I laughed. “Duly noted. Although, considering my lack of social interaction up until now, I wouldn’t know the difference between nosy asshole and concerned friend.”
Jalene winced. “That sucks, I’m sorry you had to live like that.”
“I had Peter,” I said with a shrug. “We’re really close, so I was able to talk to him when it got hard.”
“No one else?”
“There was one person,” I said. “Kate. We met last year, and for whatever reason we hit it off. Probably because she was so busy, she didn’t have time to notice when I avoided get-togethers that Peter felt were a risk or that cut into my training which was most of the time. But she was great. Always encouraged me to pursue whatever made me happy—and not apologize for it.”
“She sounds great,” Jalene said. “I bet she misses you.”
“Maybe. My departure wasn’t exactly planned, so I left her a note in the barn. I just hope she found it. And that she’s not worried sick. Or worse.”
Jalene’s hand landed on mine. I stopped bouncing my knee—something I hadn’t even realized I’d been doing. “I’m sure she’s fine,” she said softly.
I nodded, soaking up the reassurance. “You’re probably right.”
Jalene’s smile brightened and then she sat back. “I’m always right, actually, so you might as well just accept it.”
I shook my head, her comment successfully distracting me from the worst of the guilt. “Now that we have that out of the way.”
“You’re welcome,” she said with a wink. Then she took a deep breath, shoving the book aside. “So, what do we do now?”
“For now, we wait for the guys to finish talking to Eamon so everyone’s caught up. After that, I start training so I can fight my way out of the next attack and avoid the whole damsel in distress routine.”
Jalene gave me the side-eye. “You’re joking, right?”
“About training? No, I can’t just—”
“Not about training. About waiting for the guys,” she said, throwing her hands up. “Listen, I don’t know if losing your memory changed who you are, but I’m guessing not just from the bit I’ve seen so far. The Alina I remember would not have sat around waiting for anyone.”
“You remember that much about me?” I asked.
“Of course,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I know we were young but you were a little rebel then and I have a feeling you’re a rebel now. I’m a great judge of character,” she added as if that cemented the whole thing.
I grinned. I couldn’t help it. It felt good to have a partner in crime. “All right,” I said, leaning forward. “What do you have in mind?”
Chapter Nineteen
“For starters, we need to get out of this house. I was thinking I could introduce you to some of the others. That way you and I can get a feel for their reaction and see who might not be so friendly toward you. Then we can start a suspect list,” she added.
“Not to dwell on the negative,” I said, “But I have to remind you that we have a furry foot soldier parked outside the front door who probably isn’t going to like that plan.”
“I’ve got this,” she said, striding to the front door. She paused, her hand on the knob, and turned back to me. “Quick question. As empress, do you have a moral or ethical dilemma that’s going to prevent you from letting me handle this for us?”
I shrugged. “What’s good for us is good for the people?”
“Well said, your highness.” She pulled the front door open and said something I couldn’t hear to the wolf outside. Then she closed it again and locked it behind her. “Let’s go.”
She strode past me into the hall and turned left for Peter’s bedroom. I followed her until she stopped underneath Peter’s window—a very high, very small opening. Jalene peered up at it, lips pursed.
Without a word, she marched into the bathroom, back out again, and into my room.
“Please tell me you have a better plan than trying to shimmy up and out of these windows,” I said when she reappeared.
She sighed, her expression not quite so certain anymore. “Well, you could have told me they’d given you one of the prison homes.”
My brows shot up. “Prison homes?” I repeated.
“I mean, I get they want to protect you, but it’s like a fortress in here.” She huffed. “Do you have any ideas?”
I debated for a moment and then turned on my heel, heading back to the front door.
“What are you doing?” Jalene called from behind me as she hurried to keep up.
“Handling it,” I said.
The wolf guard looked up as I opened the door.
When he saw it was me, he sat up straighter. “Your highness,” he said then shot a look at Jalene before adding, “I heard you weren’t feeling well. Female…er, problems. I hope I didn’t disturb you—”
“You didn’t, and I’m fine.” I shot Jalene a look, but she smiled and batted her lashes in mock innocence. I turned back to the wolf. “Actually, Jalene and I are going for a walk.”
“A walk?” The wolf shot to his feet. “Outside?”
“Yes, is that a problem?”
“I was told you were staying indoors, and I shouldn’t let anyone inside except for Jalene,” he said.
“Xander,” Jalene muttered.
I summoned all the authority I’d used earlier on Xander and Peter. “No one else speaks for me,” I said, forcing my voice louder and surer than I felt. “I make my own decisions until such time that I also make decisions for all. Is that clear?”
“Yes, your highness.” The wolf lowered its head.
“If Peter or Xander returns before we get back, you will tell them we’ve gone to visit with the people,” I added.
“Yes, your highness.” The wolf’s head was so low, I’d lost sight of his eyes. I exchanged a look with Jalene, and she grinned and gave me a thumb’s up.
“Thank you,” I told him, stepping past him onto the street.
Jalene followed, glancing backward at the wolf as we went.
When we were out of earshot, she leaned in and whispered, “I really want to high five you, but I have a feeling that wouldn’t be very royal, would it?”
