Page 44 of Elven Throne

Far before the shifter reached her, Diego, Burke, and Shell fell disturbingly quiet, their confused stares burning shameful holes into her.

And she still couldn’t look away from Maxwell.

“Knocks?” Diego asked before taking one hesitant step toward her. “Hey. What’s is it?”

She would have loved to know the answer to that question, but she had nothing.

Then Maxwell finally reached her. In the back of her mind, she was vaguely aware of the entire task force scattered across the parking lot—which also fell under a tense and wary silence. Everyone watching, as if a giant neon sign had lit up above her head to proclaim,‘This is going to be one hell of a show!’

Maxwell stopped so close in front of her, the rising heat of his anger and the force of his silver gaze blazing across her skin felt more like two red-hot coals dragged across her flesh.

She tried to keep her emotions in check, to not visibly reveal that something was very wrong while nearly a hundred magicals watched her and Maxwell squaring off. But she couldn’t maintain that forever.

Depending on what the shifter said next, she might have to reveal a whole lot more than the effort of simply holding herself back.

Anticipation and readiness churned through her, firing up all her senses in readiness for a battle she’d never wanted.

A battle that might just be upon her.

She met Maxwell’s gaze head-on and lifted her chin. If he meant to call her out in front of everyone, she would meet it with dignity, at the very least. Fuck cowering while her darkest secrets were openly exposed.

“If you havegoodnews, spit it out,” she snapped, clenching her fists at her sides. “Otherwise, we should probably go hash this out in private.”

Maxwell stepped closer and leaned all the way in toward her, like he meant to whisper something in her ear, though he no longer seemed capable of looking her in the eye.

Almost like he was about to tell her some invaluable secret in passing without wanting anyone else to notice.

Fat chance of thatnow…

“I know where we can go,” he murmured, his breath fluttering across her cheek and sending a rippling shudder down the side of her neck and into her spine.

A thrilling surge of more tingling heat joined it, and Rebecca would have done nearly anything to get rid of that sensation now.

“Remote,” Maxwell continued. “Plenty of space. It will give us enough time to regroup and plan our next steps.”

Wait,what?

He wasn’t talking about her. This wasn’t over some new discovery about Shade’s Roth-Da’al calling herself Rebecca Knox.

This was their next move. A place to stay for everyone. Safety and protection in hiding when they needed it most.

So why did he look so terrified?

All the fight—the readiness to defend herself or flee, if necessary—seeped out of her with the realization of her misunderstanding. Then, with painful awareness, she remembered everyone else gathered around them. Every gaze settled on her and Maxwell in hopeful anticipation.

She tried to ignore the feeling of being under a microscope and returned to the conversation she didn’t yet fully understand.

“Okay…” she replied steadily. “Thatsoundslike good news, but you’re delivering it like it’s a death sentence.”

“It is the only option that assures everyone else’s safety,” he added, gazing past her seemingly at the crowd still watching them, but his silver eyes looked glazed over in a way she hadn’t seen before.

Then he pulled away and finally looked her in the eye, pain and regret and fear billowing out of him and into her. “And yours.”

Rebecca’s gut sank at those words.

He’d mentioned everyone else, and her, but had specifically left out one incredibly important piece of the puzzle.

“And what about you?” she asked.

---