Chapter 34

"What the hell was she talking about?" Malik demanded as soon as the two of them were out of the office.

Adeena glared at him from beneath her hood, but she made sure he could still see her face. "It's none of your business," she growled, trying to brush past him.

But his hand wrapped around her elbow, stopping her mid-stride. "Hey, stop..."

Her tone was laced with so much venom and sharpness that it had him flinching. "Don't touch me, Malik. Don't you dare fucking touch me. Not after that."

Dropping his hand, he held both out in front of him in surrender. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't...gods, I've been so worried about you. It's been weeks and you never sent word on how you were, what was going on. I just..."

"Not here, not now," she cut in. There were too many eyes and ears there in the palace, ones that were likely creeping up on them then. "Meet me in an hour. You know the place."

And with that, Adeena left him there to watch her walk away.

There was no swallowing the lump in her throat that formed, even as she made her way out of the palace, down a few side streets, and through the hidden archway that led down into the tunnels below Krahzara. Her feet brought her where she planned to go, walking through tunnel after tunnel, across the bubbling underground spring, right to the only locked doorway that led right up to the Guild's house.

As soon as Adeena pushed open the vault door leading inside, one only she could open, she tilted her head to the side, staring up at the ceiling as if she could see straight through to the floors above. The house was uncharacteristically quiet, even though she knew all five of the Guild's assassins should be back.

Everyone sat around her office, one of the few places that hadn't been touched. Warek was leaned against the front of her desk, thick arms crossed over his chest. Selise stood beside him, her navy hair pulled back into two thick plaits and dressed in one of her favorite gossamer gowns. Then there were the other three who she hadn't seen in a longer amount of time.

Dante lounged in one of the arm chairs, his skin more bronze than she remembered from his time in Rezuvell and golden hair expertly brushed into a swoop across his forehead. The mage Taeva sat beside him, one leg crossed over the other, dressed in her training gear with her tightly curled black hair a halo around her head. The contrast between her dark skin and light blue eyes always had Adeena staring, which was how she usually drew in those she'd been assigned to kill. And, of course, the sweet, half-orc Zakari, looking as uncomfortable and out of place as he ever did, standing beside the blazing fire with a glass of amber liquid in hand. As soon as he spotted Adeena, he downed the rest of the contents and placed the glass on the mantel.

"Glad to see you all home in one piece," Adeena smiled, shifting out of her jacket. She tossed it over the back of her chair before she sat down.

Dante raised one golden brow. "We heard you've been off on an adventure of your own these last few weeks. And in Arloerin of all places."

"That's not why I sent the message to you."

"A message that was very cryptic, even for you," Taeva snorted. "You told Warek to start packing up the house. Are we moving? I've always liked it here..."

"I'm moving the Guild of Starlight to Arloerin as soon as I can," Adeena finally said, cutting her off.

Zakari straightened as his brows furrowed. "What? Why?"

"Because I decided we no longer work for the empress. I no longer work for the empress. And I...I want to go home."

All five of them, even Warek and Selise, looked at her in confusion. She didn't have time to tell them her entire story, though, not when she needed to go upstairs and see her grandfather, not when Malik would be there within the hour, and certainly not when she had her own rooms to pack up before she figured out how to get that godsforsaken necklace from Sophea.

"I know everyone here has their own past they want to keep to themselves. I've always made it seem like I didn't know anything but the Guild...but I did. You all know my name – Adeena. You even call me Addie when I have to play my part around Krahzara. You know that I have one rule for this guild and one rule only – you are never to take the life of someone from Arloerin. Never. The reason, which I've never given you, is because it was my home long before it became the greatest kingdom in all of Laria. What you don't know is my full name, the one given to me by my parents. It is Adeena Lucerra Brandt."

There was no need to tell them who shared the same double surname. They'd heard it before, whispered on the lips of every Larian royal, of every commoner.

Zakari's eyes widened as he sat down on the arm of Taeva's chair. "Queen Cleo..."

"Is my twin sister who believes me and my grandfather were killed when I was four years old. Though those closest to Cleo still know of me, I am pretty much nothing more than a memory in the minds of those who heard the story of what happened. My name has been all but forgotten, which is why I didn't mind telling it to you, though you all still call me Addie to keep up pretenses. But I'm not going to hide who I really am anymore. Not from you, not from all of Laria, and certainly not from Cleo and my grandmother Renna. So...that's why I'm moving the Guild to Arloerin. Come if you want or stay here, but still know that I am master over all of you and what I say goes."

Silence swept through the room as all eyes remained on hers.

Warek was the first to start grinning. "I've never been to Arloerin...and would follow you anywhere. I'm in."

Selise nodded with him. "Of course, I am, too."

Dante and Taeva held no hesitation.

"Going straight to the source of the best wine in Laria? Definitely," Dante said, giving her a two finger salute.

Taeva sighed in content, leaning her head back against the chair. "And all those beautiful males who will give me anything I want? That's a definitely for me, too."

Adeena pointed a finger at every one of them. "And just like before, there will be absolutely no assignments taken for anyone from Arloerin. Got it?"

They all agreed.

And then came Zakari, who she pulled up to stand in front of her. "You, though..."