“Not at all,” I said stiffly.
“I figured.”
I glanced back to be sure we were clear and then held out my hand down near my waist. “Royals always low five.”
Jalene whooped and slapped my hand. “Hell yeah, they do!”
We laughed and hurried down the street toward the main road. “I don’t even know what people he thinks I was referring to,” I admitted.
“Neither does he,” Jalene assured me.
Up ahead, I could see the road was crowded with people, some standing in small groups locked in conversation and some walking purposefully in varying directions.
Jalene headed for a couple standing off to the side. As we got near, I realized I recognized them. The redhead from the field, Taryn. And one of the guys who’d shot me dirty looks when Jalene had called the game. Jordan, maybe?
“Hey guys,” Jalene called to them.
They looked up and halted their conversation, both of them eyeing us curiously.
“You’ve met Alina, right?” Jalene asked them.
“Yeah, sort of. I’m Jordan.” The dark-haired boy stuck his hand out. “We met last night.”
I shook it, glad for the friendly reception. “Nice to see you again.”
I turned to Taryn, expecting her to put a hand out as well. She was looking at me with an odd expression, her jaw set. Her eyes met mine and narrowed until I was almost positive she was pissed at me for something. But then she blinked, and her face smoothed out into a friendly smile.
I stared at her, totally confused and wondering if I’d imagined the momentary rage.
“Hi there,” she said. “Your ankle okay? I saw your spill last night.”
“Yeah, it’s not even sore anymore,” I said—which was mostly true. But I wasn’t interested in admitti
ng my injuries to this girl when she looked like she wanted to cause more of them with her glare alone.
At my words, she nodded, but neither of them offered a response.
The silence turned awkward.
“Well,” Jalene said, “I’m going to introduce Alina to some other people. We’ll see you later.”
Jalene shoved me back toward the road, and we walked away. Behind us, I could hear Taryn and Jordan whispering in Zorovian. The tiny translator in my ear failed to pick out their words, and I decided I probably didn’t want to know, anyway.
“That wasn’t awkward,” I said.
“Not your fault, trust me,” Jalene said, her hand on my elbow, steering me.
“Are you kidding? Taryn looked ready to light me on fire.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Jalene waved my words off. “Taryn is always like that.”
Before I could ask what Jordan’s excuse was, I noticed someone else standing in the shadows of a nearby house. “Another suspect to add to the list,” I muttered, my eyes narrowing in recognition.
Jalene followed my gaze. “Dammit,” she muttered.
I thought about veering sharply to avoid him, but then he looked over, and I knew from the way his eyes lit that I’d been spotted.
Kent stepped onto the street and walked toward us. I had completely forgotten about him before, but after the attack last night, I realized our previous conversation made him a prime suspect in all this. And for that reason alone, I needed to talk to him.
Kent’s smile turned slippery as his eyes settled on me. “Alina, a pleasure to see you again.” His tone made it clear “pleasure” was not the word he meant.
“I wish I could say the feeling was mutual,” I said, not bothering to hide my disgust.
Jalene looked back and forth between us. “You two already know each other?”
“We had an illuminating chat yesterday,” Kent told her without taking his eyes off me.
I glared at him. “What are you doing skulking around? Following up on a botched job?”
He arched a brow. “I heard about your injury last night if that’s what you’re asking. I hope that won’t prevent you from taking back your throne.”
At the sight of his smirk, I almost punched him. “Not at all. It won’t be long now.”
He cocked his head, pretending to be confused. “Really? Is that why I saw Xander and Eamon head into a meeting without you earlier? The entire royal guard was with them. Oh, and your guardian, Peter. Strange because I thought all leadership was required to attend meetings of that level.” He paused and then added, “Unless you’re not considered leadership.”
Jalene tensed, her hand on my elbow tightening until it hurt. “Kent, I’ll say this in English for everyone’s benefit,” she said flatly. “Go fuck yourself.”
Kent’s jaw dropped.
Before I could answer—or cheer—I felt myself being steered off in another direction. When we were a safe distance away, I looked over and caught Jalene’s disgusted expression.
“Kent is a jerk,” she said as she dragged me along.
“So that’s his natural resting state,” I said. “And here I was worried he had saved it all up just for me.”
“Sadly, no.”
I snorted. “At least we have a number one suspect.”
But Jalene shook her head. “As much as I’d love to agree with you, I don’t know. Kent’s pretty averse to anything magical or even remotely related to Tharos.”
“That might be true, but he also seems pretty averse to me taking the throne.”
“That’s because he wants to skip the whole thing. You, the throne, the war. He wants to stay put where we are and just keep on surviving. He’s against going home—and doing whatever it would take to get there.”
“I guess I can understand that,” I said and Jalene shot me a traitorous look. “Not the douchebaggery he’s using to make his point,” I assured her. “But the idea that living a simple life here on this planet is better than dying on the one we left behind. What’s so wrong with that sentiment?”
“The flaw in that logic is that he knows as well as the rest of us that it won’t work. Neila can only hold these wards for so long before Tharos gets powerful enough to see through them. And when he does, he’ll come for us all.” She shot me a pointed look, adding, “He’s not going to stop until he’s eliminated the last known threat against him.”
