Chapter 24
Callum
We look ridiculous. The four of us—me, Cate, Dom, and Alex—have dressed from head to toe in black. Branches and leaves are attached to our clothing, and each of us carries a large bough that can be used to shield our faces. What little skin is not covered by sticks and cloth has been coated in mud.
It isn’t until we approach the copse of trees Cate has led us to that I start to see how this might actually work.
Dom takes a few steps into the thick grove and all but disappears.
Alex follows, but I hang back, needing a minute alone with Cate.
Before I murder the man she once thought of as a father.
“If you think I’m giving you a good-luck kiss with all that gunk all over your face, you are sorely mistaken, Your Highness.” She adjusts one of the leaves on my shirt, though we both know she just needs an excuse to touch me.
“If you think I’m letting us enter this forest without kissing me, you are sorely mistaken, my lady.” I loop my arm around her waist and pull her to me with no resistance. “Cate…”
“Callum…”
I clear my throat. Neither of us knows what’s going to happen next, and if, god forbid, this is the last time we see each other, I can’t leave anything unspoken. “Have you ever heard of Gifted people becoming Bonded to their partners?”
She sucks in a breath, tilting her head back to look me in the eye. “Have you ever heard of Gifted people becoming Bonded to their partners?”
“Dom told me about it.” It was what spurred me to sneak into Cate’s room that night, the thought that there might be some greater explanation for what I feel, why it was so easy for me to overlook the way she lied to me.
“And do you think…is that what you feel…?”
I press my lips gently to hers. “Just the thought of separating from you, Cate, I can’t imagine a greater pain. We were apart for four days and I thought I might combust from the sheer need to feel your skin on mine.”
A sigh trickles from her lips. “I was almost hoping you wouldn’t feel it, that it was all in my head.”
I pull back from her, just the slightest bit. “Why would you say that?”
Her eyes meet mine, and there is guilt layered over the wanting. “You didn’t choose this, Callum, and after everything that’s happened because of me, I can imagine how being tethered to me like this would be difficult for you.”
I cup her cheek in my hand. “Even if we weren’t Bonded, I would choose you, Cate. Every hour of every day. You have to know that it’s true.”
“But—”
I cut off her protest with a kiss. Maybe if my words can’t convince her, my actions can. I pour every bit of me into the kiss, leaving her gasping when we finally part. “If anyone should be looking to offer a way out, it is me, my lady.”
“Do not apologize one more time for doing the thing we know you have to do.”
“I wasn’t going to say that, I was going to say…”
She shakes her head. “No. We’re not doing that either. We’re not saying farewell like there’s a chance one of us won’t come back.”
I swallow the thick emotion that’s sprung to my throat. “I wish there was another way.”
“I know you do.” She rises on her toes, placing a soft kiss against my waiting lips. “Right now, we need to get in there and save my sister and this province’s hope for the future.”
“I love you, Cate.”
“I love you too, Callum.”
We creep into the thick branches and leaves, side by side. I should probably be worried for her safety, but I know she can take care of herself. I know she will do whatever it takes to find her sister. And I know she will do whatever it takes to come back to me, just as I will do for her.
We meet Dom and Alex on the outskirts of the grove of trees, the two of them already scouting the best path to take deeper into the woods. Closer to Harold MacVeigh. Closer to vengeance.
I must be the one to lead Avon into the future. I know it as surely as I know Cate is the other half of my soul. And I will fight for that future, just as I would fight for her.
Alex and Dom take off in opposite directions and return minutes later, though those minutes feel like days.
“There is a clear path to the right. Only a couple of men on watch.” Alex’s voice is low and threaded with urgency.
“Guards surround the place, but it looks like they’re heavier on the left.” Dom’s eyes—the only part of her I can really discern aside from her teeth—have that light in them, the light that says she’s itching for a fight.
“We’ll go right. Remember, Alex is with me; Dom, you’re with Cate.” I turn to head in the direction Alex has scouted.
“I think I should go in with you,” Dom protests in a whisper from my left side.
“Absolutely not. If things should go wrong”—I lower my voice—“I need you there to protect her.”
“They’re not going to go wrong, brother. The future has been Seen.”
I pull my lips tight. I trust Andra because Cate does, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I believe everything she Sees will come to fruition. And I know enough about Seers to know that visions are not always as they seem.
Still, I also know how to get my sister to do what I want her to do. “I don’t trust her safety with anyone but you, Dom.”
A hint of pride shines in her eyes, and I would feel guilty except I mean every word.
Once we make our way through the outer ring of trees, the hideout is easy to find. It’s a small stone building that looks like it was built hundreds of years ago. It probably was.
We make our way to the back of the building, skirting several guards, our disguises serving their purpose better than I could have anticipated.
The night is chilly, with the promise of rain in the air, and the guards stick close to the building where it’s warmer.
There is little light this deep into the woods, the only luminescence coming from the sliver of moonlight peeking through the clouds high above us.
Between the lack of light and our disguises, we blend in easily.
We approach the small fortress on quiet feet. I don’t know if it’s Andra’s vision or sheer luck keeping us safe, but this almost feels too easy.
No sooner does the thought pass through my mind than a pair of guards circles the building, a mere fifteen feet away from the four of us.
We all instinctively freeze, and our ridiculous getups do their job.
Even though it goes against every instinct I have, I close my eyes, not wanting there to be even a hint of white visible among the darkness that encapsulates us.
