“So, where are your parents?” Charlotte pried.
“My mom’s in Prague…visiting my dad.”
“Why is your dad in Prague?”
“He works there.”
“He works there?” She blanched.
“It’s a really long story.” He cut her off, and she glowered at him. “He works there at the Regime headquarters. My dad is fourth in command. The Wizard’s Regime headquarters is in Prague.” His explanation seemed to ramble together.
Charlotte frowned, trying to wrap her head around what he was telling her. She had never actually met Mr. Price. “The Regime? But I thought—”
“Listen, someday I’ll tell you about it, but right now we need to talk about something else.” His bright features faded into seriousness.
Charlotte’s eyebrows mashed together. She had never seen Aiden act this way. She watched him adjust his position so he sat on his knees, his tawny hair feathering a little over his eyes.
The room was completely dark, except for the small amount of moonlight washing in through the foggy windowpane. An apple tree outside cast a veiny shadow on the floor and across her friend’s face.
Aiden apprehensively took Charlotte’s hand again. It made her blush.
She grinned. Her stomach flipped. “What are you doing?”
“I–I wanted to….” He struggled to get the words out. Now she could see his face was turning red. “I wanted to make sure you were okay,” he said, gazing at her from underneath his ruddy-colored bangs.
She giggled quietly, nervously. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Well, Evangeline told me about Valek….”
“It’s fine. Really. I think it was just one of those things that happens when you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time…with the wrong person.” She met his gaze on the last word, but they both looked down immediately.
Aiden gently put his warm hand on her cheek — again, much different than the feeling of Valek’s. Her heart jump-started in her chest.
“Almost getting killed isn’t just ‘one of those things’,” he said.
She wanted so badly to argue with him. She wanted to fight him away and tell him he and his mother were wrong about Valek, but she couldn’t, because this time he was right.
Valek had scared her within an inch of her life. She understood he had instincts he couldn’t control, but maybe that was exactly what made him impossible to be around now.
“Is your shoulder okay?” he asked, his face inching closer to hers. She could feel his breath on her lips. The hairs on the back of her neck started to stand up.
“Y-yes.”
He kissed her so gently she barely felt it. Her toes curled in her shoes. He pulled away, a question in his eyes. When he saw she was smiling, he kissed her again a little deeper, moving his lips steadily against hers. Her mouth trembled under his, not entirely sure of what she was doing, but knowing it felt good enough to keep going.
She was so lost in what was happening it surprised her when she felt him pull away again, though, keeping his hand around hers. She looked at him.
“That wasn’t really what I wanted to talk to you about either.” He chuckled.
She laughed a little, too.
“I mean, it was something I wanted to do, but there’s something else…” Aiden reached under the couch and pulled out several pieces of slightly crumpled parchment as Charlotte reeled back to coherency.
“What’s that?” she asked.
“This is a list of all the guards and officers employed directly by the Regime. Every one of them has to go through extensive training, background tests — all that stuff.” Aiden fingered through the different pages, searching.
“So? What does that have to do with anything?” Charlotte wrinkled her nose. It made her uncomfortable Aiden never mentioned that his family was part of the Regime. What else didn’t she know about him? Her thoughts flickered back to Valek, probably waiting sadly at home for her, and began to feel like maybe she had just betrayed him in some odd way — the same way he betrayed her. Suddenly, she found herself wanting to leave.
“You remember the Lycan that attacked us the other day?” he asked, studying the papers.
“Yes, how could I forget? It was the same one that attacked Evangeline and me this evening.”
Aiden froze. “Is it?”
“Yes. He had the same unusual scar across his left eye. Do you remember?” Aiden nodded and Charlotte continued. “And it was hard to tell, but it looked like there was an indent left in his head from when I hit him with my bag,” she explained as Aiden nodded again.
“Interesting.” He pointed to a name on the list. Charlotte leaned over his shoulder. “This guy, Alois Vlcek. Look at the picture.”
“The scar….” She traced the pink line down the strange man’s face. “So, what is this Alois employed to do?”
“He was a guard,” Aiden explained. “He was hired to guard this Occult. He’s trained to smell magic blood, which is why you only get attacked when you leave with one of us. Did you ever notice that?”
“That’s true,” Charlotte realized, rocking back on her knees. “When I left to go to my pond that day, I left by myself. And then it was only when you and I returned together that he was there.”
“Exactly. And then you left with Evangeline tonight.”
“Yes.”
“So that’s it.” He folded the list back up. “That’s what Father’s plan is,” Aiden mused quietly.
“But why didn’t he attack you when you originally left to come find me? When you were alone?”
Aiden cleared his throat. “I don't know.”
“What are you trying to figure out?” Charlotte pried further. “Wouldn’t your father tell you everything you wanted to know, anyway?”
“No.” Aiden huffed under his breath. “Does Valek ever leave the Occult?”
It sounded then like he was almost accusing Valek of something. “No. Valek knows the law, Aiden,” Charlotte fought defensively.
“It doesn’t seem he knows the law to me, Charlotte. He brought you into the Occult, didn’t he?”
Now, Charlotte was sure Aiden meant to accuse Valek of something. It hit her like a ton of bricks and she immediately got to her feet, glaring angrily at him.
“What exactly are you trying to do, Aiden?”
“My father and I spoke about it, and he agrees Valek is in breach of the magic law.”
“That is why that Lycan kept attacking whenever I was with a half-blood, because he isn’t just hunting magic! He’s hunting me with magic! He’s waiting for Valek! ” Fury rolled from her chest, burning in her throat. Panic set in then. Her heart thudded hard against her sternum. “Why would you talk to your father about us? I am mortal, Aiden! I thought you were my friend! You’ve put us in danger! That’s why we have someone attacking us now! They are making sure Valek doesn’t get away because your father is part of the Regime and, because of you, now they know!” Charlotte suddenly found it too hard to breathe. She shut her eyes as she struggled to control her quivering. Her stomach turned over and over as her mind raced about how she was going to get Valek out of this.
“Charlotte—”
“Trust me, this is not going to do you any good! You’re not taking him away from me!” she yelled, not caring anymore about her volume.
“Charlotte, listen,” he pleaded. “Valek is dangerous!”
Charlotte stared at him, her mouth gaping. “Why are you doing this?” Her voice dropped several decibels, becoming soft and pleading.
Aiden stood in front of her, his massive shadow eclipsing her face. “Come on, Charlotte. You can stay with us. I promise it will be better for you than if you return to Valek.”