Chapter 17 #4
I mean it lightheartedly, but Hunter grows serious. “I wouldn’t trust her, period. Let me put it this way: I strongly believe she handed me over to Wolfshield as a bargaining chip. If she’s willing to sell her daughter to the enemy, think about what she’d be willing to do to you.”
It’s a sobering thought as we approach the door that leads back inside.
The soldier standing guard nods to Hunter as she walks in.
It’s so unlike HQ here, so without urgency.
Soldiers pass by casually, waving and nodding at Hunter.
They don’t appear to recognize me, or care about who I am.
The halls lack the vigilant alertness I’ve come to expect, being surrounded by a secretive order for months.
We reach Wolfshield’s office and Hunter turns to me. “Hey. Uh, don’t tell Taylor about what I said. If my mother orchestrated my kidnapping, I will find out and deal with it myself. I don’t want Taylor involved.”
Still reeling from the shock, I only nod and Hunter nods back and smacks a few knocks on the door.
“Come in.”
Hunter strolls in with me on her heels. Wolfshield’s office is cozy and inviting, with wooden paneling and turquoise accent points, as well as hand-woven rugs tossed over leather chairs.
It’s warm in here, in both temperature and color.
Unlike Theia’s office, Wolfshield has photos everywhere.
Vacations, candid shots, different troops in matching gray and white smiling for the camera.
“Hunter,” comes the voice through the speaker. “How are you, dear?”
Hunter lounges in one of the chairs and shrugs. “All limbs accounted for, ma’am. Ten fingers, ten toes. Sparkling personality I know you missed so much.”
“Indeed. It’s good to hear from you again.” Theia’s voice is several degrees warmer than it’s ever been.
I keep my eyes on Taylor, who hasn’t looked at me once since we arrived. Every muscle in her is rigid; whatever is wrong silently eats away at her. “Now, Patricia, I believe these terms are more than generous on our part.”
Wolfshield snickers and sits on top of her desk. “I imagined they would be. Neither of us wants the mutually assured destruction which would inevitably occur if you launched an invasion.”
“I do not want to lose any more of my citizens than we already have,” Theia replies.
“The Southeast’s continued resistance only further depletes their resources and their population.
But you are not as foolish as Thomas, and your people are not as stubborn as those who live there. At least, I hope not.”
The Southwest Region Leader is not in any way bowed by Theia’s veiled threats. Rather, she smiles and leans back. “And the Order doesn’t want a war on several fronts, I’m sure. Or for me to bolster the Southeast’s resistance with my own forces, which Thomas has asked for.”
“Has he?” Theia chuckles. “What did you tell him?”
“I told him that unlike the others, I did not build a region of straw. Not one flame, nor five, will set my region on fire.”
I can’t help but laugh incredulously. “And yet you still abducted a person for leverage.”
“I am confident, but I am not cocky.” Leader Wolfshield shifts, comfortable and confident. “I will not gamble lives that are not my own.”
“I can’t say I approve of your alternative method,” Theia says.
“You don’t?” Wolfshield smirks and nods toward me. “The Northeast heiress in my office begs to differ.”
“Yes, well, let us not dawdle. Send the accord back with my soldiers and we will be in touch. Eos, please debrief Hunter and Luciana. I look forward to seeing you, ladies.”
“Later,” Hunter calls.
Taylor stands with her arms crossed, feet shoulder-width apart, looking like she’s about to launch at Wolfshield, though the looks she’s giving Hunter are not the adoring glances I thought they’d be.
She appears vaguely suspicious of everyone.
Except maybe me. And I don’t know how to feel about her at all.
Ahote reappears in the doorway, unarmed, with his hands behind his back.
Wolfshield nods to him. “Ahote, please escort the soldiers to the receiving room and retrieve their weapons.” She hands a few papers to Taylor, who rolls them up and jams them into the back pocket of her jeans.
“Hunter, I will not apologize for the actions that led you here. I will, however, commend you on your adaptability and behavior in our custody.”
“Anytime, ma’am,” Hunter says drolly.
Wolfshield snickers. “I hope not.”
Hunter and Ahote speak quietly as he walks us back to the room through which we entered. Taylor’s eyes are firmly planted on their backs, intently focused. Once rearmed, we pause awkwardly in the room as Hunter and Ahote look at each other, then at us.
“Taylor, may I speak with you in private? Outside?” Taylor stops short of glaring at me, but agrees without a word. With her back turned, Hunter shoots me an appreciative smile. On our way out, Taylor’s pace picks up until she’s barreling through the door.
