Chapter 6 #3
I glance around the table. “Pax, Hunter, and Phoenix, you’re leaving for Streatham in the morning.
Her Grace has given us free rein through the Banyan for scouting missions, so find a way to get close and see if there are any whispers of the King’s plans.
If we can figure out what Alaric has kept our people alive for, we might be able to negotiate their freedom, but we’ll have no leverage if we’re stuck in the dark. ”
Lucina’s eyes shoot up at this, but Hunter speaks before she can get any words out. “How are we supposed to get close?” he asks.
“Rogue hunting,” Pax replies, rolling out his shoulders.
Sending my second on this mission means that he’ll be in charge of it, and his response is exactly why I trust him to do just that.
“We’ll need to take one that others will notice is missing.
Then we can spy on any search party they send out of the Estate. ”
It’s exactly what I would do.
“And while you two are spying,” Phoenix drawls, his attention fixed on the switchblade he’s still toying with. “I’ll see what I can get out of our hostage.”
At the grin spreading across his face, I look pointedly at Pax. “Don’t let him torture anyone alone.” He nods. I glance at Hunter and Nix. “Please don’t take any unnecessary risks and make sure you’re back before initiation.”
I get firm nods from Pax and Hunter, and a mock salute from Phoenix.
“Anything else?” I ask the group, and Lucina’s hand shoots up in the air. “Cin, you don’t have to raise your—"
“I want to go with them.”
I think my eyes bulge out of my head. “Absolutely not.”
She looks visibly upset by my reaction. Her hand falls to her side, and her beautiful face twists bitterly. “Why?”
“You aren’t ready to leave Pirn,” I tell her, knowing instantly that it was the wrong thing to say. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Too dangerous?” she snaps, her eyes burning with anger now. Her hand gestures to the door, her still-damp curls falling behind her shoulder with the motion. “Why would you let me in this coven if you were just going to keep me here and tell me what I’m not ready for?”
All eyes flip to me.
She has a point, but I don’t tell her that. “I don’t want you leaving until you’re initiated. I’m sorry, Lucina, it isn’t up for discussion.”
She slouches in her seat, dark brows furrowed as she mutters under her breath, “Like hell it isn’t.”
I keep my eyes locked with hers, and she boldly stares me down across the table—not breaking. “That’s all for tonight,” I tell the group, and chairs scrape the hardwood as my coven quietly shuffles out of the room. When Lucina tries to stand with them, I shake my head. “Not you.”
Pax is the last to leave, shutting the door behind him with raised brows.
Lucina doesn’t leave the table, but she doesn’t sit back down either. Instead, she folds her arms across her chest and says firmly, “I’m an asset to this coven.”
“I know you are.”
Fury sets her hazel eyes on fire. “Then treat me like it.”
I stand, making my way around the table, and she tracks my steps, eyes rising to meet mine as I stop before her. “Lucina, you aren’t just an asset to this coven. You’re its greatest weapon.”
She blinks up at me, her lips pressed into a tight line. I’m sure she has more to say, but she stays quiet for some reason. There’s a war raging in her eyes, and I have no idea what the fight is about.
I exhale, leaning against the table to close a fraction of our height difference. “Have you ever played chess, Chaos?”
“I hate chess.” Something about the way that statement fires off her tongue makes me wonder if it isn’t true and she’s just in the mood to disagree with me. That’s fine.
“So do I.” Her head tilts, unsure of my angle, and my eyes dip to her mouth at the movement. “But do you know what the most powerful piece is?”
She snorts then.
“The queen,” I answer for her, sitting against the edge of the table before gently guiding her to stand between my legs.
She gives in to the pull, crossed arms falling to her sides.
“She’s the most powerful thing on the board, but she’s one of the last pieces you reach for,” I explain. “Do you know why that is?”
Resting my hands on the curve of her hips, I wait for her reply.
Lucina inhales a deep breath, then shakes her head, some of that fire in her eyes turning to smoke.
