Chapter 30
CHAPTER 30
Deacon
O men tossed a glare toward Abyss as we walked to our ships outside the gates of Faithless a while later, after breakfast. “You realize I’m going to have to build a whole new foundation, since you ripped my house off, right?”
Abyss smirked. “Do you still plan to live in that old shack, now that the rest of us will move to the city?”
“It wasn’t an old shack,” Omen argued. “It was my ship under a glamour guise, so it only looked like an old shack. And I don’t know if I will move to the city.”
Sarah glanced at Omen with a smile. “It would be strange if the commander of my silverguard were to live so far from the city, wouldn’t it, Omen?”
Omen stopped walking and stared. “You…you want me as your silverguard commander?”
Not sure I was following, since I’d never heard the term before, I asked, “Silverguard?”
Sarah nodded and looped her arm through mine as we walked along, with her sisters trailing behind with the rest of the crew. “I thought about some rebranding for the conduits, so people don’t think of them as strictly religious figures anymore,” she explained. “And since they all look intimidating but very pretty in their gray conduit robes, I thought I would stick with the color scheme, while making them sound like protectors, instead of priestesses. Silverguard .” Then she glanced up at me with a bit of uncertainty. “Is that hokey?”
“Hokey? I am not familiar with that word,” I said, patting the hand she’d rested on my forearm. “But I like silverguard. It sounds regal, in some way.”
Before we boarded, she stopped and turned to Omen. “If you want the position, it’s yours. Do you—"
“Yes!” Omen said before she could finish, beaming with excitement. “Thank you, Sarah.”
Sarah’s expression softened. “Think of it as gratitude for always sticking by me.”
Omen bowed her head. “You have always given me reasons to do so, Queen.”
“Okay, ladies, that was a nice moment, but we need to get back to Valor’s because he is probably freaking out right about now,” Jac said as he walked past us by Sovereign’s onramp.
“He’s right,” I said before I kissed Sarah, since she’d be flying with Jac. “I’ll see you at Father’s.”
We let my gauntlet driver spin our names to see who got Sarah in his ship, while Omen would transport her sisters. Jac was a lucky bastard in that respect. The trip back to Father’s was not short enough for my liking, but at least I was able to nap on the ride.
After we arrived back to my father’s, I caught wind of what had been discussed on Sovereign when Sarah came off his ship saying, “…said there was very little fire damage. In fact, Xylic suggested I could take the manor as my residence, once the repairs are made, but I’m not sure. It’s a big place.”
Jac fell into step beside Sarah. “With a place that big, maybe others would appreciate it more.”
“Like whom?” she asked curiously.
Jac eyed Father, who had just stepped from his cottage. He looked haggard and annoyed as he asked, “And you couldn’t have sent a message to let me know you’re alive?”
I chuckled at my father’s umbrage. “You would have thought any message I sent you was some coded thing, telling you we were in danger. I thought it best you see us in person instead.”
Father huffed. “Next time Faithless is having riots, you message me, got it?”
I inclined my head at him respectfully. “Of course, Father.”
Silence came out with the twins on her hips and smiled. “Glad to see you all are in one piece.”
“You were almost eaten ?” Sarah blurted out.
A confused Silence looked to me for a translation. I explained, “We just told her about Illiapol.”
“Oh!” She laughed. “Yes, well, not almost , but it was up for discussion.”
Sarah looked at her in awe. “Girl. We need to talk.”
Silence shrugged. “I was a teenager, making a statement. I didn’t know my father would take me up on it.”
“Okay, well, here’s the deal…” Sarah began explaining all pertinent details which had occurred since our absence, to update Silence and my father, and ended with a surprise, “…so I was thinking that if you would like a bigger place for you two and the twins, you could take Rex’s manor, if you don’t mind the three of us using part of it until our home is built.”
I had no idea that was her plan, but it sounded good to me, so I said nothing.
Silence’s brow furrowed as the twins on her hips watched everyone with big, curious eyes. “That is extremely generous of you, of all of you, to offer such a thing, but a part of why I am still alive is the fact no one knows where I am. If we were to move into such a high-profile place, then—"
“Justice would not hesitate to level it to the ground,” Father finished.
The conduits—or rather, the silverguard —landed moments later on Omen’s ship, with Jenny and Elizabeth, and Sarah went to greet them. Once again, I noticed Jenny eyeing Tiger, and once again, he responded in kind while pretending to check on Sovereign’s exhaust ports.
I mumbled to Jac, “They are like two drecks at mating season.”
“Hmm?” Jac asked.
I glanced toward Jenny and Tiger to be subtle, but Jac had been born with no such reflex.
He hollered, “Hey, Tiger, come here.”
“I was trying to not interfere,” I muttered, as Tiger headed our way.
He grinned. “Fuck that. The kid has a job to do.”
“Yes, Jac?” the young man asked.
“I’m giving you your first scouting mission,” Jac told him, clapping him on the back. “If you’re up for it.”
Tiger’s eyes went wide with excitement. “I’m up. I’m definitely up.”
Jac nodded his approval. “Good. Tomorrow, I’ll need you to take Sovereign and go to Ladrille. After everything that’s happened with Rex and Faithless, we need some boots on the ground to find out what the chatter is on the streets of the capital. If you can get some information from any classed person, that would be good, too. The good thing about this being your first mission is that no one really knows you yet. Use it to your advantage with anyone you’ve never met. Don’t mention who you work for. Use the documents we forged six months ago, the ones we used when we reclaimed those children from the orphanage—"
“They are still selling children?” I asked in horror.