The half-orc was trying to control his shaking hands as she gripped them. "Adeena, I can't."

She smiled, reaching up to cup his cheek in her palm. "I know. And I don't expect you to. I do, however, want to make you my beneficiary. This house will still be under my name – Lady Addie Merlo, that is – but I want you to stay here and take care of it. And as for your assignments..."

He swallowed hard.

"I don't want you taking any. That is not your job anymore. You've always had a mind for money, even though you didn't have any of your own and didn't like taking it. That's your job now. Growing my accounts, investing in places you deem profitable in the future...and making sure everyone in that orphanage is still taken care of no matter how long they're there before finding a home and family."

For the first time since she pulled him out of the orphanage at seventeen, tears filled Zakari's eyes as weight seemed to lift off his shoulders. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"You're very welcome," she whispered, leaning up to kiss his cheek. She turned to glare at everyone else then, though her smile was still there. "Now, the rest of you...what are you sitting around for? Let's get moving."

***

Adeena stood in front of her grandfather's closed doors, wringing her jacket in her hands, nervously trying to find it in herself to open them. She didn't know what she would find when she saw him for the first time in weeks. Though his healer's letters had said he was doing better than ever, she was still preparing herself to see him in his almost catatonic state, staring at one of his canvases as his brush swept across it.

Taking a deep breath through her nose, she couldn't put it off any longer, pushing open one door and peering inside the brightly lit room. Where dozens upon dozens of paintings had once lined the walls, there was nothing but the floral wallpaper, lighter in the places that had been covered, giving the ghostly outlines of where frames once hung. The curtains were tied back, bathing the entire space in warm light, matching the mood of the one person there.

Her grandfather was carefully packing up the last of his painting supplies, back to her. His movements were fluid and sure, jacket and pants neatly pressed, boots polished, hair swept effortlessly into place...

And his smile...gods, she almost started crying as soon as he turned and saw her, his smile stretching wide as soon as he did.

"Adeena, you're home," Evander said, holding out his arms for her.

Unsuccessfully choking back her tears, she rushed forward, tossing her jacket across his desk, and immediately curled herself into his embrace. "I'm home. And I've missed you. Not just because of these last few weeks away, but..."

"I've missed you so much, especially now that I'm...more myself than I've been in a very, very long time," he told her, kissing the top of her head. "I hope you didn't get into too much trouble while you were away."

"Never," she laughed, leaning back to look at him again.

Her grandfather took her face in his hands, eyes wide as if he were really seeing her for the first time. In a way, after being so lost within his own mind after all these years, he was. It had Adeena crying all over again. And smiling. And then laughing.

"I saw Grandma Renna, but with my glamour, she didn't recognize me. She's so beautiful, just like she's always been in your paintings. I talked to her for just a moment but I...I can't wait to see her again. To see her as me. For us to see her as Adeena and Evander. I don't know what she'll do once she realizes..."

Her grandfather pulled her in close once more, resting his cheek on top of her head. "We will see her soon, my darling. There is one other matter we have to take care of beforehand, though."

Of course, he would know.

"Sophea."

"Yes, Sophea."

Adeena sighed, wiping the back of her hands under her eyes. "Malik should be here any minute. I have a lot of explaining to do to him, especially once he realized his mother has a stronger hold on me than he ever realized before."

Evander grasped her hand and gave her another clear smile. "I shall be right there beside you."

"And once I'm free from her grasp...we're going home. Our real home. Arloerin with Cleo and Grandma Renna."

Looping her arm through his and picking up her jacket with the other, grandfather and granddaughter walked down the hallway back toward Adeena's office. Before they even turned the corner, raised voices echoed toward them, but it wasn't the one Adeena was expecting.

Warek and Selise were raging at Malik as the crown prince stood in the open doorway of the office. For having two assassins going at him with just their words, he was standing straight and unfazed, but locked up as soon as he caught sight of Adeena and Evander heading his way.

"I'd love to watch her light you up, Crown Prince, but I rather like this dress and don't want blood on it," Selise told him with a humorless laugh after she saw them walking down the hall.

Warek leaned around him, looking into the office before back at him. "And we know several places we could bury bodies, even those of prominent princes of Krahzara. He does realize he's in the house of the best assassins in all of Laria, correct? Or does he want to find out on a personal level?"

Adeena let go of her grandfather's arm to step forward as Warek and Selise strode away from them. "What are they talking about, Malik?" she questioned coolly as she stopped in front of him. "Because if they're already wanted to murder you, I know you've probably..."

Her grandfather, Warek, and Selise all took that as their leave, knowing her temper was more than likely going to get the best of her.

But Malik didn't say a word, just stepped to the side so she could make her way into the office. The door closed silently behind them. Nothing was out of place. Not her desk, the few plushy chairs, not even one book on the bookshelves.

Until she saw who stood right in the center of it all, arms crossed over his chest, eyes wide and staring at his surrounding, a new place he'd never been before...before those eyes landed on her, staring at her Lady in White attire, her jacket still over her arm.

Prince Kaveh.

