Page 28 of Rapunzel Unchained

“That doesn’t mean they saw Eva today,” Adam pointed out, leaning against his desk.

“Doesn’t it?” Gage quirked a brow. Though his lower face was covered, I could still tell he was frowning. “If she visited both of you, the likelihood that she saw the twins isn’t implausible. She and Luke were close.”

“I wonder why they didn’t tell us about it.” Adam crossed his arms over his chest and sighed. “I just wish I knew what was going through her head right now.”

Zane dragged a hand down his braid. “When she came to me, she wanted to know how I handle my demon. I really felt like she was trying to get herself and her magic under control. Are you sure she threatened you?”

Adam’s foot tapped incessantly against the floor. “Not at first. She was agitated from the beginning. Aggressive. Not like herself.”

“What did she want?” Gage’s eyes zeroed in on Adam’s face.

“Eva wanted to know what I was going to do about the humans' treatment now that I was Arch Mage.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and ducked his head. “When I tried to explain to her that it took time to make change, she suddenly started in on me about being engaged to Rebecca.”

“I don’t blame her,” Gage scoffed. “Even we don’t understand that shit.”

Adam narrowed his eyes on him. “It was a necessary evil. I’ll break it off when the time is right. Just not right now.”

“So you think...” Zane cocked his head to the side, studying Adam. “She was jealous?”

My lips twisted to the side, my eyes boring into Adam, daring him to say it.

“I should be happy, I guess.” Adam pulled at the long bits of hair on his head. “She cares enough to get mad that I’m engaged to Rebecca. It pains me that I hurt her, but I couldn’t very well tell her I couldn’t be with her because she’s human.”

“But is she?”

My eyes jerked to Gage with everyone else.

“Is she even human?” Gage continued. “She smells like a human, but you have to admit she doesn’t act like one. She has magic. The books literally say she was the queen to King Midas, the king who had a mysterious mage at his beck and call. How do we know she wasn’t that mage?”

My teeth ground at the mention of my ex-husband. The ass never gave me credit for everything I’d done for him. Anyone with a lick of magic knew that old bastard didn’t have a magical bone in his body. He relied on the mages around him to get him ahead and make him look good. Me included.

“Maybe she’s both?” Zane offered with a shrug. “It’s not unheard of. Even now it's more taboo. Back then they probably didn’t have every mage written down like we do now. But still, I don’t understand how she threatened you. Are you sure you didn’t misunderstand her jealousy?”

Adam locked eyes with him. “I think I know a threat when I hear one. She told me I had a week to fix the human situation or she would do it for me. This was after she almost blew up the office with some kind of...”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. It seemed like she was having some kind of internal struggle and then, all of a sudden, she was... different. It was almost like I was talking to a completely different person.”

“Do you think the queen took over?” Zane pulled his glasses off his face, cleaning them off with a bit of cloth from his pocket.

Took over? I laughed to myself. No, the queen did not take over. We finally agreed on something, and that was that you all were being too slow to do what was right.

“I don’t know. But still, I’d like to get a heads up the next time she shows up. Just to be on the safe side. We don’t know what we are dealing with when it comes to her right now. I want to help her as much as you do, but have you stopped to ask yourself, maybe she doesn’t want our help?”

“Then we make her,” Gage shot back.

If I could throw a fireball at Gage right then, I would have. The nerve of him, thinking he could just make me come back and let them take over everything. I didn’t need help. I’d already figured it all out on my own. It was them that needed help. Starting with getting more information on the council members.

“Very well.” Zane sighed with displeasure on his face. “As long as it's just to let you know when she’s coming and not to hurt her.”

I peered over Zane’s shoulder watching as he made the lines of magic on his tablet tighter together.

“I would never,” Adam claimed, placing a hand on his chest. “There is nothing I want more in this world than to have Eva safe and here with us.”

I stared Adam down, his words causing my jaw to clench.Liar.

Adam’s head jerked up as if he’d heard me. I didn’t wait around to find out, letting my magic sweep me back out of the house and into my body. I rolled over on the bed, curling my legs to my chest as my eyes burned with tears.

He wanted nothing more than to keep me safe? I would believe that the moment he stepped down from being Arch Mage.

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