“While I know what she’s up to, generally, I don’t know where she is.” Leo looked at my mate, his brows raised in question.
“You don’t know?” Faith leaned back, pressing her back into me. Happy to respond, I pulled her—and her chair—closer to me and wrapped an arm around her.
Trinity shook her head. “I kept my vow to Mother and told no one of our plans.”
“Holy shit, Trin. Not even sharing with your mate. Wow. You are a hard-ass, rule follower, just like Dad.”
“Nothing new there,” Trinity said. “And Leo understands.”
I glanced at him and wasn’t so sure, but at least he was patient. Probably had to be with these ladies in charge.
Faith shook her head. “That’s… wow. Which is why you’ll be a better queen someday than I could ever be.” She rubbed my arm absently, petting me where it was wrapped around her waist. “I was supposed to get into the Jax house. Destiny was supposed to join the clerical order.”
“What?” Nix sat up straighter, concern on his brow. “The clerics? Leo, you knew about this?”
He nodded, but that didn’t seem to appease the guard.
“That is not acceptable.”
Trinity sipped her drink. “No shit, Sherlock. But we didn’t have a choice. Our mom was kidnapped from Earth by someone who knew where to look. Based on the politics of the time—when my biological father was murdered—she suspected the Jax house and the Clerics. The plan was to divide and conquer and all that.”
Nix shook his head, muttering to himself. “Insane. Females are insane. What were you thinking?”
“That we needed to save our mother,” Faith answered. She turned back to Trinity. “Do you know where Destiny is? Can we reach her?”
“Yes. The citadel will support us in this.”
Faith nodded, as if that made complete sense. Which, of course, it did not. The citadel was a building with some spires and pretty flowers on the outside. But I wasn’t going to argue. It was well-known lore that the royals believed the citadel to be more.
The rest of us humored them.
“Do it then,” Faith said. “I won’t feel right until I know she’s okay.”
Trinity nodded and rose from her seat. She walked to an empty screen along one wall and pressed her palm to the wall. The screen wavered for a moment, as if liquid waves flowed beneath the surface. There was no picture, but I distinctly heard a female’s whispered voice.
“Jesus! About fucking time. Just a sec.”
Faith chuckled. “Yep. That’s Destiny.”
Trinity turned from the still empty screen and met Faith’s gaze, smiling. “I’d say she’s fine, at least right now.”
“Thank god.”
Trinity sat back down and we all turned toward the screen as it flickered, then turned dark. Barely visible, Faith’s twin sister looked as if she were speaking into a small screen. “Trin? Faith? Can you hear me?”
Faith looked down at her palm, at the small scar I’d noticed there, and rubbed at it as if it ached. “Yes, we can hear you.”
Nix leaned forward, squinting at the screen as if trying to discover who the mysterious third princess might be. We could see her outline, hear her voice, but she was in a very dark room, her features obscured, as if the communication itself was protecting her identity.
“Leo? Is that you?”
“Yes, Destiny. I am very happy to see you are well.”
“I’m alive, if that’s what you mean,” she grumbled.
Nix shifted even farther forward. “It is dark, Your Highness.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” Her tone of voice clearly indicated the opposite. “I don’t have a lot of time to ask who you are. What’s been going on there? Oh, and Trin? Fucking loved the dress. Can’t fight for shit in that thing, though, could you? What have I told you about that?”