Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
ALLIE
“ H ow are you following me?” I said instead of a greeting as I strutted through the door the girl had pointed me toward.
I was tired.
I was hungry.
And I’d almost slipped on a sheet of ice in front of the fortress and both the girl and the warriors saw.
I wasn’t in any mood to be summoned by the great big Commander.
All of my pointed words died on my lips as the door shut behind me and I realized this was the same room I’d woken up in.
Inside the coffin.
Where I’d found out my life had changed forever.
Where I’d been so close to crumbling.
Where I’d almost lost myself.
The ember smell, the antlers on the walls, the window I’d almost fallen apart in front of.
No coffin, thank the gods, but the memories of my disoriented fear made my heart beat faster than when the wolves were chasing me.
My mouth went dry and my fingers twitched to grab a bow that wasn’t there. That might never be there again until I escaped.
If I managed to escape.
“The sky sees all,” the Commander’s deep voice tugged me back to reality. “You’re easy to track in my lands.”
He leaned against the wall, arms criss-crossed in front of his chest and gaze on the floor, right next to that blasted window. Like he could smell my grief radiating off the frame and decided to amplify it.
He looked too at ease while I was one breath away from crashing.
I wanted to smash his tranquility.
“Why did you bring me here?” I asked, voice bringing in the frost from the streets inside. “To show me my place?”
His gaze jumped to me, bewildered, assessing my face, from the wild strands of hair that had escaped my braid and tickled my reddening cheeks, to the severe line of my pursed lips.
“You decide your place, Huntress. No one else,” he said slowly, as if sensing danger. “This is the safest room in all of the fortress, except, perhaps, our bedrooms.”
I crossed my arms in front of my chest, mirroring him. “So?”
“So I thought you’d want to make sure nobody outside these walls listens in on the conversation with your Clan and beloved uncle.”
All my anger melted away into shock as I spotted an open leather book on top of the desk I hadn’t noticed before. Carved out of dark, twisted wood, it dominated the back of the room in its imposing starkness.
How hadn’t I seen it the first time I–
Because the coffin had been placed on top of the desk . Of course.
Acutely aware of the Commander’s gaze trailing me, I ignored the shivers coursing through my limbs and rushed to the massive chair waiting behind it. The black leather was worn in a way that spoke of long nights and grasping the armrests in frustration.
I ran a hand down the front of my coat and through my stray hairs, trying to tame them, and sat down, the leather engulfing me and my aching back. It had been crafted for someone much larger than me.
Him .
The man watching me as I tried to tidy myself up as best I could before I met my Clan. I should’ve been dressed in the finest silks. At least run a comb through my hair and try to hide the bags under my eyes.
But this would have to do.
I had my mind and nothing could change that.
My fingers gripped the worn armrests before they reached out toward the leather cover of the palaver book. My hands shook.
Why was I so nervous?
I’d never had a problem talking to anyone in my Clan. Especially fucking Silas, who was as useless today as he’d ever been and–
I closed my eyes and exhaled.
It was only a conversation.
I was good at that.
I flicked the book open and stared at the crisp, blank pages waiting beyond the embossed leather covers. No mist rose from them and no silver palaver oval formed.
“When is this meeting supposed to take place?” I asked.
I hadn’t realized how much my voice echoed in this space–or how much of an outsider I felt inside it.
The room was large, but had the trappings of secluded comfort, from the ember light flickering on the floor and the plush fur carpet, to the dark wooden beams spidering the ceiling. In another life, I would have thought it looked cozy.
“If Silas is to be trusted with his punctuality, hopefully in less than a minute,” the Commander said.
Not looking at me.
Not moving .
“So soon.” I rested my elbows on the table, feeling like an intruder, and steepled my fingers to at least try and keep the nerves away.
“It had to happen now, I’ll be gone for a few days,” he said casually.
Too casually.
As if daring me to ask.
“Where?”
“To the border. The Serpents want to have a little chat.”
“Serpents?” Ice gripped me. “Why?”
“The Dragon killed their heir. They want to at least pretend they care about that.”
He was hiding something, I could feel it. But my priority right now was my Clan, not Serpents negotiations.
“That sounds like something you need to get ready for,” I said.
He shrugged.
“Which means you can go now,” I tried again.
The knowing smirk that twisted his lips should have made me regret looking his way, but I couldn’t stop. “I will make my fortress respect your intimacy, but I won’t let you plot with your Clan behind my back. I’m staying.”
My lips parted. “You’re not.”
