Nikki had felt her spirits begin to rise at the news. They’d found out where Amneris and Colt had been taken! Of course that was when her spirits promptly fell again. No one had ever been able to infiltrate a Terpolite prison, especially not one like this. One hundred floors and all of them under the ground? It rattled her mind. Nikki had no idea what she was supposed to do. She didn’t want to leave it all up to Dan. She loved the Dragonoid man. He was like a brother to her. But really she just wanted to do something that didn’t involve a completely insane plan.

A sigh. She collapsed onto her bed, hiding under the violet covers.

Nikki wanted nothing more than to hide from the world. She hated being in charge with a passion but Amneris had insisted she be the Second so long ago. There were many times when she wised she could swap with Leo and be the General of the Lyriumian armies. Surely that had to be easier than being the Queen’s Second.

If being Second was this hard, Nikki had no idea how Amneris handled being Queen for the last five thousand years. Nikki had only been in charge a few times over the last three thousand. If she weren’t already dead, she’d say the work—more specifically the paperwork—was killing her.

Hands appeared on her back. Nikki rolled over, giving Leo a tired smile.

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She didn’t need to tell him what was wrong. It was bothering all of them.

While it was normal for Court members to vanish every now and then for some personal time or their own missions, rarely had they been taken by an enemy. There were maybe two or three cases where they’d actually had to mount a proper rescue and those had normally happened long before now.

Nikki met her best friend’s gaze. “How are you not worried.”

He laughed. “I am worried. I just know those two can handle themselves if they need to.”

“Since when do you trust Colt?”

“I don’t,” Leo started slowly. “I don’t trust him, but I sort of do at the same time. I don’t know. Maybe it’s to do with what Lvaane told me.”

“What did he tell you?”

“Long story. Something about a spell.”

Nikki nodded, understanding and quickly changed the topic. “So, do we finally got to use Zoe’s not-so-secret invention?”

“We do.”

“There is something I’m wondering.” Nikki pointed at a cluster of items on her bed. The items. “What do with those and how the heck do we get the others off Tara?”

“I, uh, had not thought of that.” The General smiled sheepishly. “We should keep them away from the woman Jay and Kayla brought back just to be safe.”

She nodded. “Has anyone told Lvaane our plan?”

“No, but someone should.”

“And by someone you mean me.” Not a question.”

“I did it last time she vanished!” he whined.

“Okay. Okay. I’ll do it.” She pulled the blankets back over her head. “After a nap.” Nikki could all but hear Leo smiling.