Chapter 7
Chapter
Seven
W hen I wake up, I’m sitting on the ground in an alleyway, next to a pile of bins, and the sound of chatter, of people, fills my ears. I immediately look at my hands, hoping not to see blood. After all these years, it’s now just a habit, but my hands are as clean as a whistle. I notice that I’m in my ranger clothes and my hair is straightened, falling down my back with a single braid by my ear. I definitely didn’t go to bed in my ranger clothes, and my hair was messy. Finnegan was on the floor, sleeping in his bear form, and Annie was also sleeping when I drifted off to sleep last night. It had already been a weird night with Severi and lying to Finnegan.
The sun is rising above the tall buildings around me. The sky is the colour of burnt orange, and it’s loud. So loud. I look down the empty alleyway to the busy streets and realise I’m dead in the centre of Starlight City, outside the wards of the academy. Well, shit.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I whisper to my Nexus, climbing to my feet. Of course, my Nexus doesn’t bother to explain herself. Not that she ever would, because it’s her. “I didn’t kill Severi, only slightly maimed his arm, so why are you mad enough to get me in trouble? The sick bastard actually liked being stabbed!” If anyone comes down here, hearing me talking to my Nexus like this, they are going to think I’m insane. “If I find out you’ve murdered someone, I swear to all the Gods, I’m going to hunt Severi down for sport to piss you off too!” She doesn’t even bother to acknowledge me, not that I thought she would.
I rub my face and look round, my heart racing in my chest when I realise how much trouble I’m in. The academy is locked down, and I can’t leave. I need to get back to the academy before anyone recognises me or Finnegan wakes up to find me gone. I don’t think he will tell anyone but my mates, but it’s risky. I can’t risk my place there; it’s become my home.
I walk down the alleyway into the busy street and merge with the crowd. If I can get a car, I can drive most of the way towards the academy and then run the rest through the small forest. Hopefully, the wards won’t go off, and if they do, I’ll lie and say that I was just walking past the wards first thing in the morning and accidentally fell into them. They don’t need to know I was in the city. My Nexus was clearly in control for the whole night. Gods above, who knows what she’s done?
Something blows into my leg, and I look down at the newspaper, picking it up. I’m about to throw it into the nearest bin when the headline catches my attention. Who even reads newspapers anymore? I’m glad for whoever bought this as I read it, but at the same time, my stomach drops like a stone. Right across the top reads?—
Onyx Nieminen, Son of the Supreme Alpha, to Begin the Rite of Freedom Today.
Come and watch history as Onyx Nieminen shocks the Nexus world by asking his father for the Rite of Freedom, to free his rejected mate of her crimes. The crimes Miss Gwenieve Autumn committed were not made public, but recently she was taken back to the academy and cleared of her crimes in exchange for Mr Nieminen taking the Rite of Freedom. It has been over a hundred years since the last Rite of Freedom, and the outcome of that was death in the first of five trials. Today marks the beginning, and all are welcome to gather to watch as history is made in the name of loyalty.
In an interview with Miss Autumn’s only surviving family member, her grandmother had this to say on the character of her granddaughter:
She scared her parents. She scared me recently, and there is no saving the monster she has become. That poor boy was cursed by ? —
I can’t read anymore from my grandmother, not when she hates me, and nothing I can ever do will change that. Underneath is a whole passage about how the Rite of Freedom is rare and deadly, and everything Severi said to me about it is true. He was warning me what Onyx was about to do. My hands clench the edges of the paper as I keep reading, going down to the bottom where it’s marked, if he survives, he’s marrying some woman. Sickness rises in my throat, and I throw the newspaper in the bin so I can stop my Nexus from letting her power out and killing the innocents on the surrounding street.
“Is this what you wanted me to see? So I can save him?” My shoulders drop. She thinks I’m in danger. She brought me out here to save him. I’ve always thought of her as an enemy, always have, probably always will, but Tutor Hank keeps telling me my Nexus is not my enemy. That we need to stop being at war with each other. I’m not sure there’s a point in our lives where we wouldn’t be in disagreement, but right at this moment in time, I need to trust that she brought me out of here for a reason. For Onyx. I am absolutely furious that my Nexus somehow knew more than me. Onyx was happy to die for me?