"What have you done?" Adeena whispered to Malik, her hand already inching toward her dagger. Her voice pitched upward as she finally glared at the crown prince. "What the hell have you done?"

"I..."

In a flash, her dagger was glinting in the firelight as she threaded it through her fingers, then pressed the blade to his throat. "You told him?"

Just as he was with the other assassins, Malik didn't flinch. "We need him. You've got to trust me on this."

"How can I trust you when you're the one who let my secret out? How?"

"He doesn't know about that yet."

"But he will."

"He will."

Adeena's mind was racing as she stared at her best friend since childhood, still tempted very much to cut him into ribbons and strewn him all over Krahzara for his mother to witness.

But then she was looking back at his brother.

Kav's eyes were still wide, still on the white leather instead of on her face. All he was seeing was the Lady in White, not the female with the same features as the Queen of Arloerin, as she walked toward him, stopping just a foot away. His hands were shaking as he curled them into fists at his sides, feeling her magic roll off her in raging waves. It wasn't Kav she was furious at, of course, but that wasn't stopping it.

"Look at me, Kaveh," Adeena said quietly.

Gone was the livid prince who stood in his mother's office and in his place was a nervous boy who still couldn't look her in the eyes.

Adeena took one step closer, lifting one hand to his chin to lift it, though his eyes didn't follow.

"Look at me," she commanded once more, though it came out no more than a whisper.

Finally, Prince Kaveh's eyes lifted.

Focused.

And widened as soon as he saw a familiar yet different face staring back at him.

"You..." he stumbled, shaking his head quickly. "You're..."

Adeena smiled, feeling another small weight lifted from her shoulders. "I go by many names, Kav. Most notable is the Lady in White throughout Laria. Another is Lady Addie Merlo here in Krahzara. But my real name...my real name hasn't left the lips of those who actually know it in so, so long. Because that name, that little girl was supposed to have died many years ago. That name...my real name is Adeena Lucerra Brandt."

There was no need in telling him who she shared that surname with. The scent of lilac and sea salt – the scent of Cleo – was intertwined with his own, something that caught her so off guard it had her looking back at Malik to see if he noticed, too.

"You're Cleo's twin sister," Kav finally whispered, making Adeena turned her attention back to him. "She...she's told me about you. How you and your grandfather died..."

"My grandfather is alive, too, and finally back to himself after all these years."

Kav all but collapsing into the chair in front of the desk, head in his hands.

"You knew," he accused Malik. "You've known who she was all along, and you didn't tell Cleo anything. No wonder you two have been close since you were children. You've betrayed her in a way no one else has in keeping this secret. You didn't even tell me."

Malik leveled a narrowed stare at his brother. "It wasn't my secret to tell. And you know how my relationship with Cleo's been..."

"But over these last twenty years? You promised each other you'd try. You'd try and regain each other's trust and friendship and yet you still keep this from her."

The crown prince didn't answer.

"Why?" Kav choked out after a long moment of silence, dragging both hands through his hair. He was looking to Adeena then. "Why did you do this to her? To Cleo? To Renna? Do you realize how much they still grieve for you? Gods, that first time Cleo told me about you...about what happened...I have never seen her cry until then. How could you...how could you do that to your sister?"

"How could I do it?" Adeena repeated, her laugh on the edge of a little manic. "I didn't do anything. Your mother is the one who's kept me here. Sophea's the one to hold me when all I want to do is go home to my sister and grandmother, for our family to be somewhat whole again."

"Then what's stopping you?" Kav demanded, standing once more as he stalked toward her. Another wave of fury washed over him as his light hazel eyes darkened. He made a move to grab her, but then seemed to remember who and what she was and dropped his hand.

"Your mother is my reason," she answered. "That stone she's worn around her neck for over a century? It's what ties my magic to her for her to control. I might have been four when she tried to have me killed, but I was the reason me and my grandfather came back to this world form the land of light and shadows. Her friends in higher places? One of them is practically a death god, one who I pissed off when he couldn't hold his grip on me, so he tied my magic to that stone with a spell and gave it to her. One command and I have to obey it."

Both Malik and Kav were silent.

"How come you've never told me?" Malik asked her then, stepping up to her side. "I could have done something, could have gotten it away from her and to you instead..."

Adeena gave him a wavering smile. "You wouldn't be able to. She has to give it willingly and I highly doubt she'll be doing that anytime soon. Until then, I'm bound to Krahzara and can't leave, no matter how much I want to."

No matter what she had planned for herself, her grandfather, her guild...none of it could happen until she was free.

"Is it blood magic that allows her to be the only user?" Kav questioned. "Because we're her sons...so shouldn't we be able to get it, to free you?"

She was shaking her head before he even finished. "I don't think it'll work like that."

He wasn't taking that as an answer. "I would much rather see my queen with you at her side than to have her think her sister is gone from her forever. Over these last four year, I've seen her the happiest she's ever been and yet she still misses you the most. You and your grandfather's absence in her life and in Renna's will forever be a dark cloud hanging over both of them. Change it. Please, change it."

Malik snorted out a humorless laugh. "Why do you care about her so much when she absolutely despises you? I know you love getting to go to Arloerin just to annoy the shit out of Cleo, but..."