The Found One

Chapter 23

Izzy POV

Izzy hesitated at the top of the stairs, glancing down nervously. Whispering, she looked at Rowan. "Are you sure we should go down there?"

Isaac made a noise from behind them.

"She thinks I'll be in trouble for finally dealing with Dylan." Rowan explained to the twins, his voice unconcerned and bored. Turning back to her. "I told you, nothing is going to happen."

"You killed someone!" She exclaimed, exasperated.

"He deserved to die. Should have happened years ago." Isaac interjected in the same unaffected tone Rowan had used, it was like they were discussing pizza toppings.

She stared at him, her mouth opening and closing.

Isaac glanced at her, "Well it's true, Maleco did what he could with him, but he was determined to get himself killed. Idiot." He defended.

"Izzy, I told you. You're fine, will you just believe me and come down to breakfast?" Rowan pleaded.

"Yeah right! Trust you? Ha!" She snorted.

"I thought you let that go." Rowan said unhappily.

Izzy narrowed her eyes at him. "You aren't off the hook that easily, Your Highness." She said sarcastically. "And don't think I don't know you aren't still hiding things from me." She accused, her finger poking him in the chest. Turning back to the stairs, she grumbled. "Fine, let's get this over with."

"It's breakfast cupcake, not an interrogation." Rowan said from beside her, his hand landing on her lower back. It was annoyingly reassuring.

"Shut up." She growled at his teasing, but let his hand stay where it was. It's for protection, that's all. She was getting better at lying to herself - she almost believed it that time.

"You can't hold a grudge against me forever cupcake, I'm irresistible."

"Is that a dare?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow and parroting him.

His eyes widened slightly, face growing serious. "I said I was sorry."

She rolled her eyes. "Like it's that easy." She huffed as they rounded the corner. The dim from the kitchen was slowly growing – there was a crowd. Izzy straightened her spine, refusing to let them intimidate her, she stole a glance at Rowan beside her, needing to reassure her shaky self-confidence that he was still there, even though she could literally feel him brushing against her side.

"What do I have to do?" He inquired seriously, his face scrunched up in concentration.

"I'm not telling you that." She muttered.

"How's that fair?"

"Figure it out, you're a Prince, surly you can figure out how to apologize for being an ass."

"I did apologize." He argued, pushing open the kitchen door, allowing voices and sounds to rush out at them.

Isaac snorted behind them. Izzy threw a glare at the twins, wiping away their matching grins. "You all hid this from me too. You aren't off the hook that easy either." She warned angrily.

The twins frowned, eyes flicking to Rowan's back. "The Prince forbade- "

"I don't want to hear it." Izzy said cutting off Isaac's excuse and waving her hand at them dismissively.

"Madeline- "

"Shut up Rowan." She huffed. "Saying you're sorry is not apologizing. Not for this. Heck you should be happy that I'm even still here."