I stopped walking. “Me?”
Jalene stared at me like all of this should have been painfully obvious already. “Of course. You’re the heir to the Zorovian throne and the UPA, Alina. Tharos knows if you rally the survivors he’s left behind on all the planets he’s conquered, we might have a chance.”
“Which means as long as I’m hiding out here, I’m a threat to you guys,” I said. “Kent has a point.”
“Kent has no points—and he has no sense of morals, either,” Jalene said. “He wants us to stop trying to get home, and he has a fair number of followers that agree. One of them might be our guy, actually. We should probably look into them.”
“How do you know?” I asked. “About the morals, I mean.”
She looked away, her entire expression shutting down and shoving me out. “I just do.”
I was still trying to figure out what she’d meant when Ben rounded the corner at a run, blocking our path. “Oops,” he said, pulling up short and just barely avoiding smacking into me.
“Hey, Ben,” I said.
“Hey, Alina.” He smiled at me in a way that made me want to ruffle his hair like an older sister would. “What are you guys doing out here?”
“I thought I would introduce Alina to some of the others,” Jalene told him.
Ben lowered his voice conspiratorially. “Under the radar while Xander’s in the meeting, huh?”
“Um.” Jalene faltered, clearly not expecting Ben to have guessed so much.
“It’s okay, I can keep a secret,” Ben told her and winked at me.
I stifled a laugh.
“Where are you running to?” Jalene asked Ben, smoothly changing the subject.
“Actually.” Ben shifted to look at me again. “I was looking for you, Alina. I wanted to see if it was okay if I took Nightingale for a ride. I mean, with everything going on, I figured she should still get some exercise.”
I shrugged. “Yeah, sure. That would help me out a lot, actually.”
“Right. Well, I’ll let you get back to your investigation. Thanks,” he said before turning and sprinting off in the direction of the woods where I’d left her.
“That boy is always in a hurry for something,” said an amused voice behind me.
I spun and saw a woman standing behind us with caramel-brown hair braided down her back—almost exactly the same shade as Xander’s. She caught my eye and smiled warmly.
“Hello, Alina. It’s so good to see you again after so long.” She came forward, took my hand in hers, and squeezed in a reassuring gesture. “I’m Rebecca, Ben’s mother. Call me Beck.”
I dropped her hand. “You’re Xander’s mom,” I blurted.
She shot Jalene an amused glance before nodding at me. “I am. I’d heard you two had reconnected.”
Before I could stop it, heat flooded my cheeks, and I wondered just how much “reconnecting” she’d heard about exactly.
“Trust me, they’re picking up right where they left off. Meaning, Xander’s trying to boss us around, and we’re ignoring him and doing what needs to be done,” Jalene said, coming up beside me and doing what I assumed was her version of damage control.
Rebecca—Beck—laughed. “Time means nothing among best friends, am I right?” She winked at me. “Memories or not, it looks like you’re finding all your favorite people without much trouble.”
“She means us,” Jalene said, bumping her hip with my own.
Beck shook her head ruefully. “We had to practically tear you three apart just to put you in bed at night.”
“Three?” I echoed, co
nfused all over again.
“Many times, Xander slept over in the castle just to be close to you. And you,” She turned to Jalene, “Were always weaseling your way into Hestia’s closets.”
“She had the best clothes,” Jalene protested.
I smiled right along with them, but it felt empty. Beck’s stories did nothing to stir my own memories. I couldn’t even picture my mother’s face—and that made me sad.
“Listen,” Beck said, switching gears, “I haven’t had a chance to talk to Peter about it yet, but I’d love to have you both over for dinner tonight. And Jalene, you too, of course. Alina, will you ask Peter about it for me?”
I nodded. “I’m sure he would love to.”
Also, it would give me an excuse to hopefully escape his wrath later when he found out I’d left the house to investigate on my own.
We said our goodbyes to Beck, and Jalene and I continued our walk.
As we made our way home, I met several others who remembered life before the war. All of them fawned and crooned over me. Some even cried a little as they told me how happy they were to have me back. A lot of them hinted at wanting to hurry up and take the next step.
None of them used the word “war” but they didn’t have to. We all knew that’s what it would take.
“At long last, you’re here to take us home,” one of the women said.
“Silly,” said another, waving her friend’s words off. “She can’t take us home until she faces the Dark One. When Tharos is dead, she’ll build us a new home.”
“Oh, yes,” said the first women, giggling in anticipation as they wandered off, waving at me the entire way down the road.
Jalene winced. “You okay?”
I heaved out a breath, glad to be out of the spotlight for a few minutes. “I am now.”
She shook her head. “I don’t envy you.”
“No? All the fancy clothes and shoes royalty get to wear?”
She grinned. “Okay, well, when the time comes, I’ll definitely envy that. But the rest does not sound like my idea of a good time. My mother oversaw the royal wardrobe, you know.”
“That’s how you got access to the royal closet,” I realized.
The Girl Who Called The Stars (The Starlight Duology Book 1) Page 19