Stay

My heart was beating a mile a minute.

“Let go of me you idiots!” The woman screamed to the two Pterons who held her.

Toby glared at her. “Let go of you? You nearly killed the future queen.”

I wrapped my arms around myself, still trying to make sense of what had just happened.

Toby walked over and put an arm around me. “It’s Tiffany. It has to be. Somehow she’s changed her appearance.”

I looked at her; there was nothing familiar about her face. She looked nothing like the college student I knew. “How do you know it’s her?”

“It’s what she said. The kinky games. Only a handful of people would know that.”

“Uh…” Considering everything that admission shouldn’t have freaked me out, but it did.

“Oh. Wait. No.” He shook his head. “Let me rephrase that. Only a few people would say I liked that kind of stuff. It’s just some stupid thing that happened a while back. I promise it was nothing, but only Allie and her friends were there. Everything clicked.”

“Look at this!” A Pteron guard called and Toby and I hurried over. The liquid was gone, and in its place was a hole in the floor.

“Oh my god.” I put a hand to my chest. “If you hadn’t jumped in when you did…”

“But I did.” Toby pulled me tighter against him. “You’re okay.”

I walked back to Tiffany. I still couldn’t believe it was the same person.

“Are we sure it’s her?” Georgina stepped toward the woman. “Are we sure this is the same witch?”

The woman laughed. “Oh, Georgina. How nice to see you again.”

“It’s you?” Georgina’s eyes bugged out. “You dated Robert before he married Helen.”

“I guess what they say about you is true, you never forget a face.”

“So all this was what? Jealousy? You couldn’t let Robert have happiness?” Georgina said the words through gritted teeth.

“None of you deserve happiness or the throne,” the woman spat out.

Georgina moved forward in a blur and punched her. “I will get you back. I will make sure every moment of your life is served in repayment for the lives you stole from me. You are a black hearted woman, and you don’t deserve to have air to breath.”

“Then kill me.” The woman, who I still couldn’t think of as Tiffany, laughed. “Just get it over with.”

“Death would be far too kind of a punishment for you.” Georgina looked at the men holding her. “Take her to the private prison. Angola would be too easy on her.” The men turned and headed to the door.

We all watched as the woman was dragged out in chains.

“My mom. We have to call and find out what happened.” I dialed her, but I only got her voicemail.

Before I could panic, I tried another number. Eric’s.

“Casey?” He picked up on the first ring.

“How is everyone?”

“We’re fine. Gareth’s men took care of the enemy before they even got to shore. Tiffany wasn’t with them.”

“I know.”

“What do you mean?” He sounded panicked.

“She was here.”

“Are you okay?” It wasn’t Eric yelling on the other end of the phone.

“Gareth?”

“Yes. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine, but can I talk to my mom?”

“Of course.” There was a rustling.

“Honey?”

“Mom, I just wanted to tell you I love you.”

She sniffled. “I love you too.”

“Toby saved me.”

“I find new reasons to like that boy all the time.”

I smiled. “I need to go, but I promise I’ll see you soon. Have you heard from Vera?”

“I assume she’d call you first.”

“Maybe…”

“Do you want me to come tomorrow? If I leave now I can get there.”

“Tomorrow?”

“Your coronation. We just heard the news.”

“My coronation. Right.” I’d nearly forgotten about it with all the commotion. “That’s all right. Toby’s with me.”

“I’m proud of you.”

“That means more to me than you could know.”

“Good night, honey.”

“Good night.” I hung up. Every conversation with my mom was far too short.

Toby pulled me into his arms. “There’s never a dull moment in our lives, is there?”

I shook my head. “But right now I’m just so grateful to have a life.”

“Me too, and I’m grateful to have you in it.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Jared

I liked flying with Vera. That was becoming abundantly clear. It was a long flight, one I’d never subject a human too, but Vera wasn’t human. Part of me hated that—hated that she was so much more complicated because of that, but the other part of me loved it. I loved that I didn’t have to worry about her nearly as much. She was spirited, spunky, and completely unafraid to speak her mind. All of that and an amazing body. Being with her was torture. She was the best thing I could never have.

“I could do this every day!” She yelled over the wind even though she didn’t have to. I would have heard her even if she’d whispered the words.

“I get to do it every day.”

“Gee, thanks for rubbing it in.”

“What he means is he’ll take you flying every day,” Owen butted in. He was good at that. He had no right to talk. He was king of keeping girls at bay. He’d only let a handful of girls get under his skin, and after one broke his heart, he never gave any others much attention. Maybe one day that would change, but currently he just needed to get off my back. He knew that my touching Vera was out of the question. At least touching her more than I had already. I started thinking about our kiss and my body heated. I needed to stop that line of thought. I was flying. Couldn’t I keep it together? Of course it was hard to do that with her body pressed against mine. Damn it. She could probably feel exactly what I was thinking about.

“I warned you about getting a hard on while we fly.”

Yeah, she’d noticed. “It’s your fault.”

“My fault?”

“Yes, you keep rubbing your ass against me.”

“I’m not rubbing anything. I’m being held by you hundreds of feet in the air. Trust me when I say turning you on isn’t on my to-do list.”