Tammi strolled in, her face now fully healed and slightly flushed. “There you are! What the hell happened to you? You were supposed to meet us outside the Chambers.”
“Josiah,” Rosalind managed. It was all she could get out right then. If she divulged the full details, she’d break into hysterical sobs—and she wanted to do that when she was alone.
Tammi frowned, approaching across the stone floor. “Caine said you found your twin. Where is she?”
Rosalind shook her head. “I found her, but she wasn’t right. Mentally. I think Josiah warped her mind. The Brotherhood has a way of doing that to people.”
“So what happened to her?” Aurora asked. “Ambrose will want to know.”
Rosalind blinked, fatigue overtaking her. “She ran off. She seemed to think Josiah was her savior. My guess is that she’s wandering around Cambridge, ranting about her protector.”
“That’s some serious Stockholm Syndrome shit,” Aurora said.
Right now, Rosalind couldn’t handle the guilt—the crushing weight of having sent her sister to the torture chambers.
Then again, maybe Rosalind was just as much a victim of the Brotherhood as Miranda had been—after all, the Brotherhood had a way of warping a person’s mind.
“Is Malphus all right?” Caine asked.
“Orcus is tending to him,” Aurora said. “What’s our plan now? How long are we staying?”
Caine rubbed his sternum where he’d been stabbed. “Rosalind and Tammi should stay here for now. You and I will return to Lilinor with Malphus when night falls. We’ve just provoked an all-out war with the Brotherhood, and we need to report to Ambrose.”
Aurora put her hands on her hips. “He won’t be happy that we lost Miranda.”
Caine glanced at Rosalind. “We’ll find Miranda again. I promise. But right now I’m going to check on my brother. You should all get some rest.”
Without a backward glance, he stepped out of the celestial room, and the girls followed behind him. Tammi closed the door, leaving Rosalind on her own.
Alone at last, she threw herself on the bed, her body burning with exhaustion. Caine was an amazing healer, but even he couldn’t fix everything.
She pulled down the covers, climbing into the bed before blowing out the candles.
She closed her eyes, and the dreams that flickered through her sleep were of a girl whose face looked just like her own, of dandelions and bluebell flowers, and sea foam running over her toes.
When she woke in the darkness hours later, she was almost certain someone had brushed a soft kiss across her cheek.
Chapter 34
Rosalind heated the silver kettle in the cavernous stone fireplace, breathing in the strong, herbal aroma of Orcus’s coffee. Since she’d met the night demons, her schedule had become completely screwed up. Strong coffee at seven p.m.—in a vast, stony living room—seemed a perfectly reasonable idea.
Tammi sat cross-legged in a mahogany chair, stretching her arms over her head. “I’ve never in my life slept as well as I have here. I don’t know if Orcus is lacing our tea with opiates or if I’m just suited to sleeping during the day, but I feel amazing. What did Orcus say this place was called, again? I want to take up residence.”
Rosalind sat across from her. “Abduxiel mansion. And, apparently, we’re welcome here as long as we’re in good standing with the night demons. It’s kind of like a sanctuary for Nyxobas’s allies.”
Tammi sipped her coffee. “I wouldn’t mind if a gorgeous vamp or two came in. I’ve read through half the library by now, and it’s full of epic poems about hellhounds and angels of death. Not really my thing.”
“I’ll ask Orcus if he can find us some billionaire romances.”
Tammi crossed her legs. “Speaking of romances—what’s the deal with you and Caine?”
“The deal is that he’s an incubus who flirts with everyone. Oh, and I nearly tortured his brother to death. We’re not really well-suited.”
“After Josiah, I’m not sure you can be trusted to choose your own boyfriends.”
Rosalind flinched. “You have a point.”
Josiah, for all his idiocy, had managed to lure her into trusting him. And what he’d done to Miranda had been even worse.
Though Orcus had forbidden it, Rosalind had been sneaking out during the day to search Cambridge’s streets for her sister. She’d been desperate to feel that briny aura tingling over her skin, but she hadn’t sensed the slightest glimmer. Then again, if Miranda was still wearing the iron ring, Rosalind wouldn’t be able to sense her at all.
Footsteps echoed through the room, and Rosalind turned to see Orcus, his head covered by a hood. “Rosalind. There is someone here to see you.”
Her pulse began to race, and she stood. Miranda?
Rosalind rushed through the door into the main hall, hurried over the marble floor, and pulled open the oak entrance. A tall figure lingered in the doorway, and the rosy sunset cast him in silhouette. Caine. Her breathing quickened.
“Rosalind. I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”