Tacet a Mortuis (The Elite King's Club 3)

“Daemon!” I whisper-screamed, just as he climbed up. He lifted the rest of himself through the window, and then gave me a small smile before turning back.

“What’s going on?” I asked, confused with the movements.

Tillie rushed towards him, her hand going around his waist as she peeked over the windowsill. I slowly started walking towards them, my eyes going around the room. They eventually landed on Tatum, who looked as confused as I felt.

“Dae—” a baby crying broke through. I paused, leaning outside.

Tillie took the baby that was wrapped in a soft pink blanket and cradled it to her. When I looked back out the window to see who it was that passed the baby through, all I could see was the back of a retreating Tinker.

“Figures,” I muttered, snickering at her retreat.

“She’s the good in this, Mads. I promise.”

I brushed her off, which I guess I didn’t have much evidence to do that. She did help Tate and I escape, and she’s been nothing but helpful, but there was always a nudge in my gut when it came to her. Confusion, or something else, I wasn’t quite sure yet.

“Okay,” I breathed out, leaning against the windowsill. “Okay,” I repeated.

“She’s not okay,” Tate mumbled under her breath.

My chest tightened and the grip I had around the wooden edge compressed. A cold sweat broke out over my brow, my breathing coming in shallow heaves, then a cool, yet familiar hand brushed against my arm. I slowly whistled out the pent-up breath, my eyes going to Daemon. “What do I make of this, D?”

His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. His eyebrows crossed. “I don’t…” then he paused, before continuing. “All good things, Madison.”

“We’re going to work on your English when we get back,” I mumbled my reply grumpily under my breath.

There was another cry. Turning around, my eyes fell on the little bundle that was wrapped up tightly in Tillie’s arms. I couldn’t see her face, and I wasn’t sure whether I was capable yet. Something told me I should wait—until Nate at least gets to see his daughter first. I felt as though I was trespassing on his turf by just looking at his baby before him.

“I’m sorry, Mads. The whole thing is so complicated, and I—”

“—don’t have to explain right now.” I offered her a small smile. “We have a two-hour flight you can fill me in on. For now, we need to go look for the boys.” Just as the words left my mouth, the door smashed open and Bishop stood on the threshold, shirtless with blood splattered all over his abs and his chest drawing in and out. His shoulders lifted and dropped as he sucked in each breath. I jolted to him, going on instinct to see if he was okay, but his eyes cut to mine and I flinched. His eyes were black orbs of hell and in that moment, he was barely recognizable. I stilled, my fists clenching together.

“Bishop…”

He shook his head at me, and then kicked the door open wider to let Nate, Jase, Hunter, and Saint walk in behind him. They looked like they had just stepped out of World War III.

“Fuck,” Nate coughed out, stepping backward to stabilize himself.

There was a long pause until Tillie finally broke the silence. “Do you want to hold her?”

Nate’s eyes closed, a hiss escaping between his teeth. He dropped to his knees, the silence was enough to haunt me.

I began slowly drifting to Nate, ignoring the pull I was feeling between Bishop and I. “Nate?” I whispered, although my voice came out shaky. “You can hold her…”

“Can’t.” He shook his head, choking on his words and standing back to his feet. “Not like this. We need to leave. Now.”

“He’s right,” Bishop agreed. “We only got rid of who was there, and amongst all the bullshit, Katsia slipped away.”

“Well, of course she did.” I rolled my eyes. I hated her.

“She doesn’t know Micaela is alive. We just have to make sure we can sneak out before then.”

“And what the fuck makes you think you should be alive?” Nate seethed, his eyes cutting to Tillie. The energy in the room immediately shifted. Unease oozed through me.

“Nate!” I snapped. “She’s the mother of your child and my fucking best friend!”

“She was nothing more than a walking sack of amniotic fluid. She doesn’t need to be alive anymore. Her job here is done, oh” —he cut his eyes to me— “and I don’t fucking trust her.”

“Trust her?” I yelled, a little too loudly because Bishop came closer to me. “You fucking loved her!”

Nate barked out a laugh. “Watch the way you use that word, sis. You and I both know that if I loved her, I wouldn’t have been sinking my dick into Tatum every day of the fucking week.” His eyes narrowed at me, and I shot daggers back at him. He wasn’t only being rude, but he was lashing out. I expected something to happen with him in the brief moments we were standing here waiting to decide to find the guys, but I didn’t expect him to lash out quite like this—I especially didn’t expect him to take his anger out on Tillie. I could see it now, though. The change in his demeanor. The monster that always lurked beneath the surface, cloaked under his cool swagger, was now prowling back and forth with fire seething between its lips. The rage that was pelting off him was igniting smoldering flickers of anger inside of me.