I walk past an older woman in a wheelchair, sitting at a table outside a cafe. Some caffeine sounds good right about now, but did my Nexus leave the academy prepared? Checking my pockets and finding my bank card, I slip into the cafe, buying a caramel latte, not caring who might see the charge. The small cafe is crowded, so I step back outside and spot the older woman. “Do you mind? There aren’t many seats?” She nods and I sit down. Old people always know all the gossip. “I was going to see the Rite of Freedom today, but I’m a little lost, and I can’t remember when it is. It is today, right?”
She looks delighted to help. “Yes, of course it is. It’s in two hours. You’re not far off. You need to go down the right towards the old cemetery, and it’s all being held there. The gates haven’t been opened in over a hundred years. I’m looking forward to seeing it. All my friends are too. Do you want me to take you there with us? I don’t mind.”
“No, it’s okay. I can find my way. Thank you so much.” I smile at her, picking up my coffee and heading in the direction she said. I down the coffee, wishing I bought a cake or something for breakfast as my stomach rumbles, but I’m not stopping. I cross the road, making my way straight towards the cemetery. My hands are clenched tighter the closer I get, and I realise I don’t have a plan outside of stopping Onyx. I have to stop him from doing this for me. There is only one being left I can ask for help from, and it usually never works out well for me. “Nexus, you will have to help me. Not by taking over because everyone will scream and run, but we need to work together to save Onyx…to save ourselves. Please.”
For a second, she’s in my mind, and I feel her thinking about it. There is usually just me or her, and now there has to be something more. She is obsessed with our mates, and I know she doesn’t want them dead now. “We’ve both made mistakes that led to this, and I want to fix it so it doesn’t destroy our mates. Please, meet me in the middle here. I’m begging.”
“Together.” The single word feels like the first peace talks of the war between us, and it’s the first time she has agreed to work with me, not against me. Her agreement gives me enough confidence to know I’m not going to be killed walking into this. I make sure to avoid any rangers, any guards, or anyone who looks like they are watching the crowds. I use the fact that it is crammed with people to my advantage, and no one really looks my way as I continue through the packed streets.
Everyone is excited, and it pisses me off. They are excited for my mate’s downfall. Fuck them all. It takes me twenty minutes to walk to the opening and see the huge, dated metal gates with the symbol for the Mortal God woven into the metal. The Mortal God symbol is simpler than the others; it’s not a man or an animal, but instead it’s a five-pointed star. The cemetery’s metal gates tower off into the sky, touching the clouds like the tops of the high-rise buildings, and I try to focus on them and not the fact there are hundreds of older rangers here, likely magic traps and barriers that might sense me walking in.
“I will deal with them.” I’m surprised by my Nexus speaking to me and the fact she is helping. True to her word, no one looks my way at all, almost like I’m invisible. The rangers see right through me as I pass them, and I smirk. My Nexus is pretty cool sometimes. Just in case, I make sure to stay in the middle of the crowd of chattering people, going with them down the black-tiled pavement that curls around dozens of rows of graves. The graves are marked by stars, white stone stars half-buried in the ground, the ashes of the dead in a hole below the stars.
Not everyone’s buried here in the cemetery; it’s far too expensive and the cemetery’s running out of room. I know I have a family plot from my father’s side, but he isn’t buried there. I don’t know where his body is or my mother’s. Did Severi burn them? Did he bury them like they were human and never put their souls to rest? I was too scared to ask him over chess, mostly because the answer might haunt me more than their deaths already do.
Focus. I can’t think of them right now, not when Onyx needs me. Right in the centre of the cemetery is a pillared building. A mausoleum, I’m guessing, but it’s been built into a huge space, with a dug-down arena in the centre and a million seats, all made out of wood and stone, circled around it. The crowds are being gathered and guided straight towards the seats, and it’s not hard to merge with them when no one is looking my way.
