Page 20 of Kingdom of Chaos
My eyes go wide at the splendor of the two-story space. Lit with buttery faelights, the room is half library, half museum. Floor-to-ceiling shelves line the walls, with glass containers holding relics and artifacts interspersed between rows of thick, leather-bound books. At the far end of the room, a full suit of armor stands encased in glass.
Imogen and Talon are on opposite sides of a long table that stretches nearly the full length of the room. Talon stands with his hands braced on the tabletop, his head bent over a massive tome. From this angle, I can’t see what he’s reading, but the pages are clearly yellowed with age.
Imogen is sitting atop the table across from him, one foot resting on the tabletop, the other on the chair below. She’s finally changed into a long-sleeved, off-the-shoulder shirt and black jeans, wearing a pair of killer black boots Ensley would be drooling over.
But that’s hardly the point.
“This is dangerous,” she says, her mouth turned down in a frown.
“Don’t worry. I’ll tell my mom you had nothing to do with it,” Talon replies, not looking up from the text in front of him.
“You know it’s not Aunt Jade I’m talking about. These are things you shouldn’t be messing with.”
He glances up at her. “You can go. I never asked for your help.”
“This isn’t a joke, Talon.”
“I know it’s not a joke. I’m not acting like it is,” he replies, his tone even as he goes back to reading the book in front of him.
But Imogen isn’t thwarted. “This is a mistake and you know it,” she says. “Those three are trouble. They know about the Arcane Society.”
Talon sighs. “Calm down, Imogen. They only know the name because Uncle Drake let it slip. They don’t know anything. Not really.”
She lets out a loud, frustrated huff, and I can practically feel the heat of her annoyance from my hiding spot outside the room.
When Talon doesn’t respond, she slams her palm on the table, but he doesn’t flinch.
“You should have sent those three packing the minute they showed up.” She cocks her head as if considering something before adding, “Well, the girls for sure. I suppose I could learn to put up with that white-haired fae. He’s a snack.”
Talon snorts, and Imogen shakes her head like she’s trying to clear Titus from her mind.
“No, I take it back. He needs to go too,” she says. “If I’d known you were inviting them for a sleepover, I would’ve kicked them out the second they woke me up.”
“Then why didn’t you?” Talon asks, flipping a page without looking up. He doesn’t sound even mildly curious.
“Because I thoughtyouwere going to and I didn’t want to deal with the fuss they’d make. Honestly, I thought it would be entertaining watching you handle them. I never imaginedyou’d actuallyplacatethem. What, have you lost your edge or something?”
Talon glances up from the book and gives his cousin a chilly glare before bending back over the page.
“This whole thing is a horrible idea. I don’t know what’s gotten into you,” Imogen complains. “You’re supposed to be the levelheaded one in the family.”
Talon lets out a half laugh at that.
“Okay, maybe notlevel-headed,” she concedes, “but motivated and loyal to the cause. It’s like you’ve turned into someone else entirely. Is it because of your magic?”
What’s wrong with his magic?I wonder, as the muscles in Talon’s arm tense. He goes completely still. I swear the temperature drops a few degrees. When he looks up and glares at her again, Imogen lifts her hands like she realizes she’s crossed a line.
“Fine, I won’t go there. But you’re going to be disappointed if you think I’m just going to let you go off and?—”
“I found it,” he interrupts, still bent over the book.
Imogen leans in, trying to read the page upside down. “What?”
Talon points to a passage in the text and Imogen grabs the book, spinning it around so she can read it properly. Her eyes scan the passage, then lift to meet his, wide and full of fear.
She shakes her head. “No, Talon. You don’t even know if that’s actually lunacite around her neck.”
My hand goes straight to the pendant dangling below the hollow of my throat.
