Siege of Shadows (Effigies #2)(93)

“We’ll go see Naomi,” Belle said. “In Madrid. All four of us.”

Lake and Chae Rin exchanged a puzzled glance as Belle moved toward the bedroom where all our suitcases had been stacked.

“Madrid?” Lake repeated. “Why? Who’s Naomi?”

“Rhys’s mother,” Belle said. “She has some information that can help us. At least that’s what she told Maia.”

“What if she won’t tell us anything?” I asked, thinking back to our conversation at Blackwell’s estate. “She asked me to come alone.”

“You’ll have to take that chance,” said Uncle Nathan. “It’s too dangerous for you to be alone right now.”

“If push comes to shove, I guess we can always just force her to give up the information,” Chae Rin added with a shrug. I could only imagine what she meant by “force.” As badly as I needed answers, I wasn’t sure I was prepared to beat it out of anyone. “I agree. The four of us should go together.”

“But how do we get there without the Sect knowing?” Lake prodded.

“Maybe we don’t have to,” Belle called back without turning. As she disappeared into the bedroom, Chae Rin finally released her sister’s ears.

“Looks like I’m heading off again,” she told her. “Give Mom and Dad my love. Make sure you keep them safe.”

“But that’s why I’m here.” Ha Rin shifted onto the couch, her weight on her right knee. “It’s Mom.”

I could see Chae Rin’s face fall from here. “Is she all right? She didn’t have another . . .” With a self-conscious glance at us, she lowered her voice. “Another episode, did she?”

Ha Rin looked very uncomfortable, her anxious gaze flickering between the rest of us and her sister. “No. Well . . . she just wants to see you and— Ah!” After an exasperated sigh she gave her sister a pained smile. “It’d be better if I could actually speak with you in Korean.”

“Like that’s my fault.” Despite the sharp note of defensiveness in her words, Chae Rin shrank back. “We can talk about it outside.”

They got up to leave. A few minutes after they shut the door, Belle came out of the bedroom again with her suitcase packed and ready, holding her cell phone to her ear. I didn’t pay any mind until I heard her say Rhys’s name. My heart skipped.

“Rhys? Why are you talking to Rhys?” I rushed forward before stopping suddenly. “Is . . . is he okay?” I asked timidly, but Belle put up a finger to silence me.

“You’re sure you can do this for us? Okay. Thank you, Rhys. I appreciate it.”

With a relieved sigh, she clicked the phone off. “I asked Rhys about the possibility of securing us a Sect jet under pretense. Remember, Communications can track our cylithium frequency—we can’t mask it like Saul. But Rhys said he can convince Brendan to issue an order to send us to Spain on a lead. It’s the best he can do.”

That he was willing to help us didn’t make the truth about him any easier to swallow. Especially when I still hadn’t figured out what to do about it. “What did you tell him?”

“Nothing about his mother,” she said, rolling her suitcase to the side of the door. “I only said it was important. He seemed to understand.”

“But—”

“Don’t worry, Maia.” Belle turned to me. “It’s Rhys. We can trust him.”

I stayed quiet as Lake went to pack her things, calling me to follow her when she’d noticed I’d stayed rooted to the spot for too long. Uncle Nathan went back to his hotel room to get ready to leave himself, but it was only in the prospect of his leaving that I realized how much I needed someone to talk to. I followed him to his room.

“What’s wrong?” Uncle Nathan said as he shut the door behind me. I kept my head low, so he couldn’t see my face behind my mess of hair, but he must have seen my shaking. “Maia? Are you . . . are you crying?”

He must have heard me whimpering too. I lifted my head, revealing the tears dripping off my eyelashes.

“Tell me everything,” he said.

I did. And by the end of it, I could have sworn his blue eyes were reddening too.

“God, Maia.” Calming himself with a sigh, he placed his hands delicately on my shoulders. “I had no idea you were going through this. I’m so sorry.”

I thought the weight of finally telling someone would make me feel better, but I only felt more lost. “I just don’t know what to do. If I tell Belle that Rhys killed Natalya, she will kill him. That’s not even a question. Depending on what his mom says, she might kill her, too. Belle had no one,” I explained. “No, it was worse than that.” I thought back to that day in France when we visited her old foster home. The simple, pragmatic way she asked the children living there, in front of their foster mother, if they’d been beaten. “Natalya was like the only family she’d ever had. Her mentor, her hero. She was like . . .” I shook my head. Natalya had meant the world to Belle.

And I understood. After my family died, there would be those quiet moments when I would lie awake in my bed, staring up at the ceiling, feeling that deafening silence of loneliness, that silence I’d felt that night after the funeral, the kind you feel in your bones when you truly have no one.