Chapter 54 #2
When morning came, Yvette struggled to avoid consciousness.
She’d never been the heaviest of sleepers, and so once those about her were moving, her mind was apt to rise even if she would have preferred to rest for hours more.
So it was a rare surprise that she seemed to be the last one to wake.
When she finally opened her eyes, accepting that any more sleep was a lost cause, she was alone.
Soft light was filtering in through the opening.
She moved to roll away from it, only to ignite the pain in her leg, which had been content to linger as a dormant ache.
Yvette groaned.
It did not hurt so much that she wouldn’t be able to walk, but it was enough that she wasn’t too keen on trying.
Her attention was drawn by raised voices outside, Knox’s voice. “-hiding this, what else isn’t she saying?”
Yvette held her breath, hoping to hear the response.
Florian was speaking, but she couldn’t make out what was being said. His tone sounded defensive.
Her mind began working quickly. They’d seen her magic last night, and now they trusted her even less.
She could turn invisible and eavesdrop, but as injured as she was, Yvette doubted she had the grace to pass unheard.
Not to mention that if she was caught, it would hardly encourage their trust in her.
You don’t deserve their trust, pet, Victor’s voice whispered in her ear.
She could too easily imagine what he would have to say about all this.
That she was playing the hero in a story where she was most certainly the villain.
That she could tell herself that she was defending him all she wish, but it was really herself she didn’t want to expose.
That if she had only stayed with him, she wouldn’t be cold and exhausted and filthy and hurt…
And as much as she wanted to deny everything his voice told her, she knew he was right.
Tensing her lips, Yvette pulled herself up to sit, refusing to wallow any longer.
She slipped her boots over the bandages that Lilith and Knox had applied the night before.
Then she stood, a slow process that involved a good deal of pain and hissing.
Once she was up though, it wasn’t as bad as she feared.
Her leg held her weight perfectly well. With a final strengthening breath, Yvette went outside.
If there was going to be a conversation about her, she at least wanted to be there to defend herself.
The Blades were all there, gathered around the dying fire.
A telling silence fell as she emerged. It was clear that they had been hoping she would remain asleep a while longer, perhaps long enough for them to reach a decision.
Her eyes scanned their faces as she joined them.
Rhea, Lilith, and Gareth’s looks were guarded.
Knox’s gaze was openly distrustful, almost accusatory.
Florian, however, looked back at her with an expression of embarrassment, perhaps even guilt.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Much better,” Yvette answered. “Thank you.” She made eye contact with Lilith and then Knox as she said this, to remind them that in spite of everything they had chosen to help her last night.
“You didn’t tell us you had magic,” Rhea said, arms crossed over her chest.
“Not because I meant you any harm by it,” Yvette explained. “I only find that people are often less inclined to trust me once they know what I am, what I’m capable of.”
Knox snorted.
Rhea’s eyes narrowed slightly. “You know well enough that Keira was a mage. She is also one of the most trustworthy people I have ever fought beside. We hold no such prejudice here. What I distrust are secrets.”
“We have no right to ask her to bare everything to us,” Florian interceded. “It’s not as if she is joining the Blades. She’s told us where Keira is and agreed to help us get her back. What more does she owe us?”
“Think with your head for once, Florian!” Lilith snapped. “There’s only one way for her to know that Keira was taken, and that is that she was involved in the taking.”
“And if she was involved, she could be leading the rest of us into a cartel trap,” Rhea added.
Florian shook his head and looked back at Yvette. His eyes were begging her to defend herself, to prove them wrong. He believed in her, always had. Which is why it killed her to speak the truth.
“I was there the night Keira was taken,” Yvette said, summoning all the courage she could muster to force out the words.
“She was asleep, and I made sure that she didn’t wake up.
I made sure that Caspian wouldn’t follow her once she was gone.
At the time, I didn’t know about the bounty. I didn’t know where she would end up…”
Florian’s expression was colored with dismay, that charming mouth slack and lifeless. Rhea’s narrowed eyes were analyzing her every word. Across the fire, Knox looked like he was ready to go in for the kill, but Yvette made herself go on.
“But I knew even then that it was wrong, and I haven’t been able to live with myself since. I came to find you all so I could put it right. I didn’t tell you everything because I thought it was the best way to help her, to fix this.”
Silence fell in the wake of her confession.
“You swear by the Fate you mean only to right this?” Rhea asked finally.
“I swear.”
She nodded slowly. “Today you will travel with us, and tonight you will tell us everything your magic can do, and we will form our plans. Can you ride?” Her gaze fell on her bandaged leg.
Yvette hesitated. Memories of yesterday’s hard ride came back to her. Already her muscles were trembling. She was hardly keeping herself upright now.
“You will ride with one of us then,” Rhea concluded, taking her silence as answer enough.
Everyone seemed to acknowledge this as the dismissal it was. They disbanded to their tasks. Where a moment ago she’d been the single focus of all their attention, as they turned, it seemed each was making a willful effort to ignore her entirely.
Yvette looked to Florian, who alone met her gaze. His ocean blue eyes, which were always so lively, now seemed muted and remote.
“You should know, Keira is one of my closest friends.” Florian’s voice was soft and pained. “She’s brave and honest, and she deserves better.”
“I’m sorry.” Yvette choked on the words. “I never wanted this.”
Florian only nodded, his gaze lingering on her long enough that she thought he might say something more. That only made it more painful when he turned away.