Chapter 11 #3
Pressing his fingers to the keypad on the door at the top of the stairs, he unlocked it with ease and stepped inside. The small amount of power he could use in the realms afforded him small conveniences, including tripping electronic locks.
Sam had a badge to grant him entry, but he wanted no record of him being here tonight.
The air was thick, and he knew someone was there, but the hallway was empty.
Adila materialized in front of him, and he stepped back. Sam was not one to gawk, but his lips parted with the urge to. She deflated with relief. “What is this?” Sam demanded. She had been invisible, but that wasn’t possible. That he knew of.
Adila shook her head and held her finger to her lips. She paused before speaking, and her words threw him off guard. “I’ve been waiting for you,” she purred.
He stiffened and opened his mouth to ask what was wrong with her, but then she mouthed, “Play along,” and tiptoed to the door he’d just come through to lock it.
“Good,” was all he said back as he waited for her to lead the way.
Once inside her main chambers, she locked her bedroom door before waving her hand toward the bathroom. “Do you mind a little mood music?” she asked in a husky voice.
“No,” he replied as his senses heightened, wondering why they had to continue with this charade inside of her private chambers.
She turned on music and stepped into the bathroom. “Take your clothes off,” she said with a giggle before shaking her head furiously and mouthing, “Don’t you dare.”
He smirked as she hurried around the room, turning on every faucet.
Adila’s small hands fisted his shirt and yanked him close. “Keep your voice as quiet as possible.” Sam pulled his head back and stared at her. He didn’t know her well, but he knew she was telling the truth. “Gedeon has eyes everywhere. I don’t know why Caius switched places with Aurora Raven.”
Sam moved back to ask how she knew, but her hand clamped over his mouth. He nodded and bent forward to whisper. “How do you know he switched places? No one knows.”
She muttered something about men and idiots.
“I waited for Caius in the bunker,” she admitted.
“I saw you and Lauren enter a room, and I stood outside waiting, but instead of my brother’s voice, I heard you speaking with Aurora.
” She twisted her mouth to the side. “The shapeshifting potion you used to change her face was impressive.”
“You couldn’t have been there without us seeing you,” Sam replied. She couldn’t have been there. The shape of the hallways in the bunker made it impossible to remain unseen.
She quickly disappeared into thin air and reappeared, making Sam jump. “Stop doing that.”
“I think my Aeternum is a Sylph,” she explained. “I can’t manipulate air, but I can turn into it.”
Sylphs were mystics who controlled air like Caius controlled shadows. Invisibility was an impressive skill not even he possessed. She shrugged and grabbed his shirt to pull his head down to hers.
“As I was saying, I don’t know why Caius allowed Aurora to leave, but she must mean a great deal to him.” She stared at Sam intently. “Gedeon can never find out.”
Sam nodded. “It is a long story. Why did yo—”
Her hand clamped over his mouth again. “We don’t have time for questions.
Gedeon has spies everywhere in the palace.
My chambers are the only place without them because I control who guards and who doesn’t.
” She ground her teeth together. “But it’s still not safe to speak freely.
I can’t prove it, but somehow, he listens in on my conversations.
I’m not sure if he bugged my phone or room, but anytime Caius calls, he visits the next day, asking if I’ve spoken to our brother. ”
She clenched her jaw so tight that Sam was concerned for her teeth.
“It started right after I sentenced Caius to Vincula. After a few times, I realized something was wrong and limited my conversations with him as much as possible. Caius called recently, and Gedeon insisted I assign some of his other guards to patrol my chambers in preparation for Caius’ return.
” She pulled her shoulders back. “I refused.”
Other guards? He thought back to the man in the cell downstairs but rerouted his attention to what she said about the phones.
If only Caius knew. This entire time, he thought his sister hated him, but she had no choice in the matter. Her ability offered her no defense against Gedeon’s light, and the fact must have scared Adila into submission.
Sam walked into Adila’s room and closed his eyes, letting the surrounding essence call to his. He followed every little tug—the essence screen, remote control, music player—he stopped at her nightstand and opened the top drawer, freezing.
A dainty hand reached around him and slammed the drawer shut. Her eyes promised a slow murder if he opened it again.
He winked and closed his eyes, allowing himself to be pulled to a large painting.
She elbowed him out of the way and opened the frame like a door. A safe stared back at them, and after entering the code, Adila opened it to reveal her Royal phone.
