Oath Bound (Unbound) - By Rachel Vincent Page 0,61
a survivor named Sera,” Kori whispered, even though we could all hear the shower running. “If she doesn’t find anything in the immediate area, she’ll widen the search.”
“She won’t find anything local.” I laid my arms over the back of the chair, my voice almost as low as hers. “Sera’s definitely not a city mouse.”
“Or so she’d have us think.” Kori’s gaze narrowed on me. “Do you believe her?”
“About everything? No. About that? Yes. Anne says she’s hiding something, and we have no reason not to trust Anne. But I believe Sera doesn’t know the city and truly has no clue about the Towers.”
Ian sank onto the love seat in front of a large window. My room had only one small window, and no couch. “Do you trust her?”
That was a more complicated question. “I don’t know.”
“That’s kind of a ‘no’ by default.” Kori shrugged. “Either you trust her, or you don’t.”
“I don’t trust her yet.” But I wanted to. And I wanted her to trust me.
Ian pulled Kori down with him on the couch. “Maybe we’ll be able to once we figure out who the hell she is.”
“Crossing my fingers for Vanessa on that account,” I said, and Kori gave me that same I’m-laughing-at-you-but-you’re-too-dumb-to-know-it grin she’d been using on me since the sixth grade.
“Cross your fingers for yourself.” She glanced at Ian and he smiled. “If I had any money, I’d bet that you’ll get her talking long before Van can dig up anything reliable.”
“Kor, Sera hates me.”
My sister’s smile refused to die, and if it weren’t so good to see her happy—even at my expense—I might have tried to rid her of it. “Maybe. But you’re the only one she’s really spoken to so far, other than Hadley. That has to mean something.”
But I had my doubts.
Ian shrugged. “Either way, we’re safer with her here, unless she’s a mole planted by Julia Tower.” But if that were the case, Anne would have known Sera was lying.
“We may be safer. But Kenley isn’t,” Kori said, and the mood in the room sobered instantly. We hadn’t forgotten about her—not even for a second—but hearing her name brought all our anger, fear and frustration to the surface.
Ian put one arm around her. “We’ll get her back, Kori. But there’s nothing we can do for her tonight, and we won’t be much good to her tomorrow without some rest. So kick your brother out of here, so we can all get some sleep.”
“Get out, brother, so we can all get some sleep,” Kori said, obviously struggling to maintain the illusion of optimism.
I stood, already backing toward the door. “You have to stop using ‘sleep’ as a euphemism.”
I closed the door on their soft laughter and began my first-floor security scan, specifically checking on the window Ian had covered, which now felt safer than the ones that still held glass. Then I checked on Gran, who was snoring on her left side, and on the hall closet, which stood wide open, lit from within by a bare bulb hanging from the ceiling.
All the other rooms held a single infrared bulb in a floor lamp with no shade. We kept them on all the time as a security precaution. They shed no visible light, but kept the darkness too shallow for shadow-walkers to utilize.
Upstairs, Van was clicking away at her laptop in the room at the end of the hall, and I knew without asking that she wouldn’t get much sleep, in spite of the late hour. Not with Kenley missing. But at least she’d found something constructive to do with the time.
When I was sure everything was secure and everyone was safe—except for Kenley—I headed into my own room. Then stopped cold with my hand still on the doorknob.
Sera stood naked in the middle of the floor with her back to me, a towel in her left hand, a T-shirt in her right.
For about half a second, I had a stunning, unimpeded view of one of the most beautiful sights I’d ever seen. She was slim, and soft and every curve on her body seemed designed to fit into my hand, or under my lips, or into my mouth...
Then she half-turned and saw me, and if she hadn’t choked on surprise, she’d surely have screamed loud enough to break every pane of glass in the house. Fear flashed behind her eyes for just an instant, replaced almost immediately by blazing fury as she dropped the shirt and clutched the towel to her chest,