Search (The Empire Chronicles #2)

by Alyssa Rose Ivy

  “Bachelorette party? You’re letting her have one?”

  “If I tried to stop it, I’d look like I don’t trust her.” Levi caught the beer I tossed him.

  “What are they doing? Having a pajama party or something?” I took a seat on the couch across from them.

  “Hailey’s planning some crazy bar crawl or something. You know how she gets.”

  “When is it?” I stretched out my legs. “We can do your bachelor party the same night.”

  “No way. I’m not going there. Especially with all that crap about my dad. I’m not going near another woman.”

  This was the perfect excuse to forget about Casey. I needed something other than work to focus on. “I figured that much. I have to plan something though. A guy’s night. What do you want?”

  Levi looked pensive for a moment, and I knew I wouldn’t like what he said next. “Invite Toby.”

  “What?” I spit out some beer. “No fucking way.”

  “Yes.”

  “Why? Why would you want Toby there?”

  “I heard he brought in someone for interrogation but he didn’t keep any records.” Levi set down his beer.

  “So?”

  “So, I’m positive it’s important.”

  “I’ll find out what it was about.” Why was Toby holding back information from me? Was this because of Casey? As much as I didn’t want to talk to him, I needed to. Casey needed to be protected.

  “Will you?” Levi watched me. “Do you think he’ll tell you anything?”

  “Who said I’d ask him? I have other ways to get the information we need.”

  “Fine. Then let’s just do a poker night. We never have time for those anymore.”

  “Okay.” I leaned back against the leather couch. There wasn’t a chance I was inviting Toby.

  “You okay, man?” Levi asked.

  “He treated your sister like crap tonight,” Owen quickly supplied.

  “Shut up.” Owen was getting on my nerves more than usual. Did he have to tell Levi everything? Then the reality dawned on me. I would have done the same thing to him.

  “Apologize. She’s a princess whether you like it or not.”

  “I don’t think she’ll want to see me.” At least that was my goal, as little as I actually wanted it.

  “Then make it up to her in another way. I don’t want any more problems than I already have.”

  “Understood.” I got up and headed down the hall to my room. I wasn’t in the mood for making conversation.

  Hopefully I had enough alcohol in my system to put me to sleep.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Casey

  Georgina was all about the quality time thing. After parading me around town and introducing me to so many Pterons I lost track of the names, we ended up back at the hotel. Considering I was staying in a room of her suite, that meant down time together. She made a pot of coffee, and we sat out on her balcony that overlooked the courtyard. She had a second balcony that overlooked the city. I’m pretty sure she had the nicest suite in the hotel.

  “You have his eyes, you know.” She watched me so closely it unnerved me.

  “The king’s?” I still struggled to call him anything else.

  “Yes. Your father’s. I’d have known you were his daughter even without being told.”

  I found that hard to believe, but I chose not to argue.

  “He won’t talk to me. He won’t talk to Levi either other than to say it isn’t what we think. What does that even mean?” Georgina sounded uncharacteristically vulnerable. She was the type to tell you what to do, not ask rhetorical questions.

  “I’m sure finding out about me was hard on him.” The words sounded off and sour. He fathered me. He had no right to think that. I’d tried to call my mom finally, just to touch base, but I got her voicemail. Maybe that was a good thing because I still wasn’t sure what or how much to say.

  “Robert has some flaws, but I still can’t imagine he’d do this.” She looked off at some distant spot. “He understood the consequences of his actions…”

  “Yeah.” What was I supposed to say? If he hadn’t done something stupid, I wouldn’t exist. Could she really expect me to agree with her?

  She quickly put that thought to rest. “That being said, I’m glad he did it.”

  I watched her expectantly.

  “Your existence is worth that, and since Allie chose Levi, the crown is safe for the time being.”

  “You said you had something to show me. A book?” I needed answers. I understood her need to talk, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to think about the man who fathered me.

  “Yes, but probably not the kind of book you’re expecting.”

  “I wasn’t really expecting anything.”

  She grabbed a canvas bag off the end table and pulled out a large book. “This is your family.”

  I gaped in surprise when she handed over a weathered photo album.

  “I’ll have to update your section, but I thought you’d want to learn more about your family.”

  “Thank you for this.” I opened the front cover. “But I don’t see what kind of answers this is going to give me.”

  “I said I’d have to update your section, not that I didn’t start on it.”

  I flipped through the pages as slowly as I could manage. I wanted to see pictures and descriptions of my ancestors, but more than anything, I needed to know more about where I came from.

  “Where did you get this?” I ran my finger over a photo of a baby. The tuft of dark hair and wide blue eyes were exactly the same in every other photo of me from that age.

  “I found it the day I came up to see you.”

  “What?” I looked up at her.

  “I found it in Robert’s things when I was in his home office. They’ve been out of town, so there’s no telling how long it’s been there.”

  “Oh. So he did know about me?”

  She didn’t respond.

  “What’s the point of telling me all this? How does this help?”

  “Take the picture out and flip it over.”

  I did as she said. My hands shook slightly as I flipped over the paper. Mine?

