The second I laid eyes on my mother, my soul left my body.
I didn't just jump—I levitated. I might have actually ascended to the astral plane for a brief moment before crashing back into my stupid, guilty, terrified mortal shell.
Riley was standing right there in my dimly lit room, arms crossed, leaning against the wall like she'd been expecting me.
Which. She probably had.
I couldn't move. Couldn't breathe. I was so busted.
My mind short-circuited, playing through all the possible excuses I could throw at her.
"I was out training!" (Lame. No one trained at this hour.)
"Rowena dared me to climb the castle walls for sport!" (…Actually, that sounded too realistic. Suspiciously realistic.)
"A wizard teleported me against my will!" (Good effort. Total nonsense.)
"I was absolutely NOT with Maeve and definitely NOT spending hours in her bed doing deeply unholy things!"
Yeah. That last one wasn't gonna fly.
