Chapter 15
Chapter
Fifteen
“Brexley!” Andris’s arms wrapped around me the moment we entered the temporary underground base. His familiar cologne and voice hit me like a hammer, making me feel like a little girl again.
“Nagybacsi.” I hugged him back, his arms squeezing me so tightly I could feel every ounce of his fear and relief in the hug.
“I was so scared, drágám.” My dear. “The thought of anything happening to you . . . I just . . .” He tapered off.
“I’m okay.” I squeezed him back.
“Thank the gods.” His voice cracked in my ear.
“I’ve been going crazy from the moment I said goodbye last time.
We looked everywhere for you. I thought the worst, though Scorpion kept reassuring me you were okay.
Then tonight . . .” He finally released me from the embrace, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he looked me over.
“I think I aged ten years in the last hour.”
He did look tired, but still handsome in his stoic way.
His hair was turning grayer, a few white specks in his dark brows, youth seeping slowly from him every day.
This time I could see the human frailty in him, and the fact he would grow old and die.
The vulnerability of humans compared to fae seemed so real suddenly.
In that moment, I understood the desire to find the nectar or create the pills.
I had lost so many people I loved, grew up without a mother, and now a father.
Andris was the closest I had to a father figure, and I didn’t want to lose him.
“I know you must be tired, but there are things we need to discuss before you rest.”
I nodded, finally looking around the dark and dingy space, taking in the commotion in the smaller headquarters.
Dozens of people were moving down hallways and through the main room, buzzing like bees.
Maddox and Scorpion took Kek, Caden, and Hanna away the moment we stepped in.
Ash was already somewhere here working on Luk.
The transitory base was in the middle of a nondescript block of abandoned buildings near the old marketplace.
The entrance was tucked in an alley and behind dumpsters and piles of rubbish.
All the windows were boarded up, and the space underground was cramped and old.
A rush of guilt clipped my chest, knowing I was the reason the last place was found. Why they were “homeless” right now.
“Don’t fret, drágám.” Andris patted my arm, seeing right through me. “We will find a new home.”
“I know, but—”
“No buts. We would have been discovered eventually.” He shook his head. “That is the life we chose. At any moment, this place could be compromised. Just how it is. Do not blame yourself.”
We took all the precautions coming here, but I hoped it wasn’t in vain.
Kalaraja was a master at what he did, and he was set on finding me.
He was the reason HDF knew precisely where to attack us tonight.
How could he always discover my location without any other fae sensing him? The man was like a ghost.
“Lieutenant, we placed the girl prisoner in the empty storage closet.” Maddox strolled up, reporting to his leader. “Scorpion is watching her.”
“Her name is Hanna.” I gritted my teeth.
“Hanna?” Andris’s eyes went wide. “You mean little Hanna Molnár? Albert and Nora’s girl?”
Five years ago, we were little and young to him. I was fifteen and Hanna had been fourteen when he left. And he had very little interaction with her or her parents, probably only remembering a scrawny blonde teen who sometimes hung out with Caden and me.
“We have her here?” His eyes widened, irritation furrowing his bushy brows at Maddox. “You know the rule. We don’t take prisoners.”
Maddox’s nose flared, his jaw crunching. “I know.”
“It’s my fault.” I stepped in. “She’s my friend. I wasn’t going to let them kill her.”
“Even if they’d turn around and kill us?” Maddox asserted.
Andris palmed his head, rubbing feverishly, muttering under his breath.
“Tell him who we have taking up a cot in our healing ward.” Maddox pursed his lips, his eyes on me.
Andris’s head snapped up, his spine straightened. “Who?”
I cringed, already knowing how his name would be received.
“Who, Brexley?”
“Caden.” I winced, watching the word hit Andris and soak in, a vein in his forehead bulging. Andris of course knew him well; Caden and I were inseparable. He treated Andris like a pseudo-uncle because I considered him so. Andris worked for his father before Caden was even born.
If possible, I think Andris aged another ten years in that single moment.
“What?” he exploded. “You are telling me we have the son of my enemy, the one who thinks I’m dead! In here? Right now?” He pointed off down a hallway.
Maddox arched an eyebrow at me in an “I told you so” expression.
“Yes.” I nodded.
Andris’s mouth opened, then clicked shut. He started to pace, his mouth opening again, then closing.