She aggressively runs her fingers through her hair. “Yes, Miss Piccolo?”
“Did you kidnap me on purpose?” No easier way to a point than straight at it.
Taylor tilts her head in apparent confusion. “I don’t understand what you mean. How would I have kidnapped you by accident?”
Oh, this girl, I swear. “Was your plan, the night of the ball, to kidnap me instead of killing my father?”
I watch her closely. Every twitch of her face, every pore in her skin, every muscle in her body. Nothing changes, except her eyes. They go soft. “Why do you think that?”
“Taylor, please.”
My former—current?—captor doesn’t look panicked, like someone who got caught in a lie. Rather, she’s thoughtful. Wistful. “Yes.”
One syllable, but it stops my heart. “Yes?”
“Yes, I planned your kidnapping. I had no intention of executing your father the night of the ball. My intention, known to no one but me, was to safely remove you from the ballroom and place you within the protection of the Order.”
The truth. Here, under this purple blanket of night, illuminated by flickering fluorescents, I finally get the truth. The suffering, the anxiety, the loneliness, the pain I’ve experienced has been by design. By her design, this woman I’ve let inside me.
“Lucy?” Taylor’s expression moves from melancholy to panic, and as I raise my hand to aggravatedly run my fingers through my hair, she winces as if anticipating a slap to her face.
“Why?” It’s all I can think to ask. It echoes inside my head like a siren. “Why me?”
Whatever the answer to that question is, she doesn’t want to reveal it. She’s been hoarding this extra knowledge. She’s been lying to me.
“Let’s get this show on the road, ladies!
” Hunter comes swaggering out of the doorway, cheerfully oblivious to the tension between us.
Once she gets close enough to either see it or feel it, she stops abruptly.
“Yikes. Feel like maybe I should’ve read the room before making my dramatic exit.
Boy, this is—” She whistles. “Uncomfortable.”
“How could you do this to me?” I ask in a harsh whisper.
Taylor’s eyes move from Hunter back to me, surprised. “To save you.”
And it’s so stupidly earnest, soft and honest; it nearly pierces the steel anger I’m trying to build around me.
“Why?” I demand, eyes narrowed, fists clenched. I laugh harshly. “Because you wanted to fuck me?”
“Hey now,” Hunter says gently, but it’s a warning.
Taylor looks as if I did slap her. I do want to make her hurt, and the desire to do so hurts me too. Eyes down like a chastised puppy, she shakes her head. “N—no, that is not why.”
“Then why?”
“I had to.” Her answer is hardly satisfactory and I level a glare that says as much. “You know I am not…good at this.”
“Get better.”
“I don’t know why! I don’t know, Lucy. I have tried to understand, but I don’t.
I saw you, and I knew. Like it was an instinct I always had.
Like balance, or breathing. I was supposed to kill you and I knew with frightening certainty I never would.
” While her words are rushed and frustrated, they sound genuine.
“After Hunter was taken…” She eyes her friend guiltily. “It became that much easier.”
“You tricked me. Right from the start.”
“She saved your life,” Hunter interjects.
“Our whole friendship was built on a lie.” Rubbing my face, I emit a frustrated groan into my palms. “Since the ball—” My eyes widen. “I am such a fool. The ball…it was a ruse. You never…”
Taylor’s face twists in confusion. “I don’t know what you are trying to say.”
“You lied to me to get me to trust you,” I reply softly. “It wasn’t real.”
She steps forward, and those big, beautiful eyes implore me.
“Lucy, all of it is real.” She pauses thoughtfully.
“I did provoke Chief Jones to get your attention. However, I never expected Theia to make you my partner. Other than withholding I was Order, I did not lie to you. I assure you, I have not been lying to you since then.”
The thing they don’t tell you about getting everything you want is that right when you do, that’s when you realize you don’t deserve it. “Why didn’t you tell me? It’s been months. I thought you trusted me.”
“I do trust you,” she replies quickly. “I—I wanted to earn your friendship and trust, free of suspicion or guilt or obligation. Once I did, it turns out I am a coward who could not bear the thought of losing you, or your friendship, over my omission.”
“You should have told me sooner,” I say, finally understanding the I’m not mad, I’m disappointed phrase my mother used to trot out. “You should have let me decide how I felt about it. After what we’ve been through together, do you really think so little of me?”