Mark of Betrayal (Dark Secrets #3)(72)
Author: A.M. Hudson

“Turns out girls hate you because they’re angry at you for not noticing that they like you.” Blade shrugged.

“Is that so?” Mike raised a brow in my direction. “Good to know.”

“Hey, Chief.” Quaid came bounding into the room and sat down on one of the chairs. “What’s on the agenda today?”

Mike stood taller and folded his arms, looking at me. “Discussing the knighting ceremony.”

Quaid’s face lit up. “Did you ask her?”

Mike shook his head. “I’m just about to.”

“Ask who what?” I said.

“Ask you.” Quaid tipped a chair back and forth with his foot.

“We want to move the knighting ceremony to tomorrow,” Blade said.

“What?”

“There’s no sense in waiting. Saves getting the people out here again for another festival,” Mike added. “We need to take action and get ready for this attack on La Chat—I mean Elysium.”

“But…if you do that, I can’t be there for it.”

“I know.” Mike looked down at his folded arms and nodded. “But it’s only the Ritual of Rights you’ll miss—you kinda have to be there for the ceremony, since you’re the one who knights us.”

I swiped a hand slowly across my forehead, wiping away the sweat of the summer day, sneaking in through the open hatch up top.

“And,” Mike said, taking a deep breath. “If we can get your approval, we want to move in on Drake Monday night.”

“Monday?”

“Yes.” He looked at Falcon as he came in. “We’d do it Sunday, after the crowning, but we all have to attend that stupid ball.”

“So that leaves Monday,” Blade said.

“But…I’m not ready yet, I—”

“You won’t be coming.” Mike leaned on the wall, tucking his foot up under his thigh.

“The hell I won’t!”

“Baby, look, we’ve been dicking around—wasting time. Drake knows you’re alive. If he comes here, we can keep you safe, but casualties would be insurmountable. I don’t want to sit on this any longer.”

“Fine, but if you plan to strike Monday, I’m coming with you.”

“Out of the question.”

“Why do you always say that?” I stomped my foot. “It’s not fair. I’m Lilithian. I’m powerful, Mike. You’ve seen it. Why won’t you trust me?”

“I trust you, Ara. But there’s no need for you to be there. My bite, Blade’s bite, they all do the same thing—and we’re stronger than you are. Ryder pinned you in training yesterday.” He held his palm out as Ryder came in. “If he can pin you, especially being a newb, it’s a damn sure bet Drake can.”

“I agree, Ara.” Blade moved into me; I shrugged away from his touch. “You don’t need to be there.”

“But that’s not on topic right now,” Mike said. “I need to move the ceremony to Sunday morning—right after your first official session of Court. We’ll perform our rituals in the forest while you’re doing your Walk of Faith, and—”

“That’s what this is about?” My narrowed gaze fell over Mike and his conspiring. “You don’t want me out in the forest alone! That’s what this really is, isn’t it?” I yelled.

He shrank, all eyes in the room on him. “Baby, this is because we need to move in on Drake. We all gain power from swearing an oath, too. Okay. So this is not just about you!”

It was my turn to shrink. His voice had that effect.

Mike sighed and slumped down in a chair, making a steeple of his fingers in front of his lips. “Look, Ara…I’m worried about you.” He looked right at me. “I think we need to bring David back into the picture, and I can’t do that until Drake’s locked up or dead.”

“Why do we need David back?” I looked around at all my knights. “What’s the big deal?”

Mike’s tongue moved around the corner of his lip for a second; he looked at Falcon, who stepped forward.

“We think you’ve been away from David for too long,” Falcon said.

Mike stood up, scuffing his chair across the floor until it hit the wall softly. “It’s not good for you two to be apart. Morg says you’re not right—she says there are things she can’t tell me because they’re personal—” He ran both hands through his hair, “—things about you, and the only thing she can tell me is that we need to hurry and get David back.”

“They’re two pieces of one puzzle,” Quaid said from his seat at the table; we all looked over at him. “Keep them apart too long and the equilibrium starts to shift.”

“Yeah.” Mike nodded slowly. “That’s it, isn’t it? It’s like the world isn’t right, somehow. It makes me uneasy.”

“And I’ve never seen David like this either.” Emily gently placed her fingers against mine.

“Em!” I spun around quickly and wrapped my arms around her neck. “Oh my God. It’s so good to see you.”

“I missed you too, Ara—you and all your crazy.” She laughed and stood back. “Are you okay? How are you feeling about tonight?”

I shrugged one shoulder, looking at my feet. “We’ll talk later?”

“Okay.” She squeezed my fingertips.

I wanted to tell her everything about the whole magic pheromones curse—tell her she was right; there was no true reason for all these guys to keep falling for me, but a part of me wondered if she already knew. David always told her things he couldn’t tell me; she was starting to feel like an extension—the part of me David could confide in; the sensible, reasonable, mature part of me. Best of both worlds. I suddenly felt the weight of all the bullshit they used to fertilise the Mushroom Land I’d been living in.

At some point, while I was lost in thought, everyone had decided, despite my disagreement, that the ceremonial procedures for the knighting would begin tonight, after I started my Walk of Faith—ending tomorrow when I would officially knight them into the Core.

“Are you kidding? It makes us official.” Blade grinned.

“Yeah, all the hours of practice and study—it’s time to get a title for it,” Quaid said.

“You know, I always wanted to be a knight when I grew up.” Ryder leaned back in his chair.

“Then you better hurry and grow up,” Blade said.

“I’ll give you grow up.” Ryder dived off his chair, pummelling Blade, and they fell to the ground, scuffling about, laughing harder than they were punching.