Thirteen - Evangeline
We arrived at Ruffalo’s Inn a full two hours before we were supposed to be there, exhausted both physically and mentally. Although Redric had wanted to rest at home, I’d wanted to scope out the area in case it was a trap. The inn was closed down, its doors locked, its windows boarded up. Dust collected heavily inside, not a part of it disturbed. Seeing nothing suspicious in the quiet streets either, I headed for the charity shop across the road and picked up the bag that had been left there. Opening it, I started rummaging inside.
“Do your morals know no lows?” Redric hissed as he came up behind me.
I pointed to the sign on the door. “It clearly says don’t leave bags here, so this is technically litter picking, which is a good thing. Besides, look. This is exactly your size.”
I held up a tunic with a bright barf-work of butterflies on it.
“No.”
One word that said so many things.
Laughing, I put it back in the bag, then handed the whole thing over to him. “Go through it and pick me out a few things considering you didn’t pack my bag. I don’t want to fail on the very first task we’ve been given.”
Redric stared at me, and I pushed the bag towards him again. Begrudgingly, he took it. “Fine, but you’re making a donation to –” He looked up to read the sign. “All Kids Matter.”
I snorted. “No, I am not. They donate mostly to rich children rather than those in need.”
“They do not.”
“Oh, they really do. All kids matter, you know?”
There was a second where he just stared at me, then he tipped the bag of donations upside down and sat beside it to go through it all. I saw a pretty pink dress that I hoped he packed. It was too big for me, but it would fit Aurelia, my daughter, perfectly.
Turning my back, giving him privacy, I walked over to the inn. Picking the lock on the back door, I slipped inside and made my way to the reception hall. A sofa with a white sheet over it sat in front of a black coffee table and two matching recliners. Carefully removing the sheet so as to disturb as little dust as possible, I laid down on the clean sofa and closed my eyes.
Due to living a high-stressed life, I’d long learned to sleep where I could. One never knew when that luxury would come again. I breathed out softly, and by the time I inhaled, I was fast asleep.
The sound of a door opening woke me less than an hour later. I knew that because my subconscious woke me every hour and it hadn’t yet done so.
Rolling onto the floor in front of the sofa, moving without a sound, I palmed a blade.
“Evangeline,” Redric whispered, his footsteps coming closer. I stood up and sheathed my knife, then waved at him. His eyes narrowed.
“You break more laws than the average criminal,” he said as he stopped in front of me. Tossing my bag between us, he dropped down onto the sofa, one arm over his eyes to block out the morning light. His feet hung over the arm of the couch, but he looked too comfortable to move.
“Hey!”
“Move your feet…” he mumbled, weariness drawing out his words.
I grabbed hold of one of his ankles. “I’m going to cut yours off and make them dance.”
Raising his arm slightly, looking at me from under it, he sighed. “Just do it quietly. I’m fucking exhausted after that flight, and I don’t sleep well.” He covered his eyes again, and I stood there with my hand still on his ankle.
Releasing him, I moved towards one of the recliners. I spread my wings before curling up on its seat and tucking my legs under me. My wings dropped a little, relaxing on the arms of the chair.
I watched him as he laid there. It took a long time, but eventually, his chest fell in the rhythm of sleep. My legs starting to cramp, I shifted. There was the slightest sound of fabric rubbing against fabric, but it was enough to wake him.
His body didn’t move, but a sigh of annoyance cut through the air between us.
“You should get better at sleeping,” I said helpfully.
“Thank you.” The sarcasm was dripping.
“You’re welcome.”
His jaw clenched before he lowered his arm and turned his head to look at me. “How much longer do we have to wait?”
I checked the clock on the wall. It was broken. “About thirty minutes. Want to fuck?”
“No.”
“Lame.”
He placed his thick arm over his eyes again. Standing, I stretched my wings. He glared at me. I smiled.
He continued to glare.
I continued to smile.
Exhaling harshly, he swivelled his legs to the floor and sat up. “Do you know what the schedule will be like at the retreat?”
I shrugged. “Everything’s all hush hush.”
“Okay…tell me why we’re going to this retreat then.”
I studied him, wondering if him knowing would be more risky than him not. On the one hand, he could use this against me. I didn’t trust him not to sell me to the highest bidder given how he’d acted in the restaurant. Personally, if I were him, I’d make it a nice little business. Kill your hated enemy for a fee. Resurrect and sell to the next in line.
On the other hand, him not knowing could mean he accidentally did something to fuck it up. Like piss off Ashema when we needed to woo her enough she let her guard down and felt comfortable going into dark corners with us.
Figuring Redric was too noble to stop me from doing something that could better the lives of thousands of civilians, I shrugged. “The head of the Raveni is attending it, and I need to talk to her.”
“And by ‘talk’, do you mean kill?”
I grinned at him even as I shook my head. “No, I actually mean talk. Killing her won’t do anything to her gang as her underboss will just take up the mantle. I need to get her to squeal on her operations so I can clean them all up at once.”
“So you’re going to torture her?” Redric’s words were soaked in poison, giving no illusion to what he thought about me.
I shrugged. “Only if she doesn’t talk.”
“You should know torture isn’t a reliable source of information. They just tell you what you want to hear.”
“Oh, I know,” I said. “The torture is solely for me to work out my frustration over them not talking.”
