Chapter 175

Hannah

Once we said our goodbyes to Calliope, we returned home to the crescent moon pack. I explained to Raya that we needed to attend the Bluemoon ball; she was wary, but she agreed that it was necessary if we wanted to get into the palace and steal the emblem. Later that night, I pulled Wren aside and sat her down in her room. Sebastian was with me. I was nervous about having this conversation with her because of everything she has already been through. But we must take back our kingdom.

“You want me to go to the underworld…” Wren said before we even had the chance to say anything about it.

I looked at Sebastian in shock and he said nothing. He just kept his eyes locked on Wren; he didn’t look surprised.

“You saw it in a vision, didn’t you?” He asked.

Wren glanced up at him and nodded. She looked over at me with a worried frown.

“I saw you both talking about it with that elder lady,” she explained. “It was another vision…”

“I’m sorry you had to hear that,” I breathed, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her close. “I know it might be hard to understand…”

“I want to help,” she surprised me by saying. I released her and looked down at her with my own worried frown.

“What?” I asked; unsure if I heard her correctly.

“I want to do what I can to help. If what that elder was saying is true, then we are all in danger, mommy. I’m scared. But if this will help save us, then I’ll do it.”

She was so brave and incredibly smart for a 5-year-old. I shouldn’t have been surprised. I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at my lips as I stared down at her determined face. At this moment, I realized how much she looked like Sebastian. He had the same determined face whenever he set his mind to something. She was definitely his child.

“This is going to be incredibly dangerous,” I told her. “Are you sure…”

“I want to help,” she said again, cutting off my words. “I know how dangerous it is. I see it every day. It’s scary there. I don’t want what’s happening there to happen here too.”

I hugged her tightly; not wanting to let her go.

“You are incredibly brave,” I breathed to her. She hugged me in return.

“We will stick together though, won’t we?” She asked.

“Yes,” Sebastian answered for me. “There’s no way I’m letting either of you out of my sight.”

I smiled up at him; I felt safer already.

There was a knocking sound on Wren’s closed door and Sebastian was the one who answered it. Raya stood before us, and I could tell something was wrong. Her face was a bit paler than it was moments ago and she looked worried.

“What’s going on?” I asked, raising my brows at her. “Are you okay?”

“There’s somebody here to see you,” she answered.

Who could possibly be here to see me? Who else knew I was here?

I released Wren and stood to my feet, straightening out my clothing. I walked with my head held high until I reached the living room. I paused when I saw who stood at the front doorway. She was being blocked by Arnold who stood tall and mighty in front of her with his arms folded across his chest like he was a bouncer.

“Nancy?” I gasped.

Nancy stood before us. She looked frightened and her normally sleek and perfect blonde hair was thrown in a messy ponytail. She didn’t wear makeup like she would have the last I saw her. She wore clothing that was torn and casual. She also looked thinner than usual, which was saying a lot considering she was already very thin originally. I realized it’s been about 5 years since she last saw me, but for me, it was only a few months.

However, I haven’t actually spoken to her since my days at the hospital. She got transferred to a new wing at the hospital and I didn’t see much of her after that. She also worked different shifts than me. I supposed I had Dr. Davis to thank for that. Nancy never liked me because she always thought I was stealing Dr. Davis, her love, away from her. Even though that wasn’t the case at all, and I tried to get that point across to her, she never listened.

“She just showed up,” Arnold explained. “I can remove her from the house if you’d like.”

I think he was hoping I would say yes.

“Let her in,” I ordered him.

He glanced at me with surprise on his face and when I didn’t budge, he sighed and stepped aside for Nancy to enter. She gave him a relieved smile before stepping into the house. She looked at me and I couldn’t tell what was running through her mind.

“It’s been a long time,” she said, trying to sound casual. I could tell she was nervous. I didn’t trust her as far as I could throw her. She was Amy’s best friend; she was probably here to spy on me and report everything she can to the palace. But we had nothing to hide.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, folding my arms across my chest.

“I know I’m probably the last person you want to see…”

“Actually, you aren’t,” I said to her; that was true. She wasn’t the last person I wanted to see; the last person I wanted to see was Xander. “But go on…”

“I heard you returned, and I needed to see for myself that you were actually back. You were gone for so long,” she breathed, staring around my face like she was trying to determine if it was actually me or not.

“Yeah,” I told her. “We kind of got held up.”

“I was trying to figure out how to approach you, so I’ve been watching and waiting for the right moment…”

“You’ve been spying on us?” I asked, raising my brows; my tone had gone flat and accusatory.

“Not in the way that you think,” she tried to explain. “I wasn’t reporting anything to the palace, I was just…”

“Spying on us,” I said again; I was aware that I sounded annoyed. I was annoyed. What was her game plan? Why was she even here? Last I remembered, she hated my guts and thrived to make my life miserable at work.

“I guess if you want to call it that, then yes…”

“Why are you here, Nancy?” I asked again.

“Because I don’t like what our land is turning into. I hardly even speak to Amy anymore…”

That was hard to believe; they were best friends. I didn’t think anything could tear them apart. Then again, she was the queen now. It doesn’t surprise me that she would throw everybody away from her old life. But I still didn’t trust Nancy.

“I know we didn’t leave off on the best note…” Nancy tried to say.

“You mean when you tried to destroy my reputation?”

She swallowed hard and shifted her gaze to the ground. There was something unrecognizable on her face; was it a look of mournfulness? Was she being sincere right now? What the hell was going on?

“Right,” she breathed, sounding defeated. “That.” She was silent for a moment longer and I waited for her to continue. “I want to help though. I want to do my part and make things right again. I want things to go back to the way things were…”

“Why do you want to help us? Why now?”

She bit her bottom lip and I saw she was fiddling with something in her hand. It was a ring, a diamond ring. It was a wedding ring.

“Because they have something I want back…” she said softly. “Someone rather…”

A knot formed in my stomach as I met her eyes.

“Who?” I urged.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

“They took my husband,” she breathed. “They took Leonard Davis…”