D arius ended up getting both me and Tory out of the interrogation, and I was glad to have some alone time with my sister after everything that had happened lately. We ate our way through two massive chocolate bars as we talked shit and reminisced about old times, then I helped her stash a few bars in her room for later, knowing Seth would sniff them out if I took them anywhere near my room.
The interrogation showed up nothing. No culprit. Which either meant the guilty party had trained their mind well enough to hide the truth from a Cyclops which was damn difficult, or they weren’t here and had probably broken through the boundaries to kill those men. I wasn’t sure which of those thoughts unsettled me most, but both led to countless unanswered questions that set me on edge.
I sat between Orion and Tory in the dining hall, the Heirs sharing our table along with Geraldine and Xavier as we discussed the endless theories we had about the murderer. And the thing that left me the most terrified was the theory that this had something to do with the ‘man with the painted smile’ from Gabriel’s prophecy.
We hadn’t been able to talk to our brother all day since he’d helped out with the interrogations, trying to see anything from the people being questioned. But now as I caught his eye across the hall where he sat with his family, he stood up and came over to join us, taking a seat beside Geraldine opposite us. I spotted Justin Masters looking wistfully over at her from a table full of royalists, picking at a bagel.
“Any news?” Darius asked instantly, the tension in his posture speaking of his concern over this situation.
Tory absentmindedly stroked his arm beside him, turning to our brother for the answer we were all anxious for.
Gabriel shook his head, lines of stress forming around his silver ringed grey eyes. “Nothing. But I’m hopeful that means this incident is nothing to do with you. Perhaps someone here had a feud with the guards, so it’s something I cannot see because it does not affect those I care for. But on the other hand…”
“What?” I breathed as Orion’s hand dropped to my knee under the table and squeezed reassuringly.
“It could be that this is linked to the Nymphs somehow as I cannot predict their moves and the shadows hide them from me. But the attacks seemed more savage than their usual style,” Gabriel said thoughtfully. “We can’t rule it out. But if this was Nymphs, then they have somehow breached the magical boundary protecting this place. And that seems highly unlikely…”
“Could Nymphs be here already?” Tory asked slowly, glancing at other people around the room in suspicion. “We didn’t know Diego was a Nymph and we saw him at school every day.”
“How can we tell a Nymph from a Fae when they aren’t shifted?” Max asked, narrowing his eyes at everyone around us like they could all be our enemies in disguise.
“You can’t,” Orion said simply.
“I totally can,” Darius said cockily. “It’s in their eyes.”
“Bullshit, you always think that, but it isn’t true,” Orion tossed back. “How’d you miss Diego if you can tell the difference?”
“I always knew there was something off with that hat kid,” Darius said with a shrug.
My heart tugged over Diego and I thought of his hat which was now stashed in the nightstand in our room. Maybe there were more answers there waiting for us within it…maybe I should try to see into the soul web again.
“I still don’t get how he passed the stars’ test at The Reckoning,” Max said with a head shake.
“I should have known he was a Nymph when I tasted his blood that time. Shame their blood isn’t black when they’re in their Fae-like form or I would have noticed.” Orion grimaced at the memory. “I just figured he’d Emerge as one of my least favoured Orders.”
“Like Heptian Toads?” Caleb asked with a knowing nod.
“Yeah and Grieven Slugs,” Orion said, miming a retch while Caleb laughed.
“Have you ever tried a Polar Bear Shifter though? They taste like a snow cone,” Caleb said excitedly.
“Well, nothing tastes as good as a Vega,” Orion said tauntingly and Caleb bared his fangs as they locked eyes.
“Yeah? Try hunting the most powerful Werewolf in Solaria,” Caleb said with a smirk and Orion bared his fangs at him.
“I’d rather drink a Toad’s blood than drink from him again,” Orion sneered as Caleb locked his arm around Seth and Seth’s eyebrows shot up as he looked at him.