Revealed (Unbound, Book 5)

Chapter One

That I felt the need to sneak out of Calin's before anyone was awake to keep me from leaving confirmed the mistake I was making. Even as I admitted it, all the reasons I shouldn't keep driving ran through my head, blossoming as a ball of anxiety in my chest. I lifted my hands, rubbed my palms on the thighs of my yoga pants to wipe away the dampness, then placed them back on the steering wheel before my car swerved off the road.

The streetlights blinked off as the sun cracked the horizon, casting shadows on the sidewalks and reflecting purple-red tints in storefront windows. Wickenton was a small town, but in the time that it took to drive through, the darkness that had concealed my departure from Calin's would surely shine light on my arrival at the Manor.

I should have left earlier.

No, I should have talked myself out of coming.

The street view of Wickenton changed to fields while I struggled with the conflicting logic, but I barely noticed. After Devland had invaded the clearing's sanctity and I'd returned to Calin's yesterday to learn Maible was now living with our father, all I'd been able to think of was ways to extract her from the hellhole I was forced to live in after my mother died. My best friend's father, Aiden, was getting me emancipated now, but he lived in Briarville. Calin's mom said I could stay with them and once he began the process and, even though Devland was fighting it, I had sworn to myself that I wouldn't return to the Manor.

This wasn't about Devland—or me.

I had to get Maible free from his influence, and the two days I'd have to wait until Monday were two days longer than I wanted him to have to influence her.

My foot pressed slightly heavier on the gas pedal, and I bit my lip.

The reasons Maible wanted to stay with Devland—get to know her father, get away from her mother, avoid the fact that the parents that raised her were fighting—were easy to figure out. I even understood. Maible had been lied to her entire life. To a smaller extent, so had I, but since I hadn't met my father and my mother didn't know about Maible, I was choosing to believe that I was lucky to get to know Maible as a friend before realizing that she was my half-sister. Now that I was leaving with Islene to discover the secrets that were intentionally kept from me, I needed to at least try to help Maible. This was the only plan I hadn't nixed the moment I'd thought of it.

Onyx whined from the back seat as I slowed the car and turned the blinker on, signaling my departure from the road to the entrance of the Manor's opulent property grounds.

"It's okay, girl," I said softly, lowering my window to stop and enter the code to open the gate, only semi-surprised when it still worked. "I promise, we won't be long."

The front gate was barely open wide enough for me to fit my SUV through, but I accelerated quickly and sent dust up as I drove down the cobblestone driveway to the main door. Skidding to a stop at the end, I pushed the vehicle into park and sighed. Keeping my hands at ten and two, I leaned over the steering wheel and moved my gaze from the speedometer to wander over the three-story estate. The yard was always deceiving, promising a happy home with the lush, green lawns and gurgling fountain that the driveway circled. The porch swings at opposite ends of the wrap-around porch added to the illusion, but I knew that the inside was as dark and lonely as the outside was sunny and welcoming. It was like the four pillars at the front of the house were the gates welcoming you to a special kind of hell.

I tapped the steering wheel and sighed, gave my head a shake, and hoped I could will the knots in my stomach to go away. After everything Devland had done, I knew I should stay far, far away. At least until I had a plan. Not just the long-term goal of running back to Briarville when I turned eighteen, but a true way to deal with Devland so that he no longer had free reign over me, Maible, and the rest of the magical community.