Chapter 72
CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
PHOENIX
I’m thankful as ever that Vera keeps her entrance door unlocked.
Jax and I violently barge into her studio.
I stumble, and because I’m keeping most of Jax’s weight on me, he loses his balance. We both topple over onto the floor in Vera’s entryway. I can only imagine how we look, all bloody and beaten. Jax is barely conscious.
I push myself up on all fours and look up at the dining table where Vera sits with Noire. They share a pot of steaming tea.
“They’re coming for you,” I say, panting.
I look around the studio, but there are no signs of trouble. The fact that Noire is here means Vera’s safe. At least for now. I scramble back onto my feet and make my way towards them.
“What the fuck is going on?” Vera finally recovers from shock at such an entrance. “Who’s coming?”
When I approach the dining table, I point at the cup in Vera’s hand. “Put that down.”
I lift the top of the teapot to see how much she’s already drunk. It’s the first cup, thank fuck.
Vera doesn’t put the cup down, so I snatch it from her hand. I sniff the tea and take a small sip. After swishing it in my mouth, I return the cup to Vera. She stares at me in disbelief.
I don’t miss the worry in her gaze. She might be angry at me and Jax right now. But she still cares.
“It’s not poisoned.”
“What? Why would it be?” Vera blinks. “What happened to you two? No—you know what, I don’t care. Neither of you are my business anymore.”
“Vera—” Noire says, but I cut him off.
“You don’t fucking mean it and you know that,” I snap at her.
Vera blinks at me rapidly but says nothing.
“She doesn’t mean that,” Noire says and rises to his feet. “She’s angry, which she has every right to be. But anger passes, and conflicts get resolved. At least, some of them do.” He eyes Jax’s limp body in the entryway. “What happened, Ezkai Phoenix?”
“Caligos fucking happened,” I say with a sigh. I turn to Noire. “I’m guessing you were tipped off by someone about Jax’s involvement in the Ezkai General’s assassination, right?”
“Yes. My spies got a tip a few days ago, which led to us uncovering the truth,” Noire says calmly.
“Of course. Yeah, well, Daegel is the one who orchestrated that tip to reach you so you would then go to Vera and tell her the truth, so that she would then kick Jax out. He tried to break apart my support network and he had plans to kidnap me and keep me locked up until the trials conclude,” I say, breathless.
“I told you so. Nothing good can come from Caligos.” Vera crosses her arms.
I can’t breathe. I’m overwhelmed with emotions. I rub the middle of my chest, trying to get enough air down into my lungs.
Vera’s right. Of course she’s right. But the heartache is too raw.
“Fuck you, Vera,” I breathe. “I fucking made a mistake. I fucked up. He played me, and he played me fucking well. He fed me lies about things, kept me in the dark, all under the name of love and trying to protect me. I gave him the benefit of doubt, because I love him. You might not understand it, but it was horrifying going through all these trials. I know you offered your hospitality and support, but the path I walk is lonely. It’s terrifying and lonely, and nobody but someone who is also on this path can understand how it feels. Daegel used that against me.”
My voice cracks at the end, and I feel like my heart will beat its way out of my chest into the world.
I can’t break.
Not yet.
I close my eyes and steady my breathing. When I open them again, I’m a little more steady.
Vera stares at me silently. I’m surprised, because she doesn’t look angry. Her silver eyes are overflowing with sadness.
“Not only did he want to separate us, but he also has all the intentions of harming you now that he knows you’re the Savage King,” I say calmly and gesture at Jax.
“I got lucky enough to free Jax and escape, but only after he endured a night of torture. Daegel warned that the Caligos are coming for you, too.”
Vera lifts her chin defiantly. “I’ll be just fine. It’s not my first year dealing with them.”
“You are in danger and it’s my fault! If he managed to assassinate the Ezkai General, what do you think he can do to you?”
“Vera, Ezkai Phoenix is right,” Noire says. “You’ve got a target on your back; you’re not safe.”
Vera glares at me, mute.
My shoulders slump. I have no clue what else to do. So, I sink onto my knees right where I stand.
“I’m sorry I lied and sneaked around behind your back.
I’m sorry I abused your hospitality and honesty.
I am beyond sorry that due to my stupid heart and head, your operation savings innocent lives is put in jeopardy.
