10
Our small group marched down the stairs and through the closed doors of the trophy room. The area was deserted except for the dancing flames in the fire.
“Where are they?” Cherny spoke up.
“Your guess is as good as ours,” I told him as Caius and I perused the area.
“Isn’t the woman your friend or something?” he wondered.
I snorted. “It’s not quite like that.”
Caius stopped by the mantel and stretched one arm over the marble hearth. He stared hard into the fire with his lips tightly pursed.
I sidled up to him and set a hand on his shoulder. “Are you getting flashbacks of the Edict when she was just a few steps ahead of us?”
He nodded. “Yeah, and this time the stakes are higher.”
My heart fell. “I guess. . .”
He cast a side glance at me. “You still don’t want it?”
I shoo