“I very much am.” He relaxed further into the wall. “I’m dying to hear what you and your uncle have to say.”
Godsdammit.
It wasn’t like I would have dared to say any information out loud–Protectorate codes had been invented and kept secret for a reason–
A silver mist began to rise from the pages, smothering my words. I gave the Commander one last warning look before concentrating on the slow forming oval.
I licked my lips and rolled my shoulders back, looking as much as the Protectorate First Daughter as I could in this crater.
As the figures began to take shape in the mist, my heart plummeted.
Silas sat on the Protectorate stone and steel throne, dressed in a luxurious silver suit that shimmered too much. Apart from emphasizing his ever-growing gut, it did nothing to make him seem more regal–or worthy of the throne Dria Vegheara herself had sat on.
Because it wasn’t his.
At least he’d had the common sense not to wear the crown as well, forged by Grandpa Constantine himself out of a cannon’s rim in Ember Vale.
Behind Silas, instead of the sentinels, stood Orion and a man even taller than him, who I had never seen in my life. He had a scar running down his face and a mean glint to his eyes.
“I can see her.” Silas squinted at his own palaver–positioned on the last step of the throne platform, so I had to look up at him, spilling out of his expensive suit. “Is this thing working?”
“Uncle. Orion. Man I’ve never met,” I greeted, perhaps icier than I should have.
But the gall of Silas to be sitting on my throne.
When he never bothered to attend the weekly throne room meetings.
When the seat wasn’t even cold yet after my father’s murder .
Who in Xamor’s name did he think he was?
He flinched and nodded gravely. “Allegra.”
I sighed and blinked rapidly, trying to keep my frustration in check. Of course the dolt would use my real name without making sure the connection was secure.
“I am not alone, uncle,” I said, trying to unclench my jaw.
“Oh, yes, yes, of course.” He tilted his chin up, trying to look imposing and failing miserably.
I didn’t have time for Silas’ grandstanding. “Where are my cousins? What have you heard?”
“They’re all with their Blood Brotherhood betrotheds or on the way there, same as you. Except Dax, nobody can find him.”
I began to breathe harder, my body already realising a truth my mind still refused.
“I hear congratulations are in order. The Clan Council had decreed the Commander for you.” Silas clapped, like the child he was. “Good match, I have to say.”
“Nothing is final,” I gritted out. “The Council hasn’t given its final verdict.”
Behind the palaver, the Commander went very, very still.
Shit.
“That’s not what I heard and I’m getting the best information fast,” Silas said. “They treating you right over there?”
“I don’t even know where here is. But yes, no torture. Yet.” I rolled my shoulders back. “I want to come home before that becomes a reality.”
By the window, the Commander scoffed, but mercifully kept his powerful gaze from straying my way again. I didn’t need the extra scrutiny and the goosebumps on my arms right now.
“There’s no rush, Allie,” Silas had the nerve to say. “You’ve worked hard enough, you deserve a vacation.”
“A vacation ?” The blood rushed in my ears. “I was taken by the Blood Brotherhood. I’m kept in a frozen crater I can’t get out of, and I didn’t even get to witness my father’s funeral.”
“Tragic, that.” Silas shook his head and grimaced, like he meant it. But he wouldn’t have been sitting there if he had. “Alaric went much too soon. But all we can do now is move forward and make sure he would be proud of us.”
The blood began to roar in my ears. It sounded like a warning.
“Move on?” I whispered. “He was your brother.”
“ Older brother. I always knew he would go before me, I had my entire life to get used to that,” he said. So casually. Like my father’s death wasn’t a momentous scar not only for us, his family , but for the entire Clan.
“Did you find out who killed him?” I asked, voice now as cutting as if it could travel the entire continent and maim Silas for me.
“Sadly, no.”
“Did you even try?”
“Now, Allie, the Protectorate is going through a very hard time–”
“Then come get me so I can help.”
Silence, while Silas worked his jaw. Behind him, Orion exhaled through flared nostrils, moving closer to the throne and eyeing the stranger as suspiciously as I did.
“See, Allie, things are complicated on that front,” Silas mumbled. “There are reports the Serpents want revenge, I have to protect Aquila. We can’t spare the soldiers we’d need to send after you. Think of the Clan, Allie.”
“No soldiers for the heir of the Clan?”
Silas pursed his lips.
Behind him, Orion grimaced, looking even more menacing.
The strange man didn’t even bother to look my way.
“What are you doing on my throne, Uncle?” I asked.