33. Raelyna
RAELYNA
“Hurry!” Orela’s voice was a rushed whisper as we moved through the temple’s halls, our footsteps light as we moved from room to room, careful not to be seen. “We don’t have much time.”
“Much time until what?” I asked as I darted after my sister, following her guidance as we navigated the temple’s levels.
“Until he arrives,” she replied in a hurry as she began dragging me along.
“He?” I questioned as I watched my sister frantically look from side to side before darting toward a specific room. She unlocked the door with a quick movement of her wrist and pressed me inside the space.
“Once Lucanus gets here, you won’t escape,” she whispered in an urgent tone. “And I still have so much to tell—” Her words cut off as laughter sounded in the corridor, and Orela threw me behind her.
We both froze, listening as the footsteps in the hall drew nearer, the sounds of the RSG laughing filled the air as they patrolled the halls.
“Room check!” one of them shouted as they pounded on a door in the distance, and my heart sank.
“Room check?” I mouthed the words at Orela as her eyes widened in horror. A softer rap sounded from across the room, and my head whipped behind me as a hand stuck out from behind a curtain, motioning for us to follow.
Orela began moving in that direction, pushing me along with her, and I was too stunned to speak as I looked between my sister and the curtained hand in shock.
“This way, now,” the unknown voice hissed as I found myself being dragged into a new room. “There isn’t much time.”
Orela began pushing me toward the closet in the room.
“You’ve got three minutes until they get here.” The male who’d gestured for us spoke. Orela held his gaze for a moment, nodding before she shoved me into the closet and began speaking in a rapid rush of words.
“This shoot . . . it will drop you into the basement—the laundry room, to be exact. From there, there should be a window cracked open. You will have five minutes to slip out before the temple goes on lockdown when Lucanus arrives.”
“How can you be sure?” I questioned her, worried that her telling me would alter the version of the future she had seen. “How are so many people helping you right now?”
“It doesn’t matter. We all get visions—flashes of futures. We follow what we can. Right now, this path, it’s the only choice you have for the time being,” she continued in a rush. “Listen to me . . . there are so many moving pieces—different doors—choices to be made. Not much time, out of options—”
“Ore,” I interrupted my sister. “You’re not making any sense. I need clear sentences, please.”
Her head nodded, the male from the other room calling out a minute’s warning.
“One week,” she stated. “When the moon is at its peak. That’s the best opportunity I’ve seen for you to return.
” She shook her head for a moment before continuing.
“Even then, I don’t—I’m not—it’s risky, Rae.
I can’t leave . . . not now . . . it’s not right—the timing—the visions. Not yet. But you . . . go.”
“I’ll be back for you, Ore.” I pulled my sister into a hug as she clung to me for a moment before she pushed off from me, gesturing toward a hardly visible cutout in the floor, indicating for me to go. “I promise.”
With a deep breath, I stepped into the gap, feeling the air whoosh by me before I could give the decision a second thought.
“You did what?” Finn shouted from my kitchen as I sat in the living room of my apartment, surrounded by Emberly, Sage, and Kira.
“How could you?” He was a storm of fury as he barged into the living room, startling Loxl, as the fennex fox leapt in his sleep, a high-pitched yelp filling the air.
“I’m sorry,” I replied.
“After all this time,” Finn stated bitterly, “you still don’t even trust us enough to ask for help.”
“It’s not that—” I protested. “This was just . . . It was something I had to do on my own. Orela is in this mess because of me. And I just thought that if I got her out, then at least one thing would be okay.”
“We would have helped,” Emberly stated as she studied me, her gaze flicking from my face, down to my arm, then back again.
“I know,” I admitted as I looked around at my friends before my gaze settled on Kira. “I’m sorry, okay? I was so close, just—”
“We’ll get her out,” Kira affirmed as I held my youngest sister’s eyes. “You know we will. Now, we just need to make plans based on what Ore told you.”
“But Rae,” Emberly added. “You need to let us in. Let us help . . . that’s what friends are for.”
Finn didn’t say anything. His eyes narrowed on me in blatant frustration as I nodded my head in agreement.
My phone lit up on the coffee table, and the name across the screen caught my eye.
Callum.
“Well?” Emberly asked as I stared at the device, unmoving for a moment. “Are you going to answer it?”
My head gave a tentative nod as I slid the Accept button, and his voice flooded the device in a demand.
“What did you do? Are you okay?”
I froze, every part of me on alert as his words came over in a growl.
“What do you mean?” I asked, well aware that every one of my friends was watching me closely. With a glance between my friends, I turned and walked into my bedroom as I shut the door.
“I know you were in pain, Raelyna. I could feel every stars-damned second of it . . . not to mention your emotions were flitting around like a tornado. So stop playing games with me and tell me what happened.”
My heart stopped.
The breath fell from my lips in utter disbelief.
The world shattered around me into pieces.
You were in pain.
Emotions flitting around.
Then back even further.
I felt your pain.
And in that moment, time stood still as all the pieces clicked together, confirmed when he said the last words I expected him to.
“Don’t even think about lying to me. I felt every second of it.”
Felt. Felt. Felt . . .
My gaze dropped to my left wrist as I studied the starbound mark in gold ink on my skin. Three interconnected triangles.
Flashes of memories raced through my mind as I continued staring at the mark on my wrist.
Callum at Brumalis when he said he’d felt my pain.
Callum, later that same night, wincing when I’d had an episode outside the court.
Callum, racing into my living room late at night when I’d gotten a nosebleed.