It will take me a lifetime to atone for that and make it right if you can find it in yourself to give me another chance.
I promise, I’ll make it my life mission to make things right. ”
Vera’s eyes widen. I don’t stop.
“You have every right to be mad at me and be mad for as long as you want. If you want to punish me for my arrogance, be my guest. But I’m going to finish these trials with you and Jax by my side and become the next Ezkai General.
I don’t want to see the Talbots or the Caligos run Ekios to the ground.
I won’t let another man use power for selfish gain and abuse people he should care about.
I won’t stand for Ekios becoming the mirror of Wetra. Not again.”
Vera’s eyes swell with tears. But she blinks them away.
She clears her throat. “I can never forgive Jax for what he did. He committed the most horrible crime one could commit. The law states he must be executed.”
I sit back down on my knees and close my eyes. I shake my head. There is no right answer here. I know that Jax’s crime, even if he didn’t have a choice, has consequences.
“I’ll deal with it when I win,” I say. “I will deal with the punishment when I’m the Ezkai General, okay?
You don’t need to forgive him, I won’t ask you that.
But you know he was here in all honesty, and without him we wouldn’t be here.
I wouldn’t be here. So, please. Just let us survive the trials. Help him survive the trials.”
Our gazes lock. Vera’s silent for a long while. I remain silent, too. The hope I foster within me can only live for as long as the silence lasts between us, I know that.
“Let’s get him to my bathroom,” Vera orders and rises to her feet. “I’ll get the girls.”
Vera disappears behind one of the doors while Noire helps me carry the unconscious Jax into Vera’s bathroom. We settle him into Vera’s bathtub right as she returns with Hojo and Tanaka in her wake. They carry an abundance of bandages, salves, and glass bottles filled with elixirs.
“I’ll send for one of the Ezkai menders,” Noire says.
I nod, grateful for that. I’d kill to have Roman here now, as a friend and a skilled mender. The memory of his large grin on his handsome face squeezes my chest.
I’ve lost too many friends. I can’t lose Jax, too.
In the proper light, the sight of Jax’s beaten body is terrifying. His face is swelling with bruises, blue and purple. Somehow earlier I missed the fact that one of his arm hangs weirdly. His shoulder must be dislocated. That must have been excruciatingly painful.
Vera lines up the tools and remedies on the vanity.
“Hojo, clean her wounds before she gets infected,” Vera orders, jerking her chin at me. “Tanaka, help me with cleaning up Jax.”
The girls obey immediately. Hojo guides me to sit on the vanity bench while she cleans up my face. I don’t realize how bad it is until she presses a warm cloth to clean the blood and it stings.
Vera rips Jax’s shirt in two and throws it on the floor. His abdomen and chest have large purple bruises forming that look much worse now than before.
I lean forward. “Does he have broken ribs? He didn’t cough any blood earlier, so I don’t think his lungs are punctured.”
Vera nods. “Two are broken as far as I can tell. We’ll bandage him up, and if he rests well it should heal without causing internal damage.”
Tanaka is cleaning up his face and neck with a washcloth and some sort of tincture. I watch their every move as they work. Hojo finishes patching me up quickly and goes over to help with Jax. Noire stands farther away from us in the corner, silent.
Vera’s struggling, I can tell. Just like I have grown to like Jax, to consider him part of our group, she did too. The betrayal hurts much more for her than it does for me.
She may have agreed to help him now, but I don’t think we’ll be able to recover from this. Not when the death penalty hangs above Jax’s head for the assassination.
I’m so lost in grieving our friendship that only recently started to bloom that I almost miss it.
Tanaka slips a small vial from the hidden pocket inside her dress into her palm, and swaps it with one from Vera’s stash. She brings the vial to Jax’s lips.
“Hey, what are you doing?” I get on my feet. Everyone stops what they’re doing, looking at me. Tanaka bats her eyelashes at me innocently as she lowers the hand that holds the mysterious vial. “What’s that in your hand? You didn’t take it from Vera’s medicine box.”
Tanaka’s perfect plump lips part. She looks completely lost as she glances between me and Vera. The perfect picture of innocence.
“Tanaka.” Vera’s voice is cold. “Explain. Now.”