The slide-out shelf under the phone drew him in, and moving the phone aside, he pulled out the shelf and examined it, realizing it was hollow. The shelf came apart with ease, and he cursed when he looked inside, removing a tiny microphone no bigger than his fingernail.
Adila snatched it from his hand to throw on the ground, but before she could stomp it to bits, Sam took the wire from her, set it on the table, and led her to the bathroom.
When he closed the door, she whirled on him, but he put a finger to his lips. “You need to keep it, or Gedeon will know you found it,” he whispered. Sam needed to leave soon, and they would have to discuss everything at length at a later date. “I also need you to come to the cells with me.”
Adila regarded him carefully before nodding and making her way to the door.
He was surprised she agreed without question.
When they were on the stairs, she whispered, “I don’t think he has anywhere else bugged, or if he does, he gives no indication of the fact.
I think it’s only my phone he monitors remotely. ”
Sam nodded. Once downstairs, he led her to the man’s cell, and they both studied him silently.
“You two are dismissed,” she said to the two Aatxe standing guard. “Thank you.”
They bid them goodbye and disappeared.
The imposter guard sat in the corner of the cell, crying. “Why are you in a guard’s uniform?” Sam demanded.
The man’s face was red and puffy. “Because I’m a guard.”
Sam turned to Adila with a questioning look, and she looked angry. “Gedeon started hiring non-Aatxe mystics as guards.” Her eyes turned to slits as she stared down the guard in the cell. “I think he is finding people he believes will serve his agenda.”
Sam opened the cell and dragged the man out. “Why did the Lux King hire you?”
“He’ll kill me,” the man whimpered.
Adila leaned forward and with an eerily calm voice said, “You will be judged today, and if you cooperate, I will consider sending you to Vincula instead of hell.”
The man’s eyes widened. “W-We report everything we hear to him,” he stammered.
“What type of things are you listening for?” Sam asked and traded a knowing look with Adila.
The man glanced at Adila. “Anything about the Royals, even if only gossip. Especially the Umbra King.”
“You’ve been spying on me,” Adila stated flatly.
The man nodded. “When you are out of your chambers, yes.”
Tilting her head, she watched him closely. “Why?”
“I don’t know.” Truth. Sam was grateful for his ability to detect lies. It made interrogations easier. “He pays us more than we’d make anywhere else for our loyalty and discretion,” the guard blurted. “He also said he would torture us for a lifetime if we betrayed him.”
“And you have the luxury of doing whatever you want,” Sam seethed, thinking about Stassi’s pounding heart. “It is why you thought you could fire a maid if she did not fuck you.”
Adila’s eyes burned with a quiet rage, and the man swallowed hard. “Yes.”
An eerie calm fell over Adila, and Sam recognized the power of the Scales of Justice as it took over. She inclined her head and softly said, “Give me your hand. It is time for your trial.”
The man held out a trembling hand, and when Adila took it, she squeezed. “Your sentence is death.”
Before the man could protest, he disappeared. The serenity of the Scales of Justice dissipated. “I knew my brother was spying on me, but I don’t know why,” Adila said.
Sam scratched his jaw as he thought. “He must suspect you will conspire with Caius to kill him. You two were close as children, yes?”
She cleared her throat and looked away. “I’ve never given Gedeon a reason to suspect me since Atarah’s death,” she said meekly. “I laid low and bided my time because I thought when Caius was released, he would come to me about Gedeon, and we could hash out a plan together.”
“Why do you think Caius would come to you?” Sam scoffed. “You have barely spoken to him in five-hundred years.”
“Because I know my brother,” she snapped, and tears filled her eyes. “He knows me enough to know I had a reason for what I did. I hope.”
Sam felt for the woman. She was put in an impossible position, and while he wanted to know why she hadn’t joined forces with Caius initially, there was no time to discuss it. “We need to find a way to communicate. Can you go to Vincula?”
“No, but I can go into the city,” she offered instead.
“It wouldn’t appear strange to venture into Erdikoa for a day or two, but if I disappear without a trace to go to Vincula, he might get suspicious.
There’s a place Caius and I would go camping as kids,” she whispered.
“Gedeon doesn’t know about it. We can meet there. ”
“I know of it,” Sam lied. They had no time to draw maps. He would ask Caius. “Meet us there in six days’ time at dusk.”
“I will,” she promised him. Sam made to leave, but her voice stopped him. “Tell him I love him.”
He looked back. “One day, you can tell him yourself.”