Uncle Andris didn’t usually show emotion or get “mad.” He kept his cool and worked things out, while my father popped off like fireworks. It was rare, but there had been times I had seen Uncle Andris upset, mad, and even furious. I had never seen him speechless.
A strangled noise clogged his throat, the vein on his forehead dancing. “You.” He pointed at me. “Follow me now!” He marched off, anger riding his shoulders like a cowboy.
“Someone’s in trouble,” Maddox sang under his breath.
“Shut up,” I snarled, feeling every bit the adolescent teen about to get grounded. I stomped after my uncle, Maddox snickering like an older brother getting his sibling in trouble.
Passing a makeshift war room, I spotted Ling at a computer, her fingers flying over the keyboards. She briefly looked up, her dark eyes meeting mine. She was good at keeping her emotions unreadable, but I swore I saw her sigh, like, “See. Once again, danger and violence follow you.”
Yeah, it did.
I followed Andris into a small cement cubicle, which only held a desk and two chairs. The table was covered in folders, and a map of the city, circled with black marker and sticky notes, was flattened out in the middle.
The room made me feel trapped, like a weight was sitting on my chest. The need to run back up the stairs and breathe in fresh air pulsed in my muscles and ached my lungs.
I would never like being underground, especially in confined quarters like this.
The panic instantly bubbled, sweat dripping down my back.
“Sit,” Andris ordered.
I perched on the edge, my leg bouncing.
“Brexley . . .” He leaned over his desk, taking calming breaths. “I know you are new to this world, but we have rules for a reason.”
“You can’t possibly be saying I should have let them be killed. Someone who has been my best friend most of my life, who was there for me when I lost my father . . . when I lost you. When you chose to leave me.”
He flinched. “Brex—”
“No.” I stood up, my body itching to move. “I fight for those I care about. I don’t murder them in cold blood because suddenly we are on two different sides.”
“You don’t think they wouldn’t have killed you?” His voice rose, letting emotion bleed through. I realized this reaction was more from his fear that he could have lost me to them tonight. “Don’t be fooled, girl. Caden is a chip off the old block.”
“No,” I growled defensively, jerking Andris’s head back. “He’s not. Caden might believe he is or wants to be, but I know him. I know him better than I know myself. He wouldn’t have hurt me.”
“But he wouldn’t have stopped Istvan from killing you, though,” Andris replied honestly, point-blank, and I felt the arrow hit the target dead center.
“How do you know?”
“Because.” His eyes and posture softened, sorrow in his stance.
“That boy was never as strong as you. He wanted to please his father too much, even as a child. You were the one who always got him to do things outside the lines. He never would have. He followed you, Brexley . . . not the other way around. You were the force, the strength. So full of vigor and fire. He would have caved under Istvan a long time ago if it hadn’t been for you. You gave him life. Courage.”
“We gave it to each other.”
Andris shook his head. “Name one thing he instigated when you were kids.”
My mind tried to file through all the memories of the mischief we got up to, not able to recall one that wasn’t my idea.
“He was a follower . . . you have always been the leader.”
“Doesn’t matter.” I shook my head. “Caden is part of me; he’s my heart. And if I have to fight you and everyone in here, I won’t let you hurt him. Or Hanna.”
Andris watched me for a while.
“I don’t want to hurt him either, Brex. I remember sitting with both of you on either side of me, reading stories to you guys for hours.
I care about Caden too, but he still is the enemy.
Istvan’s son. Do you know what Istvan will do to this city to get him back?
To my people if he catches them? This is my family.
People I love and promised to protect.” He placed his palms on the desk, his head dropping.
I could see the anguish and tough position I put him in.
“I can’t let him go free, but I won’t kill him, because I know how much it would break you.
I’d lose you too. And I won’t lose you again.
” The cheap chair squealed as he flopped down in it. Exhaustion and torment lined his face.
“I’m sorry.” I felt horrible for putting him in this spot, but there was no other choice for me. Caden was not a sacrifice I was willing to make. “Maybe if we tell them the truth . . . show them what’s really going on. Fae aren’t the enemy.”
“Please.” He pinched his nose. “Caden won’t turn against his father. And I doubt the girl will either. They have been brainwashed since birth to despise fae.”
“So was I.” I tipped up my chin. “You and I both changed.”
He dropped his hand, leaning his head back into the chair, staring at me.
“Just let me try.”