Tangled

Unshift 249

Unshift 249

249 Ava: Unrest

Magister Orion's booming voice wakes me from the unsettling dream, though it's too much work to open my eyes. I'm exhausted. My body feels like it weighs a thousand pounds. My ears tune in before I'm fully awake.

*-in an uproar. Every portal is guarded, and the death tolls keep rising. The militia's working on the riots, but they might not be enough. It makes no sense at all. There's no rhyme or reason to

1. it.

"How safe are we here?"

"It's impossible to tell. The High Fae have already taken one family into custody for insurrection, but it's possible there are more. It's as though everyone's lost their minds."

That doesn't sound good.

My eyes snap open and I struggle to sit up, pleasantly surprised my body's aches are gone, even if I still feel heavy.

"What's going on?"

Magister Orion's face swims into view, his contorted features smoothing over. The sight jolts me fully awake, my heart rate picking up.

"How are you feeling?" he asks, his voice gruff.

I wave off his concern. My health isn't as important as this conversation. "I'm fine. What's going

on?"

Magister Orion exchanges a loaded glance with Vanessa. My stomach tightens.

H

"The city is in an uproar, Magister Orion says, his words heavy. "In the First, Second, and Third Wards, there are riots and uprisings. There's no rhyme or reason. Vampire against vampire, Fac against Fae; it's unclear who is ally or foe."

The timing is suspect. We can't contact anyone outside this place, and now there's civil unrest?

My mind reels, leaving me dizzy. "Does this happen often?"

"No, never." He clicks his tongue, running a hand over his face in frustration. "There have always been struggles of power, but they never involve the city. Assassinations, maybe. Financial destruction. Things of that nature. Too many powerful families have allied to keep peace in this sanctuary; no one can stand up to their combined power."

"Until now," Marcus says, surprising me. I didn't realize he was here.

"Until now," Magister Orion echoes with a sigh. "Too many people are missing. The body count keeps rising"

powerful families, then? Vanessa asks.

his

249 Ava: Unnest

Alpha Renard, or any other shifters in the city,

this ties into our inability

way this

What aren't we seeing?

to process this information has my head spinning one way, then

woken

more times will the rug get pulled out from under

mother. Her cold demeanor is hard to forget.

giant pain in the ass with the way she sticks to protocols, Magister Orion says, a hint of grudging respect in his tone. "But

information might

in politics. She lives and breathes paperwork." "Why would she come to you?" Marcus asks suspiciously.

because I refuse to play by the rules,

that over. "So she trusts you because you don't have a stake

"I've never aligned myself with any faction. My only interest is in magic and

his posture tense. "But how can we be sure she's not using that neutrality against

guess it comes with the territory; he's here to keep me safe, not fight

smile. "Florice is many things, but not duplicitous. She's rigid, inflexible, and often infuriating, but she's also honest to a fault. If she's coming to

enough for someone like Florice to seek

249 Ava: Unrest

healed; I fall asleep not long after,

point I wake up again, still groggy. Vanessa's gone, and only

suppressant's working. That's

"You feeling okay?"

voice warms my

in a puddle of my own sweat, but my

Marcus says, noticing when I look around

brain takes a while to start up, slowly tugging at my memories. "Oh. Florice. Wait,

"Three hours."

That's it?

my face, he says, "You can go back to

my muddled head, I'm

back of my neck. The room air is cool against the

pounds of bacon,

for Florice."

edge of

onto my arm as I