I stop at the top of the arena, seeing the centre for the first time. Five stars are drawn into the stone ground, right in the centre, and each star has a symbol for a God in it. The stars are in a circle, and a staircase leads out of the middle of where they all point. The graves of the Gods, this must be where they are buried. There is a strange pull in my stomach, a knowing feeling that settles into my blood, and I frown. What is that? Onyx is not here yet, but I can sense him nearby. He will know I’m here, too. Good. Maybe it will be enough to make him hesitate in this insane plan and talk to me.
I make my way down to the front so I can get a seat right near the edge. It takes me a minute to find an empty seat, and I sit down next to a man and an older woman on my other side, who huffs, “Hey, that’s our son’s seat. He will be here soon. You can’t sit there!”
“It’s not his anymore.” I search the crowd, barely glancing at the woman and making sure my tone is final. She looks rich and stuck up, and there is only so much I can take right now. She reminds me of my grandmother, and our last conversation did not go well.
“You get up right now, young lady—” I pull my dagger out, just softly to my side, and arch an eyebrow at her.
“No. Please leave me alone before my Nexus makes a scene that we will both regret. Find another seat,” I warn her.
She huffs again and her husband, or mate or whatever, stands up to try to calm her. “The ranger can have our seat, dear. We will find another.”
I hold on to my Nex dagger until she eventually gets up, and immediately her empty seat and her husband’s are taken by strangers. Thankfully, they both are too excited to pay attention to me as they bounce in their seats, waiting for it to begin, whereas I am dreading it. I sit completely still for an hour, waiting, watching for any changes, but nothing happens. I’m almost relieved when I feel eyes on me, and I turn my gaze, finding Hollis watching me from the other side of the arena. He looks mad. I’m tempted to stick my tongue out at him just to see if he might smile. Instead, I wave and he shakes his head in disbelief.
He knew. He knew Onyx signed up for this. I’m so fucking done with him. Hating me? I understand that. Even if it hurts me, I do understand why he hates me because I rejected him, but letting Onyx die for me? Not telling me out of spite? No, Hollis has no redeeming qualities, and I was mad to think he might have some because he saved me from the sea, and he didn’t laugh when my Nexus showed him the past. The Supreme Alpha and the betas come up through a side passage to the row of tall throne-like seats that overlook the arena, and the crowd cheer for them. If only they knew who their alpha really was.
Alpha Paavo lifts his hand, and the crowd goes silent for him. I glare at him as he looks as smug as ever in an expensive suit, wearing an alpha title he killed for. He looks too much like Onyx sometimes. My stomach drops as I feel Onyx getting closer, and my hands itch to move, to find him. I just need to see him. Hollis is walking towards me, shoving people out of his way, and I know I don’t have much time. I stand up as everyone else sits and walk to the edge of the barrier as the alpha’s voice echoes with the help of someone else’s Nexus magic.
“Welcome, all our guests, to the Rite of Freedom and a day I wished had not come about. I don’t stand here as the Supreme Alpha, but as a father pleading with the Gods to let my son survive this choice that he’s made. It should not be him standing here today, it should be his rejected mate.” He doesn’t hold back on the hate in his voice as he mentions me. Awesome. “But he has taken the Rite of Freedom for her, and she has not even shown her face. I believe he’s done it because he is an honourable man, just as I am, and could not stand to see someone who the Gods bound him to suffer a gruesome death. I am proud of the man he has become, and now, let’s all welcome my son as he swears into the rite and the Gods leave their mark.”
Cheers blast from the crowd, but they fall silent in my mind and ears. The world goes silent as Onyx walks up the stairs, and I see him for the first time in over a month. His hair is longer, the dark locks curling around his face and wavy, and they only make his features more defined and perfect to stare at. His black eyes fall straight on me, and he takes my breath away. I’m sure I take his away, not with longing but pure shock that I’m here.
I smile softly, the only smile he’s getting as I’m really, really angry it’s come to this. I never asked him to do this for me. I deserved that trial and I never deserved the normality he was going to die to give me. It’s romantic but also too fucked up. I pull myself over the barrier, gasps bursting out. I use the slanted walls to slide right down to the stone ground with a thud. The second my feet hit it, my Nexus whispers to me. “Take the claim first before he does. Tell the Gods you claim the Rite of Freedom out loud.”
