Women in the small kingdom of Aeriana are disappearing.
Iris Daniels, a budding painter in the East Territory, is trying to keep her head down. In a kingdom filled with abilities, music, and Destined love, Iris is determined to build a career out of...
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"I'm not looking for a hero / just a safe place to rest my head / You weren't looking for a damsel / just someone to call home."
—Mel Harvey, Soft Landing, Home EP
The silence woke her.
Iris cracked her eyes open and groaned. The room she was in was dimly lit, a thin line of light tracing the bottom of the blinds. She clicked on the lamp on the nightstand, then rubbed at her dry eyes, sat up.
And remembered.
She wasn't in her studio apartment in East City. She was in a safe house in Mountain Ridge. Here, the people and traffic weren't a distant noise outside her window. Instead, the gentle bird song and occasional airplane filled the calm.
Getting up, she checked the clock. 2 pm.
The house downstairs was still. Were Wylan and Thad still asleep? They'd had just as much of a crazy night as she did. If not more so.
It felt more vivid this morning, and yet somehow, like a dream. Had Wylan really gotten injured last night? People really shot at her? And Thad had injuries too—he'd fought. For her.
Which brought her full circle. Why her?
Why now?
In the attached bathroom, Iris ran water over her face. The master bedroom alone was bigger than her studio apartment in East City.
East City and her lowly apartment were far from here. She was in a safe house. In Mountain Ridge. With agents who worked under the Crown overseeing her safety.
What could the Crown possibly need from her?
In the bathroom, she found a couple of small travel kits with unopened packs of toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, hairbrushes, and anything else she could need. She opened one pack and brushed her teeth.
By the time she was done in the bathroom, there was movement downstairs. She made her way down but stopped at the last carpeted stair. Just around the corner, the sizzling pop of the stove kept her attention.
Until Wylan spoke.
"I haven't confirmed yet."
There was a pause, which told her he wasn't speaking to Thad, but to someone on the phone.
She shouldn't be hiding here around the corner. And yet, she couldn't make her sock-covered feet move.
"We'll give it a few days, take a flight to the Twin Isles, then cut back toward you."
The Twin Isles? With her? That was all the way on the opposite side of the kingdom.
She'd always wanted to head over that way. The Twin Isles was the kingdom's most popular vacation area. Two small islands next to each other to the northeast, the islands were where the rich and the tourists congregated.