I reach up and brush a loose curl out of her face, more of her resolve slipping at the touch. “You don’t risk moving her unless you can end the game or change it,” I tell her, “but it has nothing to do with what she’s capable of.”
Lucina searches my stare. For what, I don’t know. Then she says quietly, “I’m not the queen.”
I breathe out a laugh, but she remains serious. “In this scenario, you are. To me, you are. I’m not going to risk the most important piece on a scouting mission. Hate me for it if you want to, but I’m not changing my mind.”
“I don’t hate you,” she admits defeatedly.
“I just don’t want to be trapped here…” Lucina scans the room, examining the walls around us, and when she looks back at me, her expression is grim.
“I…I want to help, Callan. For my mother, for Gemma’s parents, for your father.
I want…” She wets her bottom lip, searching for the words. “I want to do something good.”
Gods, she has no idea just how good she is.
“You’ll never be trapped here,” I assure her, ignoring the alarm bells that ring in the wake of the promise. What Delia plans to do in a few short months nags at me as soon as the words leave my lips. But I’ll do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen. Everything.
Lucina clears her throat, wiping her face with her hands, then she straightens in my arms. “I want to go on the next mission to Streatham,” she asserts, and she isn’t asking permission.
I swallow my stubbornness and nod. With Fenton gone, I have no excuse to be her shadow anymore. Even though every instinct I have roars against that statement. “Okay.”
The corner of her mouth kicks up. “And I want to go with you to the Greenhouse tomorrow."
I nearly choke. “You… want to meet Aster?”
“Sure.” Lucina shrugs. “Why not? She’s clearly important considering you, Phoenix, and Pax, grown men,” she adds, “acted the way you did at mere mention of her name.”
“Which had nothing to do with her and everything to do with you being in the room when Phoenix brought her up.” I stand, looking down at her.
“Hear me when I say this,” I cup her face in my hands, tilting her head back until my view of her eyes is unhindered, “Aster is ranked highest in her coven, and for me, that’s the extent of her importance. She’s not even in the same realm as you, Lucina.”
“You think I’m jealous?” she asks, phrasing it like I couldn’t be farther off. “I’m not jealous.”
“Of course not.” But I can see it on her face—in the color on her cheeks. And though I’d love for her to admit it, I’ve pushed Lucina far enough today, and I quite like how it feels to touch her. “That would be a stupid thing to assume.”
There’s a bold spark in her eyes now. “As would assuming my exes don’t already wish they were dead.”
“I’m sure they do.” I rub a thumb across her bottom lip. “They should.”
Color creeps up her cheeks, and I can see her fighting a smile.
My shoulders sink. “You’re still mad.”
“Of course I am.” She pulls back, shrugging my arms off of her. “You treated me like a child in front of men who are supposed to take me seriously. I understand your reasoning now, but you went about it poorly.”
Exhaling, I lean back against the table. “That’s…fair.” My fingers curl over the top of the wood, and when the itch to touch her rises, I tighten my grip.
The smile she’d been fighting appears, but it isn’t joyful. It’s sympathetic. Lucina leans forward, planting a soft kiss on my cheek.
I grip the table harder.
Then she pats my shoulder and turns to leave. “I’m going to get dinner with Gemma.”
As soon as she’s gone, I rub a hand across my face and push off the table with a sigh.
It’s not until I’ve sunk back into my chair and the screen door to the cabin creaks shut down the hall that it happens again. A strain on my chest. It tightens around my lungs, pressing against my heart, and it feels so familiar, it hurts.
A few seconds pass, and the sensation settles, but it doesn’t go away. I think my body just becomes used to it.
With a defeated breath, I shed my jacket and pull a stack of books I got from the Archives in front of me. No dust flies off the first one I open:
674 A.C. (After Collapse)
After three long months of searching, I have caught a Veila.
I’ve managed to sustain its life by submerging it in a liquid that amplifies the sound and life force of my pulse. As long as I sit here, with the heart device strapped to my chest, I can supply its life and my own while I study it.