“NO!” Onyx shouts, like he heard my Nexus, and he runs for me.
It’s too late. I straighten myself up and my voice echoes, loud enough for any God to hear. “I claim the Rite of Freedom before the Gods. Only you may judge me.” The second my voice stops echoing, inches away from Onyx getting to me, I cry out as my arm burns. I fall to my knees, yanking my sleeve up and finding a five-pointed star mark on my arm.
He falls to his knees, taking my arm into his gasp. “What the fuck did you just do, Gwen? He drops my arm and cups my face. “Gwen…why?”
I lift my hand to cover one of his on my cheek. “Because I can’t let you die for me. Not you. Not any of you.” I narrow my eyes. “And you shouldn’t have ever thought that this was okay! What in the name of Crimson were you thinking?”
“What a strange turn of events. My son has been saved by his guilty mate!” The alpha’s shout echoes and the crowds cheer, stomping their feet so hard it feels like the ground might give under us. Onyx slowly lowers his hands, his teeth gritted.
Hollis slides down the wall and goes straight after me, gripping my upper arm as he pulls me to my feet, hissing in my ear. “I swear I’ve never met anyone with a death wish like you.”
“I’m special. Aren’t you lucky to be bound to me?” I retort. Hollis doesn’t laugh, and neither does Onyx. “Let me go before my Nexus gets pissed and I don’t bother holding her back. She hates you as much as I do right now! You were going to let Onyx fucking die!”
Hollis doesn’t let me go. In fact, he tightens his grip. “If I let you go, the alpha’s rangers will take you into custody, and they will hurt you for this. So shut up.”
I ignore Hollis and focus on Onyx, who is staring at me like he needs to memorise everything about my face, about me. Like he is going to walk away again, but that can’t be true. I’m taking the rite so he can see me again, right? Why does he look so broken still? Why can I feel his pain like it’s mine too? “How did you know?”
“My Nexus,” I admit. “Come back with me and?—”
The crowds are shouting, but I still hear the frantic beta’s nearby and their commands. One of them is louder than the others. “Take her down below. We’ll have to talk away from the crowds for questioning.”
“You’re not taking me anywhere.” I turn to face him.
“Gwenieve, for fuck’s sake. Just go. I’ll follow you.” Onyx’s hand touches my hip softly for a second. “Go with Hollis. Please.”
I reluctantly listen and Hollis leads me to the staircase in the centre, leading me down the illuminated, deep set of stairs that seems to never end before we get to an open room. Hollis shakes me the second we get to an empty, stone-walled room with many doors. “You’re going to die. Do you fucking get that?”
“Like you care. It’s not your responsibility this time. You don’t have to dive into somewhere to save me. It’s my choice. I was never going to let Onyx die for me. If I knew about it, I never would have allowed it.” I get into his face. “I would have made sure you died too if this had gone ahead and you didn’t tell me!” I slam my hands into his chest. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“Me?” He laughs, getting closer, and his eyes are filled with fury. “Don’t you realise if you die in there, he’s going to die, anyway? His heart will crack open when you fucking die. He’s in love with you. So will Finn, so will Alek, so will Rhodes. You’ll bring everyone down with the mistake that you just made in there. That was selfish. I didn’t tell you because I was trying to save my brothers, my family, from the disaster that is you!” He laughs, but it’s empty. As empty as I feel as his words hit my heart and slam it onto the ground as it dies. I’m going to kill them all, just like I feared. “This was his choice, and you’ve just ripped it from him.”
“At least you’ll be okay. Your precious heart has never felt anything for me, anyway,” I bite.
“You rejected it first and crushed it.” He touches my chest, my heart. “I had a heart, and it was yours once. Just for a moment, and it died with you.”
My heart is racing. “I’m sorry for rejecting you that day. I really am sorry I hurt you. It hurt me just as much, and I’ve been broken ever since.”
He blinks in surprise, like he never expected me to say sorry for it. I didn’t expect to say it either. Whatever he was going to say next is lost as the alpha steps onto the bottom of the staircase, Onyx at his side and his guard on the other.
“You’re dead now, Miss Autumn. I can’t say I didn’t see this coming.”