His lips pursed in disgust.
I laughed. “You don’t have to worry about the details after we arrive. I just need you as cover. Your pretty little name won’t be soiled with my disease.”
The last word came out with more bite than I’d meant it, his words at my house yesterday clearly still stuck like a poison thorn.
He looked at me, a flicker of confusion and disbelief warring in his eyes. As if he didn’t believe I had feelings that could get hurt.
Not letting that hurt me, I asked, “Do you know much about the Raveni?” Given our story was that he was trying to get into bed with them, he kind of needed to know a fair bit.
He nodded. “I’ve heard of them. Ashema’s acts are twisted enough to reach Vyla.”
He would not stop me from torturing her. He would probably help me given the stories said she skinned babies alive in front of their mothers to get them to squeal. They also said she purposely breed her soldiers just for the opportunity to use their children against them.
Then again, information was often exaggerated when shared inside the gambling dens and the dark alleys of the underworld. Reputation was everything, and Ashema had crafted hers well. Being crazy made people hesitant to cross you.
“So when are you going to grab her?” he asked.
“Uh… Haven’t got that far. This is my first time at the retreat. I don’t even know where it is.” I chuckled. “I don’t even know what Ashema looks like.”
His jaw dropped as he held up a hand. “You don’t have a plan? You agreed to let me kill you over and over again, and you didn’t even have a plan?”
Another shrug. “What do you care? You get what you want. I might get to meet Ashema. She’s like, one of the top people I’d like to meet.” I grinned, but he didn’t smile back.
Softly, he asked, “Do you value life that little?”
“Mine or others?” My lips flattened, and I rolled my eyes when he just continued to stare. “You need a better sense of humour.”
“Like shrinking people’s dicks?” he asked sharply.
I cocked my head to the side. “Is that really the whole reason you’re here? Because your dick was a bit small? If so, I admire your commitment.”
Learning necromancy wasn’t easy on your body. You had to get someone to nearly kill you over and over again so you could linger on the verge of death until the spirits accepted you on the plane of purgatory. A lot of people didn’t make it that far, the spirits trying to take their souls with them to the underworld. And when you had your soul ripped from you like that, you could never be reborn, stuck to walk the plane of purgatory forever.
There was a reason there weren’t many necromancers.
And even less skilled ones.
Given how long Redric and I had talked there, he must have practiced a hel of a lot.
“Was I really your only motivation through all that?” I asked, genuinely curious. I’d had people dedicate their entire lives to finding me and killing me (and failing, duh), but this was almost beautiful.
Not only had he actually succeeded where others had failed, but his commitment was inspiring.
Stupid.
But inspiring.
When he didn’t answer, I sat cross-legged on top of the coffee table in front of him and propped my chin in my hands. “I hated someone that much once,” I said, then tilted my head to the side. “Well, still do. Kind of.” I shook my head. “It’s complicated.”
Looking down at my lap, I thought about all the years I’d hated Richard. He’d told me Aurelia had died of cancer in the brain. I’d known immediately he’d been lying. We’d been engaged, after all, and good friends for a long time before that. I’d saved his life. He’d saved mine. We’d shared deep secrets and things we’d never say to another soul.
And he had spat in the face of all of that by lying to me and leaving me to grieve alone.
“He was alone too,” Aurelia said. “Jace left. You left. Dierdre left.”
Jace had only left him for a short while, and then he’d returned to guard him. How could he claim to have loved Aurelia when he’d done that?
Shifting, I focused on the dust under me, revealing a clean surface of black reflection.
“Did you kill them?” Redric asked, surprising me that he cared enough to ask.
Lifting my head, I shook it.
He looked at me dryly. “You going to tell me I’ll feel better if I drop my want of revenge?”
I snorted. “Do you think that’s the advice I would give you?” I held his gaze for a moment, a small smile on my lips. Then it fell, and I looked away. I should stop talking; revealing anything more might put the kingdom at risk. If Redric somehow put the pieces together that I was talking about King Morningstar and then found out why I wanted to kill him…
It would destroy Raza by undoing everything Richard had done over the last twenty years of his reign.
Before he’d taken the throne, only princesses had been allowed to rule, and they could only do so by killing their sisters in the fairy ring. Sephora, Richard’s and Aurelia’s older sister had been the Court favourite. She had been sadistic and talented, but even if she hadn’t been, Aurelia hadn’t had the heart to kill her. The souls of anyone who died in the ring were trapped there forever, never allowed to reincarnate.
By killing Aurelia outside of the ring, Richard had not rightfully claimed the throne. It wouldn’t matter that she had ordered him to kill her so he could challenge Sephora in the fairy ring, which he could not do while she was alive, and win. If anyone found out, he would be charged with murder and executed, and all of his laws and treaties would be cut from the records as if he’d never ruled.
But despite the risk of continuing this conversation, I found it nearly impossible to swallow my words. I had carried this weight for two decades, and the way Redric was looking at me –
Of course he wants me to continue, I chided. He is interested in anything he can use to hurt me.
Jumping to my feet, I turned to look out the window. The street was starting to come alive, lights being turned on in butchers and bakeries. It had to be nearly time for us to meet whoever it was we were meeting.
“Come on,” I said as I bent down to grab my bag. “Let’s wait outside.”
Where I wouldn’t be tempted to tell him anything...