40. Scythe
Chapter 40
Scythe
I t’s near dawn that I wake up, tangled between Savage and Lyle like pups in a litter. I shove Savage’s leg off and he mumbles as he wakes.
“Cheese…yum.”
Lyle leaps out of bed and immediately begins pacing the room like a…well, like a lion, the same way he has done every morning since our regina was taken.
“She sent us a good memory,” Lyle grits out. “Likely to subdue us.”
“But how did she send it?” Savage asks, getting up to look out the window. “We’ve been trying to make contact for weeks.”
“Somehow she established a connection outside of the estate,” I say. “Likely when she left for the meeting with the crime lords.”
“But why would Xander have taken her?”
I can think of a number of reasons, and every single one threatens to wrench me out of my cold state. Our reports of the fateful meeting have been scant, to say the least. It had been a tight-knit group that attended.
“We need to talk to one of the other crime lords,” I say. “But which one to choose? They all have reasons to want us dead.”
“The Collector?” Savage asks.
“Cunning enough to give me half-truths,” I muse. “No, we’ll see the falcons.”
“Did you see her, though?” Savage asks wistfully, still looking out of the window as if he’ll see his regina walking up the academy driveway. “She felt happy, for a little while.”
“She was in pain, too,” Lyle mutters. “They’ve collared her. She’s trying to convince us otherwise, but I know better.”
I sift through the memory of my regina in the Drakos kitchen. I have not seen Lady Drakos nor Selena in person for many years now, and even then it was from afar. They were kept well out of the media.
“The hatchlings have grown,” Savage muses. “Has it really been that long?”
“Lady Drakos looks older than I expected,” Lyle says. “What was that potion she was taking?”
“Yeah!” Savage says with interest. “What was that?”
My shark and I go still as we hone in on the memory of it. Because we know exactly what that potion is, and I think my regina has figured it out too.