, looking down at my hand, my ring.

But why does it feel likeit isn’t?

This I didn’t say out loud, of course.

“Whatdifferentwere they talking about?” I asked instead. “What…what was going to make that woman kill me?”

And with a sword, no less. A sword with the handle made of pieces of bone.

Shivers ran down my back.

“That womanis Helen Paine, the most powerful Whitefire in the world,” she told me. “There are things that you don’t need to know, andthisis one of them, Rosabel. Be glad that you’re my granddaughter. Be glad that the Rainbow only gave you your magic back. Be glad—and stop asking questions.”

Be glad that you’re my granddaughter.Ugh,never. I would have rather been anybody else. Anybody at all. That’s why the best time of my life was when I’d been Rosabel Miller.

Not that it mattered now, anyway.

“But what ifthis isthe ‘different’ they meant?” I insisted.

“It’s not.”

For once, I wasn’t concerned about annoying her—maybe because she didn’t look annoyed right now. “How do you know?”

“You wouldn’t have been able to use your anchor if it was,” she said. “No more questions.”

I said nothing else until we returned to the mansion, and neither did Madeline. My mind was going to fucking explodewith those same questions she wanted me to stop asking—so many of them. But the reason why I convinced myself to stop thinking about them was simple:Taland.I still had no idea where Taland was and as much as the urge to ask Madeline about him ate at me, I didn’t. So far it was looking like whatever magic Taland used in the Iris Roe had fooled the world. If the IDD had known it was him, surely Madeline would have mentioned it. She would have never in a million years told me that I’d donevery wellif she’d known that the man who’d carried me out of the Iris Roe was Taland. That the man who’d helped me finish the game and drain that Rainbow was Taland.

Still, when the SUV stopped in front of the entrance stairs of the mansion, I said, “What about the man who brought me out of the game?”

I couldn’t help it. Goddess, I didn’t want her to get suspicious or even ask a single question about it, but I had to know. I had to know if he was alive because if he wasn’t?—

No.I would not go there.

“Yes, that was smart of you to use other players,” Madeline said. “What did you promise him? Money?”

“I-I-I…” I had no clue what the fuck to even say.

“I imagine he’ll come to collect as soon as you receive your prize from the game. Whatever you owe him, take care of it in private. Don’t let the media or the IDD find out.”

Fucking hell, she thought I’d promised money to a random player.

Arandom player—not Taland. She really had no clue it had been him, but most importantly, he was alive. She said it herself,he’ll come to collect,which he could only do if he was alive. If he’d died, goddess forbid, Madeline would surely know.

The relief that fell over me was heavenly. I barely held back a smile when the driver opened the car door for Madeline and the other got mine.

I stepped out and looked up at him—he was a handsome fella, wearing a crisp black suit and an expressionless face, but there was something about him. He’d pushed and shoved me like it made him happy to do so when he took me to the City of Games that night, but then tonight he seemed different.

“Have a good night, Miss La Rouge,” he said as he stepped aside and bowed his head.

“You, too,” I said, surprised—guards didn’t usually tell me to have a good night.

But before I could think more of it, Madeline was already walking up the wide stairs to the entrance doors, bigger than the ones at the IDD headquarters. Madeline loved to live large, and every inch of her fancy mansion proved it.

“Grandmother, wait,” I said, rushing behind her to find that I was still a bit lightheaded—probably from the fear and the relief and her spells.

She didn’t wait, of course, but I was able to catch her before she entered the door Fiona held open for us.

“What-what happens now?” I asked. I knew whatIwas going to do—go look for Taland—but I needed to know what the world expected from me andwhy does it feel like something’s off, wrong, not the way it should be?!

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