After Micah had breakfast with me, he left with Victor, and I decided I was feeling a little better, so I took a shower and went back to bed.

Two hours later, Alice woke me up, saying it was too late to be sleeping and we needed to train. I cursed her out loud and was able to stay in bed for another hour—it wasn’t every night, or day, that I slept without nightmares waking me up.

When I finally got up, it was almost lunchtime, so I took my time, ate lunch, waited a decent amount of time, and only then went to train with Alice.

“Finally,” she muttered as I joined her in the gym.

However, an hour into training, my focus proved to be shot. I couldn’t concentrate, and Alice kept getting painful hits on me.

“Ow,” I cried as I hit the mat again.

“What’s up with you?” Alice asked, her tone unfriendly.

“I’m just … today isn’t a good day, that’s all.”

She put her hands on her waist. “So, if you’re having a bad day when we’re ready to march on Imha and Omi, we shouldn’t go then?”

I rolled my eyes. “God, you sound like Ceris right now.”

“Well, Lady Ceris is right.”

I grunted. “Okay, I’m done for the day.”

I shot up to my feet and heard Alice muttering about putting everything at risk by not fully committing as I exited the room.

Not fully committing? Hadn’t the girl heard about all I had gone through for the creed? I shook my head, deciding to ignore the comment. She was frustrated because we were now one partner short, and I wasn’t in warrior mode today.

I had no idea what mode, or mood, I was in today.

With a heavy sigh, I went to the kitchen to make some coffee and found Ceris there, taking a fresh pot off the coffeemaker.

“Want some?” she asked as she poured coffee into a mug.

I plopped down on a stool and crossed my arms on the island counter. “Yup.”

She got another mug from the cabinet, served the coffee, and then handed it to me. “Here you go.”

“Thanks,” I mumbled.

She sat down across from me. “What’s with that pout?”

“I don’t have a pout.”

She had a small smile on her lips. “Oh, that mood. I know who caused that. And the pout. What did Mitrus do this time?”

I opened my mouth to tell her … what was I going to tell her? Not even I knew. In the end, I sighed and said, “He made me breakfast this morning.” I closed my hands around my mug and inhaled the rich scent of coffee. “He then said he wanted to tell me goodbye properly this time and promised he would be back soon.”

“All right. Shouldn’t those actions make you, I don’t know, feel relieved or content that he’s reaching out?”

“They do. They did.” I sipped from my mug, trying to sort through the mess of thoughts in my mind and feelings in my chest. “I just … I don’t know what to feel or what to do anymore. Not when it comes to him.” I shook my head. “I’m not even sure why I’m telling you all this. It’s not like you really care.”

She lost the smile and a knot appeared on her wrinkle free forehead. “I know I can be a bitch sometimes, and I know we don’t see eye-to-eye most of the time, but I’m still Cheryl. I’m still your friend.”

I stared at her. “You have an odd way of showing it.”

“I know.” She sighed. “But it’s the truth. When I was Cheryl, I got to know you, and you were my friend. A real friend. I kinda miss that.” Her blue eyes shone and I could see in them that she was being honest. Or maybe she was a good liar.

“It’s not that easy. To forgive and forget about everything that happened after that.”

She let out a deep breath. “I know, but—” Suddenly, she tensed. “They are back.”

We both shot up from our seats and rushed to the living room just as the front door opened with a bang.

Victor marched in several steps ahead of Micah. I gasped, taking in their singed clothes and the heavy smell of smoke.

“What happened?” Ceris asked, going to Victor.

Alice came from the gym, and Maho, Ronen, and Sol walked into the living room from the hallway that led to the bedrooms.

Fists clenched, Victor paced in front of her. And I watched Micah—his hand was red, as if he had burned it.

“Are you okay?” I asked, my voice low, careful.

He shook his head and averted his eyes.

Ceris glanced from Victor to Micah and back to Victor, the knot in her forehead deepening. “Someone say something!”

Victor halted. He turned to Micah with such tension in his body and so much rage and ice in his eyes. “Mitrus …” He took in a long breath. “The Death Lords found us and said Mitrus was—is—working with them.”

“What?” Ceris asked, her tone not as surprised.

I took a sharp breath, not believing what I was hearing. No. Micah would never work with the Death Lords. Not after all they had done to us.

Micah shook his head again. “It’s a lie. You know that.”

Victor advanced one large step, but then stopped himself again. “Do I? Do I really know that? I’m not sure anymore.”

“Tell me what happened,” Ceris asked, looking at her soulmate.

Victor’s gaze fell on me before returning to Ceris. “It doesn’t matter. Not now.” He then puffed out his chest and lifted his chin. “Mitrus, you should leave. For good.”

“What?” Micah and I asked in unison.

“I … I don’t know if I can trust you anymore, and until I can find out the truth, I don’t want you near any of us.”

“I can prove that I’m on your side,” Micah said, his tone almost begging.

Victor shook his head. “No. It would be too damn easy for you to lie again, to try to twist the truth to make it look like an accident. If I’m to find out the truth, I want to do it alone.”

Ceris glared at Micah. “You heard him. Leave.”

“Wait, that’s too much,” I interjected. “How … we have to talk about this. There must be an explanation.” I turned to Micah. “Right?”

His dark eyes lost its usual amused shine and he averted his gaze. Oh, God.

“There’s nothing to talk about.” Victor’s voice was hard. Dangerous. “The situation is well past the talking phase.” Victor pointed to the door. “Leave, Mitrus. Now.”

Micah sucked in a long breath and stared at Victor one more time before nodding and walking out. Without looking back. Without looking at me. Without saying goodbye.

The door closed behind Micah, and everyone stayed frozen in place for a minute. My brain was still playing catch-up, trying to understand what the hell had happened.

Victor let out a loud breath. “I need a shower.” He turned toward the hallway, but I cut him off, blocking his path.

“First you tell me what happened.”

“Not now, Nadine,” he growled.

“Yes, now.” I folded my arms over my chest. “The shower isn’t going anywhere.”

“I’m tired, I’m dirty, I’m hungry.” He rubbed his eyes with the balls of his hands. “We can talk later.”

I stomped my foot like a petulant child. “I don’t care! Tell me now.”

He sighed. “All you need to know is we can’t trust Mitrus anymore. He was probably working with the Death Lords ever since he came back from Nasya’s island.”

I had heard them mention this place before. “What’s Nasya’s island?”

“It doesn’t matter now.”

“Stop treating me like I’m a child who will not understand what’s going on. Or are you not telling me because you also think I’m not an important part of this damn thing?”

He frowned. “Also? Who thinks …?” He shook his head. “You’re important to this war, Nadine, you know that.”

“Then stop stalling and tell me.”

“I won’t tell you!” Victor raised his voice and I flinched. Ouch, that hurt. He sighed. “I swear to you if it made any difference, I would tell you, but it doesn’t now. Unfortunately, what he did, and what we were doing earlier today doesn’t matter anymore. All that matters now is I believe he betrayed us, even if only for a moment. We can’t trust him now and we should move on.”

“But—”

“Nadine,” Ceris said. One word uttered with such power, an intense demand, a warning.

It didn’t make sense. Victor and Micah had left like brothers, and they had come back as enemies. What the hell had happened? Why did I feel like they were hiding so much from me? From everyone?

I stepped aside and let them pass.

But this was not over. I would find out what happened, one way or another.