recently bruised by the magic in the collar. I reached my hands above my head and lifted my chin to the sky as I racked my brain for a place no one else knew.
Everything was so bright and clean here.
At NP, things were sterile and bare, but the pain of all the creatures housed there tainted it. I’d scrubbed my cell from top to bottom, but it had never felt clean. Not like home.
I breathed in again, and just because I could, I whispered one word, “Safe.”
That was what I wanted—to find a spot where I didn’t have to look over my shoulder. I wanted a life where fear wasn’t my primary emotion.
And I wasn’t sure there was anywhere I’d ever find that. I had to move. Here, I was a sitting duck.
As I walked, my feet sinking into the moss covering the land near the forest, the sun cut through the clouds. It lit everything up in shades of green and blue. Rays filtered through the leaves on the trees, bathing the forest in light. I’d never been a forest dwelling creature, but I’d never been a criminal either. So, I supposed there was as good as anywhere.
Ronan
That wasn’t our portal.
I hadn’t told Killian or Flynn this, but I continued to monitor Imogen after they’d left. Killian, the dark circles under his eyes nearly purple, had finally agreed to sleep. His reluctance was something I didn’t understand, but my brother had to put on a show of strength for everyone.
He wasn’t fooling Flynn or me, despite the effort.
Flynn was probably hovering around our brother’s door, ready to combat anyone who tried to bother him or wake him.
Which left me alone.
A state they presumed I preferred but didn’t. The only time I was truly content was with them. Protecting them.
Today, however, something made me stay back, gaze trained on the reflecting pool that showed me Imogen. Nothing much happened, except for this strangely aware mouse who sniffed his way through the bars toward the girl on the bed. I watched them, grinning, as she carried on a conversation with the thing as if it could understand her. So wrapped up in their little tête-a-tête, I didn’t notice the purple light. It was dim at first, just a glimmer in the corner of my eye, but grew brighter with each passing second.
My boots slammed against the floor as I jumped to my feet, and for one brief second, I wondered if my brothers had conjured it. It would be just like them. One tiny hint at innocence and they were ready to break her out of prison.
I wasn’t so certain, and until I was, she stayed right there, where I knew she was contained.
In front of her, the mouse darted back and forth, almost as if he was trying to herd her away. Good mouse. Keep her there for now.
The light was almost blinding as I gripped the sides of the pool and bent closer. I could barely make out the location within it, but wherever it was held Imogen rapt. She stared, rocking forward as if being physically drawn inside.
“Stay where you are,” I growled. But, like my brothers, she didn’t listen.
With one quick glance over her shoulder, and then down to the only being I could apparently trust—the mouse—she stepped inside.
Immediately, the light dimmed, and I got a peek at the place she was headed. Blue water and thick green moss.
The loch.
The light disappeared, and the portal shut with an audible snap of magic. I spun, ready to conjure my own portal so I could drag her back to prison.
But something stopped me.
Maybe it was the nervous glance she’d thrown over her shoulder, or maybe it was the image of her writhing on the floor as the collar countered her lament.
Or maybe it was a memory of a different time and a girl who looked at me not as the lesser brother but as Ronan. She wasn’t afraid of me. She didn’t flinch when I met her gaze.
She’d seen who I was, and that person was enough.
So, I watched her walk through the portal, and I hesitated. What if my brothers were right?
What if she was innocent?
This could be an opportunity to determine that once and for all. She’d either finish what she started and try to murder my brother.
Or she’d hide and stay quiet.
Sighing, I left the room holding the reflecting pool and made my way to Killian’s room. I knew what they’d say, but I had to