Chapter Forty-Seven #3
“I mean, what would he do when his father was dead and the path to general was open?” She began to pace, circling me as she continued to speak what genuinely sounded like nonsense.
“Would he take over? Reignite the burning hatred for eadi kind? Would he wish to rule as his ancestors had before him?”
“I’m sorry, Commander, but I’m not sure what these thoughts have to do with me,” I said, trying to resist the urge to rotate and keep her in front of me. She wasn’t the enemy, even if she wasn’t the savior either.
“It has everything to do with you, Nova. You were the solution I’d been seeking.”
The solution?
“You were my answer. My gift from the stars,” she said, stopping in front of me and turning away, her voice higher pitched than normal as the words poured out of her.
“I needed Azazel to help the revolution, and he needed a reason to stay. When I walked into his cottage and found him clinging to you, unwilling to hand you over to anyone else, I realized it. He gravitated towards you. Submitted to you in a way. And if the pull was that powerful without his knowledge, imagine how potent your allure would be when he faced it head on.” She whipped around, smiling at me with wide eyes.
“When that love was acknowledged and embraced, what would he do for you? How far would he go just to please you? Earn you? After all, they say a desperate man is a vulnerable one.”
Fury rippled through me in waves as she spoke, the words settling into my stomach like bricks. She’d been…what? Using me? Hoping I’d keep Azazel happy enough to continue with the rebellion?
Stepping up to me, she dared to reach out and graze my temple, her finger nearly touching my eye. “You’re the leash I needed to keep hold of the beast.”
I ripped my head back, slapping her arm away. She only smiled wider, as if ready for the fight. But I was too. I was angry and confused and so fucking tired.
“Well you should’ve thought ahead more, Commander,” I spit out, stepping back into her space as I squared my jaw. I didn’t fear her. I’d just taken on Iblis Altair. No one could tie strings to me and make me dance anymore. “Nothing keeps me here. No chains hold me to you.”
Instead of looking even the slightest bit scared, Commander Maitoza let her head fall back as she laughed. I gawked, suddenly unsure of what I’d let myself be trapped within.
“What about your sister?” she asked between deep chuckles, her breaths coming more evenly as she settled.
That was her big gotcha? My sister’s memory?
“My sister would have wanted me to support someone honest. A person who had a better plan for Dajahim. We don’t need reconstruction, we need demolition.
We need to tear the entire system down and start anew.
Celeste knew that, and if she could see you now, she’d see what I do.
A coward too afraid to do the truly hard work. ”
“Actually, Nova,” she hummed, her smile lifting as she began to back away.
Perhaps she saw just how strong I was now.
Maybe she even rightfully feared for her life.
But it was her tone that prevented me from following her.
She sounded smug. “Your sister is very much so privy to my plans. She supports them wholly.”
Confused, I said, “My sister is—“
“Alive.”
In that moment, I could’ve sworn my heart stopped beating, the useless organ plummeting to the pit of my gut. Emotions spiraled through me in rapid succession. Surprise melting into confusion, which made way for pain and hope and every terrible feeling in between.
No, she’s dead. We buried her. Talon killed her.
“She can’t be,” I said, my voice wavering.
“Celeste never went to Castle Zade. The night of your graduation, Celeste ran to me. She told me of your stars, your supposed lover, her suspicion of you and Azazel and what he wanted. She cried in my arms, and when she went home, the three of you were nowhere to be found. We waited together for word to find us. Where had you all gone? Why weren’t you returning?
She’d had an awful feeling, and she was right to. ”
Too stunned to even move, I watched the smile on Maitoza’s face grow impossibly wider. Celeste was…alive? How was that possible?
“At first, I thought Azazel had done it. Had recruited him for that very reason. But, it became quite clear he hadn’t when Celeste began to show affection towards him.
Why would she and Desiree—her lover—befriend the murderer of her family?
And then you showed up, and I once more asked myself, why would you run to him of all people?
Only one reason. He hadn’t killed your family.
Which, my little star, meant I had a beast, a leash, and a soldier willing to obediently hold tight. ”
Az and my sister are friends? Celeste is in love with Desi? What the fuck is happening right now?
Commander Maitoza stepped one foot through the cloak and wards, the entirety of her leg disappearing as she said, “Do remind Azazel that there are always consequences for his actions. Fall in line, or get out of my rebellion. Either way, Celeste will stay.”
And then she was gone, nothing but the faint hum of cicadas and my own internal screams meeting my ears.