I breathed deeply at the emotions flooding me. There was a new intimacy between Braxton and I now, and it continued to bash against me like a surge of tides. Sure, we’d only been together for half a day, but that full-heart thing was a force living inside my chest. Maybe I had a better idea than I thought of the connection my twin was seeking in her life.
We both dropped onto the edge of the bed. I reached across and grabbed a cushion, pulling it into my lap. “I’m sorry I disappeared on you. I didn’t mean to abandon you.”
She raised her sad eyes to meet mine. “You didn’t do it on purpose, Jess, it just sucked that right when I needed you the most, you were gone. I was so worried about you, trying to deal with Maximus. Trying to hold it together.”
“Tell me what happened.” I took her hand.
She shrugged. “I cared about him. Like really cared.” Her lips twisted into a forced grin. “I hoped we could have something.”
I didn’t say anything, there wasn’t really anything I could say. But as the uncomfortable silence continued, I decided to try to find the right words. “Well, I know Max cares about you a lot, but true mates are forever and complete. There was nothing he could do.”
She nodded, “I know, but just because my head knows doesn’t mean my heart doesn’t hurt.” I hugged more tightly around her shoulders. I had never had any unrequited love in my life, but I could imagine the pain.
After a few silent moments I changed the subject to what I really needed to know. “Why are you hanging out with the evil twinly duo?”
She blinked a few times. “You mean Cristy and Shalone?”
I shrugged. “I have zero cares about their real names. They’re Orange and Lemon.”
She snickered. “Yeah, I get that.” There was a pause then, as if she was trying to figure out how to explain her friendship with the twins. She started with a sigh. “When Maximus came back from feeding, we were trying to find you and Braxton. Tyson and Jacob were going crazy, they had Quale up against the tree by his throat, threatening, screaming. It only got worse when Max returned.” She twisted her hands in her lap. “He went ballistic. It took us a really long time to calm him down, and the only one who could was … that vampire he’d fed from. Apparently, everyone knew then that they were true mates. I, of course, was the clueless outsider as always.”
“Damn, I’m sorry, that’s tough.” I hated being in the dark, feeling stupid. I knew Mischa would be no different. “But you have a mate out there too. Don’t forget that happiness is yours to find, so don’t give up.”
Her eyes were so green; even ringed with red she still looked amazing. I had no doubt there was going to be a supernatural completely captivated by her one day.
“I’m pretty much off men at the moment.” Her voice was hard, before breaking right on the end again. “And I have to tell you something…”
I tensed, her breathy whisper was worse than the hard voice. She was not going to be imparting good news.
“Part of the promise I made the twins … I have to go with them into the Romanian prison, and they said that if you didn’t come also, that they couldn’t guarantee my safety. That sometimes supes got lost in the prison system and were never seen again.”
It was a direct threat, but I could tell that Mischa didn’t really see it that way.
“Fuck!” My arm fell off her shoulders as I jumped to my feet. “Why, Mischa? Why the hell would you agree to go into Krakov with them?”
I had a terrible feeling about this as I stood there staring her down. The fruit twins had already freed the marked from that prison, so what did they have to go back in there for?
Mischa rubbed at her face tiredly. “There is a key in there, or a weapon, I’m not totally sure. They promised it was for the benefit of the entire supernatural community. And all four of us would be required to free it.”
“You realize that we’re the other two points on this compass to free the dragon king, right?”
Mischa rose slowly until we stood face to face. “Yes.”
We were mirror images, facing off. “We can’t trust them, no matter what bullshit story they feed you about a weapon for the communities. This has something to do with the dragon king.”
She dropped her chin. Her submissive pose pissed me off and I fought the urge to capture that chin in my hand and wrench her face upwards.
“They … they helped me out. I got myself into a little trouble with one of the shifters and they saved my ass.”
And in return they assured she was guilted into a suspect scheme to infiltrate the prison. Mischa had given her word, and we tried not to break our word. Words held power, and it wasn’t good to tempt the gods with broken promises.
“Can the fruit twins shift into dragons?”
Mischa’s full lips parted, my change of subject had surprised her. “No, they’re not even shifters. They’ve never told me which race they’re from, but they use magic at times so I think witches. And I know I didn’t answer you before when you asked, but their mark is nothing like yours. It’s small.”
I knew her weird expression at the table had been hiding something. Damn, damn, damn. This was horseshit. I had really been hoping that I wasn’t the special one within an already chosen bunch. Whatever being north meant, it was not a good thing, I knew that without a doubt. The jinn’s words reverberated through my mind.