I exchanged a look with Ren, and he shrugged. As we reached the door, it opened for us. Rachel Adams was on the other side. The tall and slender Order member was in her early thirties. I didn’t know her well, and like most members, she kept to herself. Beyond her, I could tell that the room was pretty full.

“Glad to see you’re back up and moving around,” she said, stepping aside.

“Thanks. Glad to see you’re not dead.” My eyes widened as I realized how that sounded. “I meant that you didn’t die in the battle, not that I’m glad anyone else died, but yeah . . .”

She stared at me and arched a brow.

“Nice,” Ren murmured under his breath, and I casually jabbed my elbow out, catching him in the side. He grinned, and the dimple on his left cheek began to appear. I was thinking about hitting him again when David suddenly appeared in front of us.

I hadn’t seen David since I left the hospital, and for a man who usually seemed so ageless, he didn’t right now. The salt and pepper sprinkled at his temples had expanded up the sides of his head. Deeper wrinkles had formed at the corners of his dark skin, around his eyes. He looked tired.

And pissed.

But he always kind of looked pissed.

David nodded at Ren and then looked down at me. He placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed gently. “Good to see you finally walking back through that door.”

I blinked once, twice, and then murmured, “Ditto.”

He stepped back, and I felt like I could’ve fallen over, because that was actually nice coming from David, from the man I always felt like I was letting down and who never really seemed to be overly happy with anything I did or said.

I almost wanted to do a little jig.

I looked around the room but didn’t see Miles. Feeling antsy, I glanced over at Ren. That’s when I noticed Ren’s grin starting to fade. Two men I’d never seen before had joined David. One was tall, had dark hair, and was probably in his mid to late forties. The other was shorter with pale, pale skin, and had red hair brighter than mine, and that was saying something. Ren stiffened as the dark-haired man approached him.

“Ren,” the man said, extending a hand. “It’s been a while. Good to see you’re doing well.”

“Likewise.” Ren shook the man’s hand, but there wasn’t an ounce of warmth in his voice. “What are you doing here, Kyle?”

My eyes widened. Kyle? That Kyle? The one who killed Ren’s best friend because he turned out to be a halfling? Holy shitballs.

“Here because we’re needed.” Kyle turned to me. He extended his hand in my direction. “You must be Ivy. David was telling me about you.”

“Nice to meet you,” I lied—lied straight through my teeth as I shook his hand.

“Same to you.” His gaze flickered over my face. “Fought the prince of the Otherworld and lived to tell the story. Amazing.”

I forced myself to show no reaction. “Barely lived to tell the story.” I smiled tightly as he let go of my hand. He turned sideways, and I felt a weird pressure clamping down on my chest.

David moved to the center of the room. “Okay guys, listen up. We’ve got two members from Colorado here. Their names are Kyle Clare and Henry Kenner.”

A muscle was flexing, doing overtime along Ren’s jaw as he folded his arms across his chest. There was not a single doubt in my mind that Ren was very unhappy that they were here.

I wasn’t too thrilled myself.

“I’m going to cut through the bullshit. Henry and I are here to find the halfling,” Kyle announced. There weren’t any gasps of surprise from the other members. Apparently they’d been filled in on all that and the whole secret society of Order members known as the Elite, but unease was brewing in my belly as Kyle’s dark gaze flickered around the room. “Here’s the thing that all of you are missing. If that girl was truly the halfling and the fae knew that, they wouldn’t have her anywhere near that gate,” Kyle said. “They would’ve kept her safe and sound. She isn’t the halfling.”

~

I hauled ass out of the meeting the moment I could without looking suspicious. I had to, because the longer I stayed in there, the more it felt like the walls were closing in. Panic burned my lungs and the acids were churning in my stomach.

I’d barely heard anything else Kyle and Henry had said, and there was no way I was hanging around to talk to David about what had happened last night. I knew I needed to, and I knew it was important, but I had to get out of there for a moment.

Once outside, I sucked in deep mouthfuls of cool air and headed down the street, not really paying attention to where I was going. I just needed to get far away from Kyle, from the Elite member who had discovered that Ren’s childhood best friend was a halfling, and had calmly followed the young man from Ren’s home and killed him.

He was here, and he knew that Val wasn’t the halfling. The others would soon realize that, and they would—

“Ivy,” Ren called out, and I kept walking, stepping around people. “Ivy, just slow down.” He caught up to me easily, catching my arm and drawing me to a stop. “Are you okay?”

My heart was pounding so fast I could hear it in my ears. I shook my head, feeling sick.

His brows knitted together, and concern filled his emerald eyes. “What’s going on?” When I didn’t answer, he pulled me aside, into the narrow alley between two buildings. “Talk to me,” he said.

I could barely breathe as I stared up at him. What had Ren told me before? That he couldn’t go through that again. Having to make a choice between someone he cared about and duty. And he was smack dab in the middle of that horrible situation again.