I breathe in, quietly, slowly, honing my senses so my hearing can pick up on the slightest movements around me. Nothing but still silence from my companions. The guards, however, haven’t spotted us and continue on with their conversation like they would on any other occasion.
“What do you think actually happens inside there?” one questions the other.
“I don’t think we want to know. There are only two reasons to bring a steady stream of young girls into your home, and neither is any good. Sometimes it’s better to collect your coin and not ask questions.”
What the bloody hell is Lady M doing inside this fortress?
Dom nudges my elbow, and I nod. Squinting, I watch for the guards to turn their backs, face away from where we currently stand.
My muscles start to cramp from the stillness, but the second the guards are diverted, Dom and I pounce.
A couple of swift knocks to the back of the head and they both fold over easily, unconscious.
Cate’s sigh of relief is audible, and as we continue our path to the fortress’s entrance, she takes my hand, squeezing tightly.
I make eye contact with Alex a few moments later.
He and I break away from Dom and Cate, ducking into a shadowed archway.
I try not to let my mind linger on what they are going to do.
Worrying about their mission will only impede my own.
I focus on the reason why I’m here, what I need to accomplish.
Pushing open a heavy wooden door, Alex and I slowly creep into a darkened room, leaving our handheld boughs of leaves by the door to better aid our escape. The room appears to be an ancient-looking kitchen, dusty with disuse, a stone hearth and worn floors and sconces lined with unlit torches.
I find a hallway, unsheathing a dagger from behind my back before creeping along the stone-lined walk, Alex silent behind me.
My steps are light and almost soundless, but I still take caution as I round a corner.
Another room sits off to my right, the door partway open, flickers of light beckoning me forward.
Signaling for Alex to wait here in the hallway, I edge into the room.
At first glance it’s empty, save for a small bed and a fireplace filled with sputtering flames.
The décor is sparse, a single aged tapestry hanging on one wall, blankets a worn shade of ivory that used to be white, lumped on the bed.
But when my eyes adjust, I recognize the lump as a sleeping form.
It’s fitting, really. MacVeigh planned to kill my father when he was in some kind of Gifted-induced sleep, and now I get to repay the favor.
I cross the room in a few silent steps, angling my view to make sure this is the right person I’m about to murder.
The word turns something in my stomach, but I know there’s no time for that kind of thinking. He’s left me with no choice. I must do this if there’s any hope for the future.
Once I confirm that the man lying in the bed is in fact Harold MacVeigh, I raise the dagger higher, lining up to plunge the knife directly into his heart.
It would probably be quicker and quieter to slit his throat, but somehow it seems the more violent of my options and I don’t know that I can stomach the outcome.
My hip leans into the mattress, and MacVeigh stirs with the shifting weight. I pull back, waiting to see if he’ll wake, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.
His eyes flutter open, and my arm moves before I can even think about it.
A weak, bony hand juts up to stop me. I could easily shake him off, but something about the weary look in his eyes stops me.
“Callum Reid.” Harold’s voice is strained, broken.
Nothing like the man Cate has told me so many stories about.
Nothing like the man he was even just a few days ago, valiantly grappling with and ultimately overcoming my father.
“I knew you would come.” He can barely get the words out, as if some kind of invisible force is choking the breath from his lungs.
I adjust my grip on the knife. “I told you I would.”
“As I told you I hoped would be the case.” He shifts on the bed, dropping his hold on my wrist and hoisting his body into an upright position. It takes longer than it should. “I am not well, Callum.”
“What is she doing to you?” I keep the dagger ready, but I can’t help but feel like I owe him this chance to say what he needs to. Like I owe it to her.
“We don’t have time for that now. There is much you need to know, so much only I can tell you.”
I adjust my grip on the knife, not fully trusting that this isn’t some kind of ploy to catch me off guard. “Then you better start talking.”
“I need to see Cate. She needs to hear it from me.”
“Cate is busy right now. Rescuing her sister. The one your wife has taken hostage.” I press the tip of the dagger into his fragile skin, a thin line of blood breaking through.
“She is not just my wife. Grecia and I are Bonded. Have been since we were kids.” He grimaces. “It doesn’t excuse what I did, what I’ve been party to, but I didn’t have a choice, not really.”
My mind whirls with the implications of what he’s saying, not just what it means for Cate’s past, but what it could mean for our future. “Being Bonded doesn’t take away your free will.”
Harold leans forward, almost as if he craves more pressure from the blade of my knife. “Perhaps not for someone like you, Callum Reid.”
“You know then, about Cate and me?”
He nods, his head lolling. “I’m glad she has you.”
“She will always have me.”
“She will need you. When she finds out the truth.” His hand grips my arm once again, but this time his grasp couldn’t stop a small child it’s so weak. “Please, Callum. I don’t have much time left. I need to see my daughters.”
The word hangs between us and my stomach tightens. “Your daughters?”
“Please.” It’s all he manages to get out before he collapses, falling half out of the bed.
I reach for his neck, checking for a pulse. It’s there, but it’s weak. We don’t have much time. I scoop Harold MacVeigh into my arms. He’s so frail it’s easy to carry him. I push my way into the hall, no time to worry about anything other than getting Harold to Cate.
I might have entered that old stone building prepared to kill the man Cate sees as a father, but if what Harold hinted at is true, she deserves a chance to hear the story directly from him. I couldn’t live with myself if I let the opportunity be stolen from her.