“No?”
“No.” I shook my head, anxiety coursing through me again. “Eryk, can you go and get Cress and Bart? We need to get back on a flight home right now.”
They bowed and strode through the double doors.
Donovan took a step closer, almost brushing me. “What did you learn?”
“The berserkers don’t have Audrina. They took her, thinking she was me, and hoped I’d close the spark stone for them so Connor would leave them alone.” On impulse, I decided to keep their secret about their fear of the banwyn. They were good people; and as someone who once had her reputation destroyed, I understood how devastating it was. “But apparently the centaurs—thinking Audrina was me—decided to steal her for themselves.
“The centaurs have her?”
I nodded. “But they don’t want to close their stone. That’s not why they took her.”
He looked away, frowning. “This is not good.”
“It’s bad, Donovan. The centaurs have invited Connor to their realm so that he can put forward his case for world domination. For some insane reason, they think I might be just as bad as he is.” I moved a little so I could meet his eyes. “You have to tell me what this prophecy is about.”
“No.” He shook his head once. “The prophecy does not matter.”
“See, that’s what I thought, but—”
“Not now,” he cut in. He looked at me. A hint of lightness in his eyes. “Consider this your punishment for allowing me to linger in the darkness of doubt and wallow in misery for so long.”
I exhaled heavily. “It was a half hour, Donovan!”
“I—”
The door behind me slammed open, and I jumped. Cress strode out, swinging her arms, tension radiating from her body, an expression of explosive fury on her face.
“Cress. What’s wrong?”
She whipped around to face me. “I got disqualified in the first round!”
“Why?”
Bart shuffled out behind her, his huge body moving quickly. “She punched another competitor in the face and broke his nose.”
Cress whipped around to face him, flinging her arms. “That man—how do you say? He called a cat!”
I squinted. “Do you mean he catcalled you?”
“It was offensive to me,” she seethed. “I confronted him and demanded satisfaction, and he told me several other things he could do with my cat to satisfy me. And none of them sounded particularly satisfying. Then, he slapped my rump, so I retaliated.”
“She beat up the security who hauled her off the floor,” Bart said hastily, taking my hand and pulling me towards the exit. “We have to leave now, guys. The cops have been called.”
Chapter
Nineteen
Luckily for us, the flights home weren’t overbooked. We managed to get seats fairly easily, although again, not together. Eryk and Nate were back in gay-dad mode, with Cecil the baby in between them.
Mindful that we were all tense and exhausted and probably not inclined to put up with any of Cecil’s bullshit, I slipped one of my hoarded sleeping pills and a couple of mood stabilizers into his baby bottle while we were on the way to the airport. By the time we boarded, he was drooling on Nate’s shoulder.
Both boys were worried at first, so I confessed what I’d done. Eryk embarrassed me horribly by singing a ballad of undying devotion in the departure lounge until Donovan ordered him to stop.
The company was getting easier for me to manage. I was starting to understand them better every day, and there was a certain leeway I had with them that I didn’t have with my call center team. I could drug them and not get fired, for one, although I wouldn’t dare do it to Cress or Donovan.
Unluckily for me, though, Cress’s rage hadn’t abated. She looked on the verge of exploding again. Because I was drowning in guilt at falling for her prince, I volunteered to sit next to her on the flight, while Donovan and Bart sat in the row in front.
And we both simmered with jealousy when a flight attendant, batting her eyelashes, approached Donovan and insisted on upgrading him and Bart to first class. Donovan tried to decline, but Bart begged him, telling him it would be rude to say no. Reluctantly, he got up, shot Cress a glare, and mouthed something I didn’t catch, then he followed the attendant down the aisle.
I should have known that things would get weird. As soon as Donovan had disappeared behind the first-class curtain, Cress leaned into me and let her head rest on my shoulder, nuzzling me. “Comfort me, Chosen. I am bereft.”
I understood. My eyes missed Donovan already—but there was no chance I was going to say that out loud. “Uh. Okay.” Sometimes, the direct approach was best. “What do you need, Cress? What would make you feel better?”
She tilted her head to look up at me. A grin pricked at her lips, but it was gone before I could really assess it. “It may not be best to speak it out loud.” She sighed. “Donovan may cut off my hands.”
This girl was insane. “Oh. Well, I’ve already witnessed one of your fights; I’m not sure if I can watch another one. How about a drink?” From the feel of it, we were almost at altitude; the cabin crew would be serving dinner soon.
“I am worried it might make me more maudlin.”
“Maudlin isn’t the word I would have used, but good for you, Cress. You are quite right. Drinking to mask pain is like putting a Band-Aid on a boil—it's only going to fester underneath it.”
Her hands flexed. “I am so frustrated. I joined the company because, as mistress of the blade, there is none better than me. But I find myself stymied in this realm and unable to find a release. There are no battles to be had. Even the strength competitions are policed too firmly.” She grimaced. “I found absolutely no satisfaction.”
“Did you not work out some energy fighting with Donovan this morning?”
“He pulls his punches. And he refuses to draw blood. I stabbed him in the liver once,” she said, her tone conversational. “He plucked the blade out and limped off to the healers without even swearing at me.”