“They were ,” Tiger said with an edge in his voice and pride in his eyes, since he’d been on the mission that had saved a good lot of them.
He glanced back at Jac. “Anyone to avoid on the job?”
“Anybody who works for Justice Bateen, down to the city patrols,” Jac said, his tone firm. “Use our old contacts, anyone you’ve seen me reach out to. Don’t be shy. They should all talk to you. And don’t contact us while you’re down there. With Illiapol coming up, the palace employees should be busy, but they would love to make time to torture the people who rescued Silence, I promise you.”
Tiger stood taller than I had ever seen him. “You can count on me.”
Jac squeezed his shoulder. “I know I can.”
Tiger smiled one more time, before he went back to checking Sovereign’s exhaust ports—this time, for real, since he’d be taking the ship to Ladrille.
I glanced at Jac and grinned. “I think you just made him very happy.”
“He’s a good kid, good instincts.” Jac shrugged. “I’m sure he’ll do fine.”
“Fine is not good enough. It is an important job,” I said, voicing my concern. “Are you sure he is the right man for the task?”
Jac smirked. “Are you questioning a command I gave my crew?”
“No.” I treaded more carefully with my words. “I am merely asking because this is a critical moment and I need to know Tiger, in his youthful enthusiasm, will not fuck it up.”
“He won’t, Deacon,” Jac assured me. “I trust him.”
“You must,” I said, and laughed. “I cannot believe you are loaning him Sovereign .”
Jac looped his arm around my neck and brought me close. “He’s got this.”
“And you have got me, it would appear.”
Jac grinned a silly grin, but his voice was rough with emotion when he replied. “Yeah. I do.”
I leaned against him for a moment, then ruffled the top of his blue hair, mussing it.
Jenny smiled gregariously as she approached. “You two are adorable. I get how the three of you work now.”
Elizabeth, who had not smiled at our interplay, said in a more reserved tone, “I’m still figuring it out.”
“What is there to figure out?” I asked. “We are in love.”
“Obviously. But I mean, the three of you.” She looked unconvinced. “I don’t…is that a normal thing? For Ladrians?”
Father smiled. “It used to be. Their union is a bit old-fashioned for us, but I have come to realize the three of them together are perfect for one another.”
“Old-fashioned?” she asked, not quite believing him.
Father said, “I am familiar with some of human history, but I am aware such knowledge is not commonly reciprocated, since your kind do not know we exist. Would you like to know more? Part of my work in the army was to educate our cadets on things such as history and culture. I would be more than happy to give you a primer.”
Elizabeth brightened considerably. “I would appreciate that very much, Valor. Thank you.”
“Right this way.” He gestured toward the path that led around his house, and the Hollinger sisters joined him for a tour and a history lesson, with Silence and the babies following closely behind.
Sarah came up to us, her face lined with regret. “I should have realized Valor and Silence couldn’t move to Faithless with us. I’m sorry. I feel like I dangled something in front of them that they can’t have.”
Jac shook his head. “It’s my fault. I should have picked up on it.”
But I sighed and smiled at my union. “It was a kind gesture from you both, but a good reminder for us to stay focused on the real agenda. Protect Silence and the twins. Get battle-ready. Defeat Justice. Once he is no longer a threat, they can live wherever they want to live.”
A worried look passed over Jac’s features. “With them here and us in Faithless, things are going to get complicated.”
Sarah glanced around before looking at us again, her eyes flickering with an idea. “We can use my old cottage for a handful of conduits to stay here at all times to defend them. They can rotate between Faithless and here, four at a time.”
“I cannot think of a better system,” I said, loving her kind heart. “Thank you, Sarah.”
Her sweet brown eyes glistened for a second, before she blinked away tears. “There is something I need to know, before all of this happens.”
“Anything.”
She exhaled a breath. “Did you tell my sisters anything about our parents?”
My nerves surged, and I gulped. “I, eh, I thought it would sound better coming from you.”
She pursed her lips. “You chicken.”
Jac quickly translated, “She means you’re a coward.”
“Oh.” I chuckled. “Well, I did not believe it to be my place to tell them.”
“Fine, fine.” She glanced around, fidgeting nervously and seemingly avoiding our gazes. “I can’t very well call you a chicken and not own up to…” She faced us, her expression vulnerable. “I have something to tell you both, as well.”
“What is it?” Jac asked.
A tremulous smile touched her lips. “According to Ode, I’m definitely pregnant. I…uh, hope you’re okay with that, because I’m scared out of my mind.”
Jac and I grinned at one another and immediately pulled Sarah into our embrace, both of us clearly elated with the news.
I kissed the top of her head. “I couldn’t be happier,” I said, and meant it.
She pulled back to glance up at Jac, who looked at her with pure adoration. “You are everything to us, Sarah.” Then he glanced at me, too. “Thank you both for giving me a family that is ours.”
We hugged Sarah again, and she melted against us, the moment emotional and heartfelt. A quiet celebration between the three of us, despite all the upheaval and potential uprising that still lay ahead.
None of that mattered as we basked in the joy of what the future held for us, and our child together.