  The one word jumped off the page at me. So he knew. Robert knew about me all this time. Or did he just find out? Maybe he was doing research too.

  “What do you want from me?” The question was pointed, but it was also necessary.

  “I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I generally don’t make that sort of statement, but I’m at a loss.”

  “I need to find my sister. After that, I don’t know what I should do.”

  “You will always have a place here. You’re important to The Society, to our family.”

  I nodded. “I might go out for a walk.”

  “By yourself?”

  “Would that be okay?”

  “You know I’m going to have someone follow you, don’t you? Only for your protection.”

  “Of course.” I stood up and set aside the album. I needed air, and if being followed kept me safe long enough to find Vera, I was all about it.

  ***

  “Try harder. You need to be able to control your emotions.” Hailey pushed me to my limits as she tried to provoke me for the third time that night. We were down by the levee, in a spot that was surprisingly devoid of people.

  “I can control them when you’re not in my face all the time.” I stepped back, exhausted from trying to keep myself calm. Between confronting Jared and spending far too much time with Georgina, my nerves were frayed before Hailey and I started.

  “The point is to make you uncomfortable. You seem really good at staying in control. I mean, you completely kept it together in front of Jared.” She gave me a sympathetic look. “But, you had time to prepare for that. You won’t always know an emotional or frightening experience is coming.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” I picked up my water bottle and took a swig. “Why can’t being a Pteron come with cool side effects instead of the tr
ansforming without warning thing?”

  “Because flying and super strength isn’t cool?”

  “Would it be so bad to also get perfect skin and bodies?”

  She laughed. “I like this side of you.”

  “What side?” I set aside my empty bottle.

  “This funny one. You hide it around Allie.”

  “No, I don’t.” I crossed my arms.

  “Yes, you do. You’re not brave enough to show her who you really are.”

  “What?” I stepped toward her. “How can you say that?” I felt my anger boiling.

  “Just like you’re afraid to face your feelings for Toby because you feel so guilty and messed up over things with Jared.”

  “That’s not true!” My back pricked. I had to rein the anger in. I took slow and deep breaths.

  Hailey laughed again. “Nice.”

  “Did you say all of that just to provoke me?”

  “Of course. Why else would I have?” She pulled out her hair tie, letting her long red hair tumble down her back. “Have you had enough for tonight? We need to get ready.”

  “Do you think Allie’s excited?” I scooped up my hotel key. It’s all Hailey let me bring with me.

  “Yes, although she won’t admit it.”

  “She’ll have fun tonight.”

  “That she will.” Hailey grinned before leading the way back toward where her car was parked.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Casey

  The general purpose of a bachelorette party is to celebrate the end of the single life of the bride-to-be. As friends, you’re supposed to help her have her last hurrah before married life begins. It’s kind of a different feeling when the bride and groom-to-be are already bound together by something impossible to break. Add in the fact that Allie was marrying my newly discovered brother, and was the ex-girlfriend of the guy I liked, and it was an interesting experience to say the least.

  Hailey had put together what amounted to a bar crawl in a surprisingly short amount of time. After a quick shower and some dinner, I was heading out for a night on the town with Allie, Hailey, and the rest of their group.

  Normally, I’d have been nervous about attending a party like that, but I’d gotten to know Hailey so well the past few days that I wasn’t too worried. The theme of the event was “Allie and Levi’s early days.” Essentially, we were going to all the bars the two of them had hung out at when they first started dating, but this time Allie was going to do it wearing a veil.

  We made a stop at the Maple Leaf, where Hailey embarrassed Allie by having the band dedicate a song to her. Allie wasn’t the type of girl to blush, but she turned bright red. You’d think that being a queen would make you used to attention, but it was obviously not her comfort zone. She’d much rather just be enjoying the atmosphere. I’m pretty sure that’s why Hailey did it. It was all about pushing Allie out of her usual element that night.

  “Where to next?” Jess asked excitedly. She’d flown down from New York that afternoon and quickly signed up to be the designated driver. She said something about cutting down on her alcohol consumption when she wasn’t with her fiancé.

  “Pat O’s on the River.” Hailey grinned. “Levi took Allie out there at least a few times last summer.”

  Allie smiled. “I have some good memories. One involves Levi ignoring a waitress that was blatantly flirting with him.”

  “Wait. You mean you’re admitting to being jealous?” Anne, one of Allie’s college friends, asked with mock surprise.

  “I wasn’t jealous, just glad he was paying attention to me.”

  “And you tried to pretend you didn’t like him…” Jess teased.

  “Hey, sometimes we aren’t ready to accept we’ve fallen in love.”

  “Aww.” Jess popped up on her toes. “I can’t believe my love cynic best friend is finally getting married.”

  “Come on, leave her alone.” Tiffany, Anne’s blonde haired roommate, jumped in. She was much quieter than the openly boy crazy Anne.

  “Aren’t we supposed to be on our way downtown?” Michelle, the last member of our little party, headed toward the door. I didn’t know what to make of her. She seemed uncomfortable, but also relieved to be invited. There was so much about The Society I didn’t know, but by the way she kissed up to me, she was power hungry, and from a few whispered words I caught between Allie and Hailey, she was also the Pteron Bryant had been in love with.

