AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I cursed my personal hygiene and stepped into the cell.
"Well, well, it's about time you got here," Kerina drawled. She was reclined on a mattress on the floor, her back to the wall. Her arms were crossed over her chest.
Devlin sat on the opposite side of the cell in a similar posture. Only Dex, who sat between them, seemed relaxed. He could have been lounging beside a pool.
"Yeah, sorry, I only just got the invitation." I kept my usual stony expression, but my self control was pushed to the limit when the door closed behind me. Lesser men would scream and shout. I wouldn’t do either, especially in front of these three.
"That's what happens when we don't know where you send your mail," Dex said lightly. "I'm starting to think Viva has a point about getting internet set up here."
"Right." I lowered myself onto a fourth mattress. "You could have sent me a text."
"You two are stupid," Devlin said, "if you think you could get phone or internet reception down here."
"He's right, you know," Kerina said.
"I'm always right," Devlin replied. "It comes with the job."
Dex glanced at him drolly and quirked his eyebrows, but said nothing. Evidently they'd used humour to get them through, but that seemed to be wearing thin.
"So," Kerina said after a few moments of awkward silence. "The gang is all back together."
I snorted. "Seems like it. Nice of you to wait for me before you escaped."
"Don't be silly," Dex said. "We couldn't have done it any other way. We talked about it, but we decided to sit back and wait until you came to us."
"And if I didn't?" I asked.
"You would," Dex said with certainty. He eyed the door. "Where is Viva?"
I exhaled softly, then filled them in on the last few days. "I guess she decided revenge was better than being stuck here with us."
"I love you to bits," Kerina said, "but I don't want to be stuck here with any of you."
"What about me?" Devlin asked.
She drew back to the side of her mouth. "Not even you, sir. No offence intended."
"Offence taken anyway," he said coldly. "This isn't my idea of a holiday."
"Sorry about that," Dex said cheerfully, obviously trying to break the tension. "I can't help but feel responsible. This happened under my roof."
Devlin shrugged one shoulder. "Yes, but it was my bitch of a wife who instigated it."
"With help from that Seth guy," Dex said. "The moral is, there's plenty of blame to go around." He briefly explained how he'd been drugged, and woke up to find the coup all but over.
"None of it matters now," I said firmly. "What does matter is getting out of here and taking back the Residence."
"With four of us?" Devlin looked sceptical.
"Not just four," Kerina said. "Thisfour. We're practically an army."
"What she said." Dex jerked a thumb toward her. "Bain and Kerina alone could take down half the guards in the place."
"If they weren't hemitheos," I said. "There has to be a way to know who is what."
"Can you read them?" Dex asked, his eyes intent on me.
"Not unless they are thinking about it," I admitted, frustrated with my own shortcomings.
