“Oh crap.” Mariana stopped abruptly with less than five feet between them and the car. “I forgot to grab shampoo.”
“What?” It took Delaney a moment to process her friend’s words through the rushing of blood in her ears.
Mariana was already pulling away, eyes locked on the store they’d just passed. The one right next to the one Trystan had been in.
“Forget it. You can borrow mine.” Delaney reached for her, but Mariana was moving too quickly and had already turned. She wanted to call her back, but irrational fear kept her from doing so. Mariana was tiny but fast, and with her already halfway to the store, she’d have to raise her voice to be heard.
Not that Mariana had a problem with that, for she waved a hand without glancing around and called, “Be back in a sec!”
The parking lot they’d chosen was smaller than the one at the beach and only had about a dozen other cars in it now. Still holding tightly to her keys, she moved over to the driver’s side, slipping the car key into the lock. She’d wait in the car and hopefully realize she was overreacting by the time Mariana came back.
Her phone went off in her back pocket, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. Yanking it out, she heaved a sigh of relief when she saw it was Ruckus calling. Hitting answer, she brought the device up to her ear and twisted the key to open the door.
“Hey,” she said breathlessly, “we’re heading back in a minute.”
“You sound funny,” Ruckus said, concern in his voice. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she told him. “We can talk about it when I get home. What are you making, anyway?”
“Delaney … something’s happened. Pettus got ahold of me. They know who was leading the Tars.”
She paused. “Who?”
“Brightan. When Trystan said he hadn’t tried to kill you those other times, he was telling the truth. He’d only discovered Brightan’s betrayal that night we left.”
“That’s why he shot him.”
“And saved your life,” Ruckus confirmed, “yes.”
“How did Pettus figure this out?” she asked.
“Trystan admitted it.” He paused, continuing before she could feel any sort of relief. “Delaney, the Basileus is dead.”
The fear returned tenfold, and she wished more than anything that they were together. She’d been trying to keep the fact that Trystan was here from him so that he wouldn’t worry, but now … If Magnus was dead, who’d killed him?
“Ru—” She reached for the handle then glanced at the window. Her reflection wasn’t the only one staring back at her. Before she could react, the tall blond image in the glass moved.
She was vaguely aware of Ruckus’s voice calling through the phone as it dropped from her hand and hit the gravel. The sharp sting in her neck lasted only a heartbeat, and then the world fizzled out and everything went dark.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I WAS VERY tempted to just write, “Thanks, everyone I know!” in this section, partly for fear that I’d forget someone, but mostly because acknowledgments are hard. That being said, if I did end up forgetting you, I am so sorry! It’s just, there are a lot of people and if I listed every single one of you this would end up longer than the actual book!
First and foremost, I’d like to thank everyone over at Swoon Reads. All of you are amazing, and I will forever be honored that you believed in my book enough to let me be a part of the Swoon Reads family. Holly, thank you for all of the work you’ve done, and all of the amazing notes and suggestions you’ve given. This book is a million times better now because of you. Also, the little notes you left about Trystan (Team Trystan, huh?) always helped alleviate some of the stress during the editing process, which I really appreciated, more than you know! Thank you, Emily, for really making me feel welcome to the team by emailing with me about our mutual love for Luke Mitchell. And of course, thanks to Liz D. for this epic cover!
To all of the other spectacular Swoon authors, thank you for being so supportive and welcoming, as well!
Thanks to my parents, for making books such a huge part of my life from the very beginning. You guys have always been very supportive of my crazy dream, and your belief in me means the world. Mom, you’re the best. Thank you for letting me ramble on about potential plots and characters, and for always seeing something within that jumbled nonsense. Dad, thank you for passing on your love of reading (even if you did name me after a character who dies). To my siblings, Kim and Daniel, thanks for understanding every time I pretended to listen to you tell me something, even when I was clearly typing away and not hearing a word.
To my best friends, Josie and Jon. Josie, you are always the first person I want to share something new with. Thank you for your support, and your feedback, and for thinking every new book I write is the best book I’ve ever written. Thanks for your honesty when certain things don’t seem to work, and for standing by me during those low periods (which everyone who writes knows about) where suddenly I start believing I am the worst writer on the entire planet. Just a heads up though, you’re still going to have to read my stuff even once I’m old and senile and none of it makes any sense. So ha! Jon, thanks for all the coffee, and for being the only person brave enough to pull me away from my computer when I’ve been writing for hours on end. I love you guys.
Thank you to all of my professors at Johnson State College, and my classmates for helping me grow and improve as a writer. Kat, Whitney, Stephanie, Ben, thanks for not completely tearing me down during workshops! And to my teachers from high school (Ms. Hinkle, you are the best!). Thanks to Mrs. DeToro for story time in the fifth grade, which was how/when I realized I wanted to be an author.
Thanks to Matt and Lisa, two people who aren’t here to see it finally happen, but whose unwavering belief that I could make it helped me believe it, too.
And finally, thank you to everyone who has ever read one my books before, and everyone who is reading this now. The only reason any of this is even remotely possible is because of all the feedback—good and bad—readers have given me over the years, and I truly appreciate each and every one of you.