He’d known . . . every single time I’d been in pain. Every single time he’d shown up for me. He had comforted me and knew what I had needed at that moment.
He.
Had.
Known.
He had been there for me.
He had helped me through the pain.
And he didn’t tell me.
He hadn’t told me that we were starbound.
“Raelyna Kingsley.” Blackwood’s voice tugged me out of my memories, and I finally deigned to speak.
“I had another episode, that’s all. I’m fine now.” I could almost imagine him pacing the floor in worry, yet my anger spiked as I thought about how he knew we were starbound and never once said anything to me.
“Are you any closer to figuring out how to free the markings?” he inquired, seriousness lacing his tone.
“I’ve finally got the pieces together,” I replied, my voice devoid of emotion. I took a deep breath, counting to four as I slowly exhaled, trying in vain to calm my heartbeat as I waited for the male—my starbound mate—to reply.
“You’ve figured it out?” he questioned, his words sharp. “That episode . . . it was worse than before. Did the markings break free?”
Markings. Plural. Because once again . . . he knew what would emerge.
“Yes,” I replied. “But that’s not what I want to talk about right now. There’s so much going on here . . . I’m worried about my sister. I need to get her out of the temples,” I confessed.
A loud sigh sounded over the line, and I could hear the faint whispering of people talking in the background before Callum’s voice sounded again. “Sorry, there’s—well, just a lot of moving pieces going on right now.”
“I take it things are moving forward—with the Guild, I mean?” I sank to the floor of my bedroom, Loxl curling up in my lap as I rested my head against the door, staring up at the ceiling.
There was a long pause, and I almost wondered whether the line had fully dropped, before he spoke. “Yes, things are moving forward.”
“And?” I prompted.
There was a longer, weary sigh that came from him, and I could almost picture him leaning against a wall, staring up at the ceiling and rubbing at his neck as he mused over what to tell me.
“There isn’t much I can say right now—until everything is finalized .
. . and even then, some things are confidential. ”
A frown tugged at my lips at those words, wondering what I was to do with that.
“So, what can you tell me, Blackwood?” I asked.
“I’ll get you more information when I can.”
“That’s not good enough,” I informed him and heard a huff of laughter on the other end of the line.
“Not good enough?” he asked. “What makes you so certain I will tell you anything else?”
It was my turn to laugh as I pinched my own skin hard enough that I knew it would leave a bruise. But the outcome was worth it when I heard a slight grimace from the other end of the line.
“What did you just–” he started, but I cut him off.
“I need details, Blackwood,” I informed him. “If something’s happening, I want to make sure my family is safe.”
“I promise you I’ll be in touch with more information when I can, starlight,” he explained. “I will not be sharing confidential information over an unsecured line.”
“We’ve been texting every day,” I retorted in disbelief.
“Nothing confidential,” he replied.
I let out a long sigh. “Fine.”
“Trust me, Rae. I know what I’m doing.”
“How will you get in touch?” I demanded as I played with a ring on my finger, twisting the gold metal back and forth over my skin.
He sighed once again, and I was beginning to despise that noise falling from his lips. “Same way as I left?” he asked, carefully. “The red ribbon . . . in two days.”
This time, I found myself frowning, a wave of worry creeping through me at the idea.
“I can feel that, you know,” he stated. “You don’t need to worry about me.”
“Two days?” I confirmed.
“Two days.” His voice was confident, and I found my head nodding in understanding, even though I knew he couldn’t see me.
“Okay.” I nearly hung up the call then, but added the last words in a rush. “If that’s the case . . . I’m—um—I’m going to need a few things. The type of tools that I’m assuming someone in your position has access to.”
I heard the intake of breath on the other end, waiting until he spoke. “What for?”
“I plan to free someone who was taken from me,” I answered, hoping he would understand what I needed based on that alone.
“I don’t want you in any more danger than you already are,” he informed me.
“Then bring the right equipment so I can get my sister without being in more danger.”
I heard a heavy sigh, then the words, “It’s not quite that simple.”
“I will get her back, Cal,” I answered honestly. “With or without your help.”
The line fell silent for a moment.
Then another.
The silence stretched on.
“Cal?” I finally asked when nearly two full minutes had passed.
“I’ll see what I can do.” His voice finally cut through the silence of my room, and I released a collective breath.
“Thank you,” I replied earnestly before I hung up the phone.
I sat in silence for another minute, not daring to breathe as I processed what I’d just learned. I knew I needed to head out into the living room. That I needed to catch my friends up to speed with everything that had occurred. That I needed to tell them about my plans to get Orela back safely.
Yet, a singular thought ran through my mind over and over again . . .
I am starbound mates . . . with Callum Blackwood.
And he’d known.
For weeks.
I didn’t know how I felt about that. He’d known for weeks and hadn’t told me.
But would I have believed him if he’d told me?
Was I ready for that truth? Did I want to be starbound with him?
Was that why I felt like I could trust him so easily?
Would I be able to feel his emotions, his pain, now? Like how he felt mine?
I had far too many questions—questions I knew wouldn’t be answered anytime soon. With a frustrated groan, I pushed off the ground, holding Loxl in one arm as I made my way back out into the living room, finding four sets of eyes focused on me as I sat on the couch.
“So . . .” Finn’s voice broke the silence as he looked directly at me. “Is there anything else you want to let us in on?”
“I’m planning to free Orela,” I stated. “And before you say otherwise, she has seen it.” And then, I proceeded to share what Orela had told me at the temple before I escaped, just a few hours earlier.