Chapter 29
Kieran is waiting for us in the shadowed alleyway near the tavern at sunrise. He’s dressed in brown again, the cloak hood fully concealing his identity.
“My passage?” he asks nervously.
Cal gives him a slight nod, never slowing as we pass. I cling to his side like he’s a piece of driftwood in the middle of the Eastern Sea. Last night’s performance was a success, but the addition of Kieran has me worried.
If the soldiers question us, Kieran is my brother. Cal drew a hard line at my suggestion of a very fake, very unserious threesome. The idea of someone else touching me drove him into a possessive rage that nearly made me break my self-imposed vow of celibacy.
Kieran pushes off the building wall and falls into a slightly slower pace several steps behind us. Cal’s black cloak floats behind him as if it’s carried on a phantom wind, a dark flag waving amidst shades of brown to signal his arrival.
The heir of Ruby would rather pretend to be a nameless, beaten brother than be seen boarding a boat in his own region, which can only mean one thing—he has made a very large enemy out of the Lord General.
The soldiers lift their hand in a salute as we approach the gangway. I lower my head so that loose hair and the edge of Cal’s arm shields my eyes just enough to hide their distinctive color but not obstruct my line of sight.
“Captain,” the tallest one says in acknowledgement. “All is as you requested. May the gods grant you safe passage.”
“May the gods bless you, Private.” Cal inclines his head at the man, placing a gold coin in his hand.
His hold on my arm tightens as we hastily board the ship. Kieran follows closely behind, his distinct red hair hidden safely beneath his hood.
Cal pulls us across the main deck, stopping halfway to lift a grated hatch. He ushers Kieran down the stairs first and then directs me to follow. We keep our heads down, avoiding eye contact with passing soldiers in the narrow corridor as we follow Cal’s lead.
“Captain Murphy? Is that you?” someone shouts down the hallway.
Panic courses through me, the emotion not entirely my own this time. Cal turns, his large hands grasping the sides of my head before he lowers his to shield me with a kiss. It’s quick and harsh, possessive and rough. Exactly how these men would expect him to treat someone whose time he purchased.
A door creaks open behind me, but before I can pull away, Cal is shoving me backwards into the open room.
“Wait here,” he commands. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
The door closes quickly behind him, sealing Kieran and I inside the tiny room. The single bed against the wall takes up nearly the entire space, the only place to sit covered in haphazardly strewn, questionable bedding.
“You constantly surprise me, Ivy,” Kieran chuckles as I push away the ratty blanket to sit beside him on the worn mattress. “I never thought I’d see you falling for Murphy.”
“I never thought I’d see you hiding in your own region,” I quip back, not bothering to lie.
Kieran goes still, the playful smirk on his lips falling. “When you disobey direct orders, it’s usually best to hide your identity.” The color drains from his face, his freckled skin turning to a sickly shade of pallor. “Especially if you just poisoned your father.”
“You what?” I ask in disbelief. “Why?”
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not sad that Charles Rollins is dead. He was a ruthless leader, a horrible misogynist, and somehow an even worse father, but I never imagined Kieran would take his life. Someone else who crossed him sure, but not his father.
“Old Charles felt snubbed after the last Ascension. He never could get past the hasty way the Diamond governor was crowned king or the mysterious way his former seat was gifted to the Lord General. Marks promised Father whatever he wanted in return for putting him on the Amethyst Throne. Cost and country be damned.”
“And you wanted to stop him?” I ask. “You didn’t want to join him?”
“You know how he was. His treatment of me when we were kids was just the tip of his cruelty. I played the dutiful heir in public, but I never stopped hating him in secret. What he made me do to you …” Kieran’s voice cracks, the muscles in his jaw tightening as he whips his head away from me.
“I couldn’t sit idly by and take it any longer. ”
“When have you ever sat idly by, Kieran? He was an asshole, but don’t make excuses for your behavior.”
“You think you know everything, Ivy, but you know nothing.” He faces me again, the faintest hint of silver rimming his russet eyes. “You don’t know what he did to me. I tried to give you an out, a way for you to save yourself and your people despite the fact that I love—”
“You think marrying you would have saved me?” I interrupt. “Are you delusional?”
Marks wanted this marriage to secure the vote, but chaining me to Kieran was the cherry on top of the Lord General’s fucked up little sundae. Living day after day in a region I couldn’t control under the dictatorship of my enemy would never be torture enough for him.
