Page 100 of Dark Night Golden Dawn
She noticed a look pass between Enzo and Riley. Alaric shook his head. “No, none of us talked to Kate.”
Aurelia said, “Alaric and Cian found us, but not before the vampires portaled out with you. The two vampires who were holding us are in custody and being questioned.”
“Thevampiresportaled?” Harlow asked.
“Incubi can do that,” Selene commented, her face thoughtful.
“But… At the House of Remiel, it was just Mark and Olivia. Andshewasn’t an incubus. You’re surebothof them portaled, they weren’t touching?”
Aurelia nodded. “I’m afraid so. There are two of them.”
“That is very bad news,” Finn said quietly.
“What do we do now?” Larkin asked.
A long silence passed, while everyone thought. Harlow wondered how any of them were reasoning through this. She was dead tired, and hot. The barn was humid and the sticky air made her more agitated than she’d like to be right now. She squirmed in Finn’s lap. He pressed a kiss to her sweaty cheek.
“I think we go home,” Selene said finally.
No one looked particularly interested in that idea, not even Selene. With the McKays out for vengeance and the Velariuses not too far behind, going home—to any of their homes—felt dangerous. But it seemed to Harlow that no one else had any ideas about what their next move should be.
Cian held up a hand. “There is another option.”
They all turned to look at the shifter. “What’s that?” Aurelia asked.
Cian shifted in their folding chair, uncomfortable under Aurelia’s imperious stare. “We could catch the night train to Nea Sterlis. Maybe we need to visit the Vault. Get some distance between us and Nuva Troi for a while.”
“What’s the Vault?” Enzo asked.
“Technically, it’s the Knights of Serpens original records space,” Finn said. “It’s under Cian’s family home in Nea Sterlis.”
“You don’t have to come, if you want to stay,” Harlow said to Enzo. “My guess is that this might all blow over for you if you put some distance between us.”
Enzo shook his head firmly. “No. I go where my family goes.” Riley took his hand and they smiled at each other. “Besides. I’ve been wanting to scout some locations for a shop in Nea Sterlis and who wants to suffer through a Nuva Troi summer?”
Harlow couldn’t argue with that. Nuva Troi was crowded, humid and blisteringly hot for the months of Juli and Aout; things were only going to get worse from here. By contrast, Nea Sterlis was filled with sea breezes and a warmer climate for the entire year, so it was always refreshing in the summertime. After everything they’d been through, why not get away for a while?
“What about the Monas?” Meline asked.
“We’ll have to close up shop for a while,” Aurelia said. “The building should be safe enough, I should think.”
“We can say Harlow and Finn got engaged, and we’re going to Nea Sterlis to celebrate,” Indigo said brightly. “It makes a romantic cover story.”
Thea cleared her throat. “Maybe we should say that Alaric andIeloped, and you all came with us. That would make a better story, and as it’s very nearly true, I think it might work better.”
Thank you, Harlow mouthed to her sister, who nodded in return.
Nox and Ari returned as Indigo booked sleeping cars on the two a.m. train to Nea Sterlis. “The blaze is out and we cleaned the vamps’ car and left it downtown,” Ari said.
Nox handed Harlow a bundle of clothes. “It’s just sweats, and they’re mine, but I thought you might want something else to travel in.”
“Thanks,” Harlow said, ducking into the barn’s bathroom while Finn gave the Wraiths their orders. They were to keep an eye on things in Nuva Troi and meet them in Nea Sterlis in a month. No communication in between, unless they came in person.
When she came out of the bathroom, everyone was piling into cars and driving away. “I’m sorry about the house,” she said as she got into the Woody’s driver seat.
“Me too,” Finn said. He was wearing a new t-shirt and his tuxedo pants, holding Axel in his lap. He craned his neck to watch the house for a long time as they drove away.
ChapterThirty-Eight
