Trinity leaned back into her seat with a sigh. “It was pretty, Destiny.”
“Cinderella style. What the fuck happened, anyway? How’d you let that guy Zel get the drop on you?”
“How do you know of these events?” Nix asked.
“I’m in the order, not dead. They do get the news feeds here.”
I knew Faith well, and recognized a bit of her in her twin sister. Enough to know that Destiny was, most likely, rolling her eyes at Nix at this very moment.
“We are fine, Des,” Faith called. “What about you? Any luck?”
“No. But there has been some buzzing lately about prisoner movements. I’m hoping I don’t have to try to seduce the answer out of one of these asshole clerics.”
“You shall do no such thing,” Nix ordered.
Destiny cleared her throat, her face becoming just distinct enough that we could see her eyes as she scowled at him. “Who are you, anyway? Trin, who is this guy?”
“I am a member of the queen’s guard, and loyal servant to Alera.”
Destiny moved back again—back from what, I had no idea. It was as if she held a small communication device in her hand. “Whatever.”
Nix stood, clearly bothered by the princess’s curt tone and blasé attitude.
Destiny ignored him. “Look, I have to go. They’re moving their prisoners around, and I heard they are transporting their high value assets in the next day or two. I’ll try to get in there. See who they’ve got. One of them could be Mom.”
“Be careful,” Faith said.
“Love you guys. Just in case—you know—”
“Don’t even say it, Des. Don’t. Just don’t.” Trinity stood as well. Faith’s fingertips dug into my arm and her breathing raced.
“Destiny, if you die, I swear to god, I’m going to hunt you down and kill you again.” That was my sweet-tempered, loving female.
Destiny tilted her head and I could practically see her mind working, calculating odds. “Keep your fingers crossed then.” A loud thumping noise sounded, as if someone knocked on a door behind the princess. “I gotta go. Like now. Love you.”
The screen went blank. Trinity sat back down, her head in her hands. Nix stared at the screen, as if he could force Destiny to return by strength of will alone.
“Shit,” Trinity said.
“She’s going to do something crazy,” Faith added.
Nix turned from the screen to stare at my mate. “Where is she?”
Faith shrugged, her small body moving against mine, and I was never more grateful to have her close. Safe. “I don’t know. Wherever the new recruits go for the clerics. Somewhere in the city.”
He turned to Trinity, who looked up at last and agreed. “We have no idea. That was part of the plan. If one of us got caught, the other two would have no information to give our enemies.”
“Fuck.” Nix sat, but his fingers drummed a steady beat on the tabletop as if he could not sit still.
“Well, the news is about to get even better.” Leo spoke, breaking the tense silence. “Thordis, I’m sorry to have to tell you, but your apartment has been ransacked.”
I glanced at Nix, who held up his hands. “It wasn’t me or anyone in the queen’s guard. In fact, quite the opposite. We were the ones who found it destroyed when we returned to have your doors repaired. Someone was searching for something.”
“Or someone,” Leo added, eyeing Faith.
She was about to put another piece of fruit in her mouth, but she froze. “Me? Who knew I was with Thor?”
Trinity shrugged. “Everyone in the queen’s guard. Me and Leo, of course. Lord and Lady Jax, I would assume, since they were the ones who’d had Faith sent off with the police in the first place.”