  “We’re going.” Hailey winked at me. I wasn’t positive what the wink was for, but I think it was her way of making me feel included.

  It was a beautiful night for drinks outside. The rooftop deck was the perfect place to kick back and relax. After an hour of dancing, sitting at a high top table to talk was a nice change of pace. I glanced around at the faces of the girls with me. Part of me wondered how I’d even ended up there. A few weeks earlier, I was the girl struggling to save up money for college. I hardly ever went out, and I spent almost every night working. Now I was down in New Orleans at a bachelorette party, hanging out with a bunch of girls I’d just met. I smiled, thinking about this more positive aspect of the change.

  Hailey elbowed me. “Who are you daydreaming about?”

  “No one.” I actually hadn’t been thinking about any guys.

  “Likely story.”

  “It’s true.” I sipped my cosmo. I normally would have already switched to water, but alcohol didn’t affect me in quite the same way anymore. “I was just thinking about how much my life has changed.”

  “Oh, come on. Nothing’s changed for you.” Allie laughed.

  “What do you mean?” Jess stared at me blankly. She was the only one in the group with no clue about Pterons. Hailey had warned me to be quiet about it.

  “It’s just that I never expected to be down in New Orleans.” That didn’t cover half of it, but everyone else would know what I meant.

  “Oh, cool.” Jess glanced at her phone. “I’m going to use the restroom real quick.”

  “Don’t you mean you’re going to call Emmett?” Allie raised an eyebrow.

  Jess laughed. “Maybe.” She walked away.

  “Have you talked to Jared?” Tiffany asked quietly.

  “Oh. You heard about that?” I wanted to hide my face.

  “I’m sorry. I was just on a tirade about how much I wanted to kick him in the nuts and it slipped out.” Allie gave me an apologetic smile.

  “It’s fine. I just wish I had better judgment.” I looked into my glass. My tryst with Jared wasn’t something I was particularly proud of.

  “Your judgment is just fine.” Hailey patted my arm. “And you did well facing him. I’m proud.”

  I laughed. “If I made you proud, then nothing else matters.”

  That got everyone laughing just as Jess walked back.

  “I know where our next stop should be.” She grinned.

  “Oh no.” Panic was clear on Allie’s face.

  “Wait. Where are we going?” If Allie was nervous about it, it couldn’t be good.

  “The Cat’s Meow. It’s where Allie and Levi first met. Well, unless you count them checking each other out at the hotel.” Jess was so bubbly. I guess being newly engaged herself, she liked talking about people falling in love.

  “I didn’t check him out!” Allie glared at her.

  “Oh, come on. You don’t have to defend your ogling now. You’re marrying the guy.” Anne laughed.

  Allie took the final sip of her drink. “Good point.”

  “We’ll have to sing Girl’s Just Want to Have Fun, like we did last time.” Jess beamed.

  Allie groaned. “No way. Once was enough to last a lifetime.”

  “Wait. It’s a karaoke bar?” There wasn’t a chance I was getting in on that activity.

  “A tourist’s dream.” Hailey laughed. “But it’s on our list. It’s an important place in Allie and Levi’s history.”

  “I’m totally fine with us going, I’m just not singing.” Allie set aside her glass. “Is eve
ryone ready?”

  “Sure.” I stood up. “Let’s continue this adventure.”

  Allie suddenly teared up.

  “Did I say something wrong?” I could have sworn the tears started right after my joke.

  “No.” She wiped her eyes. “I’m just ridiculously emotional right now. Levi said something kind of like that the night he really let me in.”

  Hailey put a hand on her arm. “I’m pretty sure that’s normal. You’re getting married. That messes with your emotions big time.”

  I gave Allie an encouraging smile. “Hailey’s right. It’s okay to feel that way.” I assumed Allie was referring to the night she found out he was a Pteron. I wondered why her college friends knew the truth, but Jess didn’t. I figured Allie’s bachelorette party wasn’t the place to ask.

  We moved the car and headed over to Bourbon Street. The crowd was heavy, and we stuck close together as we made our way down the middle of the street.

  We made a quick stop at Tropical Isle. The claim to fame of the bar was hand grenade drinks that were sweet and served in tall green plastic glasses that looked like their namesake. We probably would have stayed there awhile if Jess hadn’t pulled us out. She was really into the whole karaoke thing. Slightly buzzed, we made our way down to the Cat’s Meow.

  Jess rushed up to put our name on the list to sing while the rest of us took a seat at a table. When the other girls went to get drinks, I was left alone at the table with Allie. She seemed upset again, and although I’d have normally left it alone, I felt like I had to say something. “Are you crying?”

  She smiled sheepishly. “Maybe a little.”

  “Is it nerves, nostalgia?”

  “Both. Neither.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, I know what that feels like.”

  “How are you doing?” She seemed hesitant to ask.

  “I’m doing all right. It’s been a little overwhelming…”

  “I can only imagine. If there’s anything I can do, you know I’m here. I’ve tried to stay back and give you time with Hailey.”

  “Oh no. You don’t need to do that. You’re about to get married, and Hailey’s your best friend.”