Heir to the Fallen Throne

✰✦✰ Chapter 7 ✰✦✰

"We have to force three strangers to join us."

   I cringed at Rinne's words as she ran her hands through her hair. "I wouldn't call it forcing, per se."

   Wild brown eyes shot back at me. "What would you call it then?"

   Ignoring her, I perked up. "I already have someone in mind."

   I'd been thinking about it all night and I still knew how mental asking someone to risk their life for me was. But, hell, maybe they'd end up enjoying their time touring the country for an ancient artefact.

   "Other than me?" Jacks's voice carried through our home as he entered the kitchen, grinning. Dimples poked out from his cheeks, far too excited for our circumstances. He bit into a chunk of bread and I frowned, looking around for the scene of the crime.

   Sarinne's jaw was clenched. "Where did you get that bread?"

   He simply winked at her. I sighed. As frustrating as he was, he really was gorgeous. The sort that girls dreamt of when they were little; dreamt of being the groom when they married. He had an effortless beauty that all Lyras had. And it was unfair.

   Even as a girl, I was jealous of his eyelashes.

   When The Shielder had come only mere hours ago, Jacks claimed he had hidden in our cellar and eavesdropped from there. Though I was fairly sure they would've checked every inch of this house, I didn't say anything. Kept my lips sealed.

   "The only reason you're tagging along," I reminded him with a sharp glare, "is because you know the most about ancient history and all that, okay? So don't get it in your head that we've taken a liking to you."

   "Oh, I would never," Jacks taunted, glancing over at my best friend. "But I'd have hoped you'd have stuck up for me, sweetheart."

   "In your goddamn nightmares, Zacrus."

   "Trust me, you've only ever appeared in my dreams."

   I rolled my eyes and Sarinne stared at Jacks like she might eat his soul if he didn't tone it down, and I wasn't about to stop her. Although I think he might've let her do anything to him. It was even scarier when silence stretched between us deafeningly; a silence that only I seemed to mind.

   So I cleared my throat and Rinne snapped out of it, hard eyes facing me. "So, you have someone in mind?"

   I nodded, taking my seat at the head of the short table. "Yeah, I just have to ask her."

   "Her?" Sarinne egged me on. "Care to elaborate?"

   I chewed on my lip. "Luna Dubrovno."

  "What? The mermaid with the boyfriend drama?"

   "That's her," I admitted. "But she could be useful, Rinne. Mermaids are faster than anyone in water. Plus, she might be able to help us with any clues hidden beneath the surface."

   Sarinne eyed me warily. "She doesn't seem like the type of girl to agree to a deadly mission like this, Scar."

   "True," I pondered, "but she might be."

   "So you're going to ask someone you barely know to join us?"

   I shrugged defensively. "Rinne—we barely know anyone. For fuck's sake, we kidnapped Jacks."

   At the mention of his name, Rinne sneered in his direction while he was busy inspecting his nails.

   "Is she the type to fight?" Jacks queried.