“Marks doesn’t want you to know what you’re capable of.
He can’t touch you or he would have eliminated you from the game already.
As far as he’s concerned, the longer you’re around Murphy, the bigger the risk of you finding out who and what you are.
That’s why he raided your region—to force you to go home.
He doesn’t want you to know about your own power, let alone that there’s a resistance that has their own.
And we’re willing to do anything to stop him. ”
“A what?! A magical resistance … that you thought I wouldn’t want to be a part of?”
A resistance with magic. A lifetime living in secrecy and fear of my own power while the people around me knew. They knew and never said anything. Pain pricks at my temples and I curse the weakness.
“Worse, you thought I’d just give up the title I’ve trained for my entire life? The one that made me Poison Ivy, the vilified heir? That I’d let you have my vote?”
“The plan was always to stop Marks before the vote. I knew you’d be upset when you found out, but I grossly underestimated how Murphy was going to react. From where I stood, leaving him and abandoning your journey to marry me was the only way you walked away from this, Ivy.”
“I was never walking away from this, Kieran,” my voice cracks on his name, magic rattling in my bones to be released.
Shadows creep to life in the corner at my rising emotions. Dark magic swirls, awaiting my command.
“I know that now, and for what it’s worth, I’m not either. You can trust me, Ivy.”
I don’t want to. I want to push him off this fucking boat and leave him behind. For lying to me, for keeping secrets, for trying to poison me ten years ago … but my magic trusts him and Cal must too. He wouldn’t be alone in this room with me otherwise.
The cabin door swings open with a loud bang, Cal’s form blocking the doorway from prying eyes.
“I’ve got the perfect opportunity for you to prove your loyalty, Rollins.”
We both look at him quizzically. Nothing about this feels planned.
“We could use a little push.”
“I’ve convinced the ship’s captain to give us five more minutes before he calls for everyone to disembark and wait for more favorable conditions,” Cal explains as we climb the stairs back up to the main deck.
“I don’t know what Marks said to him, but he’s watching me like a hawk.
I can’t wield the wind needed while he’s questioning me, so I need you two to summon it. ”
I follow Cal out of the hatch to find the air completely stilled. Not even a hint of a breeze lingers to move the thick clouds that hang motionless in the morning light.
“Cal,” I groan as the captain snaps his head towards me in a hurried motion.
“Stay out of sight. Be quiet and be quick.” His gray eyes echo the seriousness of his tone and I know this isn’t up for discussion. I nod once in understanding.
Kieran, now above the hatch, grabs my arm and pulls me towards the railing.
“If we want to get across the Alloy quickly, we need a strong northeastern wind. How well can you direct?”
I pause for a moment contemplating my reply, but my silence gives me away.
“Don’t tell me you can’t direct,” he growls lowly.
“Would now be a good time to tell you that I can’t summon air?” I fake a smile to soften the blow, but it doesn’t work.
Kieran’s nostrils flare and his next words are spat through gritted teeth. “What. The. Fuck.”
“I’m not a part of a magical resistance, you know? Until a few days ago, I had only ever summoned earth magic. I’ve been trying to summon air but there’s only one time that I might have been successful. I’m still not sure if that was me.”
“What were you doing when you might have summoned it? Can you do that again now?” Kieran runs a hand through his auburn hair, tugging it in frustration.
“I don’t think you want me to answer that, Kieran.”
“For fucks sake,” he murmurs under his breath. “Take my hand.” He extends a large hand towards me that I don’t grab. “Seriously, Ivy, we are running out of time. Just take my hand.”
I tentatively place my hand in his palm, swallowing down the bile that rises in my throat as our skin touches. There’s no buzz or magnetic pull like there is with Cal, no connection between our magics, just good old fashioned loathing.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” I ask, eager to get away from his hold.
“No, but I’m not a strong enough wielder to summon a sustained wind on my own. We have to try.” Frightened urgency laces his tone. Staying another night in Ruby is not an option for Kieran.
He points to the cliffs ahead, directing my attention to the rocky peaks that tower over the Alloy. “Focus your intention on that point and imagine the wind originating there.”
Magic churns in my veins, ready to be unleashed. Dark magic—the opposite of what I need right now.