Opposition (Lux, #5)(81)

I was beginning to like the Arum.

Well, at least these two Arum. The rest of them, especially Lotho, still freaked me out.

Dee had already apologized a million times, from the second we were done talking about Ethan up to the moment I’d left to shower and take a power nap. So I wasn’t surprised when she immediately turned those big green eyes on me when I entered the living room.

“Katy,” she began, starting to rise, and I knew what was going to happen next. She was going to start crying, and then she would start apologizing.

I walked over to where she sat on the only piece of furniture not destroyed—an ottoman—and hugged her. “It’s all right,” I whispered into her ear. “Everything is okay between us.”

And I meant it.

Life was really too short and twisted to hold grudges, especially over something she truly had no control over.

She squeezed my arm and whispered back, “Thank you. Now I won’t hit you for not telling me you married my brother.” Dee’s smile spread, transforming her beauty into something that was truly out of this world, and God, how I’d missed that warm smile.

“We were just talking about our plan.” Daemon sauntered up to me and nuzzled my cheek a second before lifting his head. “We’re going to head back, which puts us less than a day, if that, ahead of when Lotho said he’d have his Arum army.”

I glanced around the room, expecting more of a plan. “Okay?”

“But that’s not all.” Archer crossed his arms.

“It’s simple,” Daemon responded, his hand sliding off my shoulder and tangling in my damp hair. “We go home . . . and they will come to us.”

I arched a brow. “That’s a little too simple.”

“He’s being lazy in his descriptions,” Hunter replied.

“Or totally distracted,” commented Lore.

I flushed again, because when his fingers found their way out of my hair and then tiptoed down my spine, I seriously believed that he was.

“We’re going to have to pretend that we’re one of them.” Dee twisted toward where we stood. “I know that probably sucks to hear, but we can do this. We can make them believe.”

Oh, I really didn’t like the sound of this, and I was trying not to pay attention to the hand on my back.

Dee wet her lips. “They don’t know that I’ve gone AWOL or that the others . . . well, that they’re not around anymore.”

“How?”

“Dee was told not to check in until she took care of the problem with Daemon—either taking him out or bringing him into the fold,” Archer explained, and the way Dee had busted up into the house, I didn’t think she’d been interested in bringing him into anything except the afterlife. “They will be expecting to hear from her soon, but there’s a damn good chance they don’t know what’s happened yet.”

“A good chance?” I repeated dumbly.

Daemon’s hand was south of the band on the back of my jeans. “The best chance we got, baby.”

“So we’re just going to go home, pretend that you all are evil, and then hope for the best?”

“We’ll get to Ethan using Dee and Daemon. Get to him before the military or the Arum roll in,” Archer said, amethyst eyes sharp. “Before he can run.”

I got that part, but this . . . this was a risky and unreliable plan—one held together by duct tape, a lick, and a whole lot of wishing for good luck. The only good part about it was the fact that we were going home and I’d get to see my mom. If she was even there.

“But what about Nancy?” Daemon asked.

Dee glanced around the room. “What about her?”

“She ran off.” I filled in his sister. “No one knows where she’s at, but I doubt she’d head to where all the action is going down. That doesn’t make any sense, so I think that’s the last place she’d go.”

Daemon tugged on the band of my jeans but didn’t respond.

“She’s right. They’re looking for her now, but the likelihood of her heading to Petersburg is slim. I’m going to get in touch with Luc, let him know what’s up and that the Luxen behind this are holed up in Petersburg, along with Ethan,” Archer continued. “And then we’ll get in touch with Lotho, let him know where we need them first.”

That made sense. If the intel Dee had was correct, we needed to get them and the colony taken out, but we still had however many Origin to deal with afterward.

I winced.

Taken out. Deal with. I was starting to sound like a mobster.

Or Luc.

“Well then,” I said finally. “It’s a plan.”

Daemon patted my behind.

“You guys are going to need some stuff,” Hunter said, and then he glanced down at Serena’s blond head. “This is the end of the road for us.”

I nodded. We could use their help, all the help we could get, actually, but rolling into town with two Arum would probably give away the card up our sleeve.

“Don’t get us wrong,” Serena said, her eyes searching out ours. “We want to do more, but—”

“But like I said before, I have a lot of enemies in the government. While Daedalus might be defunct, I don’t trust anyone associated with it.” Hunter’s arm around Serena tightened. “And I’m not putting her in their crosshairs again.”