Chapter 117

My adrenaline was spiked, but had nowhere to go. I felt like I was buzzing out of my skin.

I was shaking, but didn’t know how to calm down.

At once, Julian and Nicholas moved toward me. They each took one of my hands. Nicholas placed my hand over his heart.

“Breathe with me,” he said, and guided me. “Inhale.” He waited. “Exhale.”

Julian covered my hands with both of his. He rubbed his thumbs in small circles on the back of my palm.

They both anchored me to the here and now, rather than letting me float off among my fears and worries, and I was grateful for each of them.

“You alright?” Nicholas asked, after a few more breathing exercises.

I wasn’t shaking anymore. “I’m getting there.”

Nicholas nodded, but he kept my hand on his chest. Julian didn’t let go of my hands either.

Though the two of them did begin to look at each other.

“We should brick this tunnel up,” Nicholas said. “Now.”

“We can’t do that,” Julian argued. “If we do, Terry will know we found the tunnel, and he’ll change whatever plan he’s concocting.”

“We want him to stop what he’s doing.”

“Ideally, yes. But he likely won’t stop, he’ll just make alterations. If he changes his plans, we’ll be back at square one without a clue or a lead. We want to keep him in the dark about what we know so he’ll be more careless.”

“We can’t just let him do whatever he wants.”

“We won’t. We’ll be watching every move he makes. We’ll have spies stationed, like Brian, who will trail every person that comes through that door. Then we can figure out just what they’re up to.” Julian dipped his head toward me. “And we can discover Jane’s level of involvement.”

“Jane wandering around the palace could endanger Piper,” Nicholas said.

“That’s why we’ll be watching,” Julian said.

As I listened to their back and forth, I could see both sides.

The frightened side of myself wanted to brick up this passageway and never think of it again. But the part of me that was braver, the one that wanted to see justice done to the organization, knew we could never win by burying our heads in the sand.

“What do you think, Piper?” Julian asked.

On the spot, I had no time for fear. To protect Elva, to save my sister, I had to be strong.

I swallowed hard, gathered my courage, and said, “You can’t put out a fire if you don’t stand near the flames. We have to keep the passageway open.”

Julian nodded.

Nicholas glowered. I thought he might argue, but when he opened his mouth, he surprised me. “I will personally assign guards to watch this room and this door.

“They have to be inconspicuous,” Julian said.

“I can handle it.” Nicholas stepped back from my touch, letting my hand fall. Then he pulled out his phone.

Julian glanced at me, then spoke to Nicholas, “I’ll walk Piper back to her room.”

Nicholas glared at him, yet before he could say a word, someone picked up on the other end of his call. He had to turn from us to deal with them.

Julian winked at me. “Ready, Piper?”

I didn’t know if I was. If I went back to my room, I would likely be unable to sleep. But I didn’t want to stay in this small room with that terrible tunnel any longer than I had to.

A tunnel that led straight to some type of torture basement in Terry’s mansion.

In my room, I could pretend everything was fine, that I hadn’t overheard the underground organization reached so far that they weren’t even intimidated or tempted by the crown.

They wanted abilities. They wanted people. They had Terry involved, and my sister, and who knew how many others.

How could we ever hope to stand up to something so large and powerful?

But I knew we had to try. To not even try to fight them was how they would win. Even if it seemed hopeless. Even if I wanted to run and hide or forget I saw or heard anything.

I had to be strong. I had to fight.

But first, I had to try to get some sleep.

I was exhausted and scared. I wanted to watch Elva, as she imagined the world around her was peaceful, and remember why it was I wanted to fight so hard.

So I nodded and turned from the room without being asked. Julian followed on my heels.

I felt a little better when I was out of the stifling sublevel of the cellar. I nearly stopped, just to catch my breath, but Julian’s hand on the small of my back kept me walking.

When we were out of the kitchens, we were into familiar hallways. But everything looked differently now, knowing the danger that loomed so closely. I worried what could be around every corner. What monsters might be listening from the shadows.

Julian fell in step with me. He gave me a long sideways look.

“You’ll be safe, Piper,” Julian said. “Nicholas won’t let anything bad happen to you or Elva. I can guarantee it.”

Deep in my bones, I knew Nicholas would try to protect me and Elva as long as he could, but, even with our near-constant guard, there were still moments when we would be alone.

I shook away the thoughts. That’s what my self-defense lessons were for. I simply had to be more diligent. Train harder. Work harder. Fight harder.

And more fully appreciate those who were willing to help me.

“Thank you, Julian. For what you’ve done. I don’t feel great about any of this… I’m scared by what we’ve heard. But, we are closer to the underground organization now than I’d ever imagined we would be.”

“We won’t back down,” Julian said. I glanced at him. He was unusually serious, his eyes hard with determination. “We’ll get to the truth about your sister and your wolf, and then we’ll shut the whole thing down.”

I gave him a small smile. “Thank you.”

He nodded and rubbed his hand up and down the length of my spine. When we were on the stairwell, he stopped. I stopped on the next step up and turned to face him. Like this, I stood over him by just an inch, but he still had to look up at me.

“My actions are not entirely selfless, Piper,” Julian said. He smiled now, but unlike his typical hard-edged smirk, this was soft. “I have my own motives, and my own desires.”

He couldn’t mean to include me on his list of desires, but his eyes seared me as he trailed his gaze down the length of my front. I wasn’t wearing anything revealing. I’d imagined we’d be crawling through dirt tonight, so I wore jeans and a black, long-sleeved turtleneck.

Yet Julian looked at me like I was a multi-course meal that he wanted to savor.

“But if you really want to thank me,” he said, “you should give me a reward.”

I licked my lips. Had it gotten hotter in here? “What could I possibly have that you would want?”

“Easy,” Julian said. He started to lean.

I was higher than him. He wasn’t touching me. I could have backed away. I could have run. Yet all I did was stand very still and let him close the distance.

His lips found my cheek, where he placed a gentle kiss.