Was she asking—my face flushed bright red, and I couldn’t look at her.
“I thought I sensed something.” She sighed, and glanced toward the hall, and the bathroom. “There may be more at work here than we think,” she said quietly. “For now, take the crystal twice a day, two heaping spoons each time. We’ll get you topped up, and then see, okay?”
I nodded.
The Watcher broke a bunch of eggs into a bowl and handed it to me, along with a whisk. “Beat those up, would you?” She placed a brick of cheese and a grater down beside me. “Add that, too.” She returned to the fridge and rummaged. “I think I have some meat strips in here.”
As she withdrew with the strips in hand, she said, “I think it is time you told me about Victor.”
My gut clenched. “What do you want to know?”
She looked over, and the sympathy in her eyes almost undid me. “Whatever you can tell me.”
I swallowed. And then, to my surprise, I told her. Everything. About how we’d grown up together. His recruitment by Isobel. How I’d believed…
The entire sordid tale, and it didn’t take nearly as long as it should have. My life, summed up in ten minutes.
Sort of embarrassing.
Then I told her about the Trinity. She froze until the strips started sizzling, and then pushed them around before asking, “Describe them to me.”
I did. And then I dropped the bombshell. “I think that twisted Torshin, Finn, fathered them.”
The fork clattered to the table. Cara placed her hands on the counter and leaned on them. “Are you sure?”
“Caliel thinks so, too.”
“And you saw Victor meeting with other underlords?”
“Yes.”
Cara reclaimed the fork, and I fell silent as she pushed the meat around again. “The realms may never recover,” she stated, “from the evil that Sorceress has unleashed upon them.”
Isobel. She was talking about Isobel. “Finn was at the heart of all that she had started.” Why was I defending Isobel? Wasn’t I over that?
“It is Isobel who gave that Torshin access to the Liberi power.” Cara sounded as though she spoke through gritted teeth. “She has only enhanced his ability to destroy. He is evil incarnate.”
The truth settled on me like a blanket. I wasn’t defending Isobel—I was defending my choice to follow her. Because evil was a good word for those three not-children. As for Victor…
Well, the word fit him, too.
I beat the eggs until they were frothy, and then set them aside and began to grate cheese.
Riggs emerged from the hall, clad only in a towel around his waist, with his skin still damp from the bath, and all his tatts—and muscles—on glorious display.
Wow. I dropped the grater into the eggs.
One corner of his mouth quirked up as he addressed Cara. “Do you have anything I can wear?”
How could she not even look up from frying the meat strips? She pointed back to the hall. “Second door on the right. The closet has spare clothes. You two can eat, and then you’d better get back to your dorms. We’re going to have to dredge up a cover story for you.”
“Thanks.” He might not have scales, but his voice still rumbled. He turned and disappeared down the hall, offering me a spectacular glimpse of the muscular back and the upper curve of his butt above the towel.
“I’m ready for those eggs,” Cara said.
I ripped my eyes away. She wasn’t looking at me, but I was pretty sure she was smirking.
So I fished the grater out of the bowl and decided that was enough cheese. But as I rose to take it to her, my mind danced with Dragons…
