Chapter 35
Ever
WELL THIS MIGHT BE THE shittiest party I’ve ever been to. Not that I’m mad about that, just bored, and wondering why I still need to be here when so many others have left—or not shown up in the first place after what happened in the chamber.
It appears my scars are good for something at least.
Jesamyn Warrik moves across the room, like a lioness stalking prey.
Her father, Duke Warrik, shoved her in the direction of Lorn not too long ago, and I’ve been watching her slowly close in since.
Lorn has traversed the sparse crowd to acquire a beverage I requested, but have no intention of drinking.
I simply needed him distracted, and from the look of things he’s about to have his hands full.
Unwittingly, Lorn walks right into Jesamyn’s web, and the dragoness descends on him like an eager little spider.
She must take after her mother, because I don’t see a hint of her father in her pretty features.
She’s the opposite of Lorn in every way, with pitch-black hair, dark eyes, and a delicate figure.
Everything about her screams fragile , and I just can’t picture them together as mates.
Jesamyn says something to Lorn as she approaches, and he turns to her.
“That’s our cue,” I announce, and smooth as silk, Rysel takes the lead, Daelith and Luma each claim a side, and Bryndol moves in close behind me.
We move quickly, but not so fast that we draw attention. Our path has been scouted, and we edge around a few large groups, one of which is dancing—gross—and the other’s playing some kind of game I’ve never seen before.
No one seems to care what I’m doing, which is helpful.
Those that came to get a peek, have gotten more than they bargained for.
Duke Anjou, Duke Dowzer, and Duke Bleddyn have already left, and King Noctis was just pulled away by his second.
With Lorn being accosted by the Warriks I might actually have a chance of getting the fuck out of here.
I know I shouldn’t make a run for it, but Aeson isn’t back yet from wherever he disappeared to, and while I’m not stupid enough to try and find him, I’m also done being tonight’s entertainment. Plus I have some business to attend to and there’s no time like the present.
Daelith murmurs into her com, relaying our movements to the rest of my contingent of guards who’ve stayed surprisingly hidden all evening.
I breathe a sigh of relief when we finally exit the ballroom without incident, but I know we’re not out of the woods yet.
Until we’re back in Aeson’s rookery, we could be stopped by Lorn’s Wing or the king’s at any point.
The dragon stone walls look gray in late evening light. The glass ceilings are covered in a light layer of snow and it makes the stark white keep look softer, and more homey. The ladies and I wind down a few hallways when suddenly Julian, Vesper, and Tharvok join us.
“Pacey, Lahar, and Akito are going to stick to the fringes as back up,” Julian relays, and I nod.
“Did you get it?” I ask Vesper, and he reaches across Luma to hand me the com band I requested.
“It’s clean,” he rumbles, and I pull in a fortifying breath and give my heart a moment to calm from our escape before I amp it back up with what I’m about to do next.
I look around me, taking in each of my guards. “This stays between us,” I order, and I don’t know if I’m bolstered or unsettled by how they all answer in sync.
Without second-guessing it, I type a number into the com, deactivate the cam feed, and then wait for the call to connect. It’s counterintuitive to be doing this in front of an audience, but it’s a killer loyalty test I decided was worth the risk.
“Queenie’s Beetle Kebabs, this is Stanley, what can I get for you today,” Gable answers on the third ring like some overworked service rep who just can’t be bothered to fake it a second longer.
I bite back a smile and ignore the way my chest gets tight at hearing the familiar voice. “Hi, Stanley, I need an order for five, and I’m gonna need a rush delivery,” I chirp, injecting a little extra pep in every syllable.
“And how would you like those cooked?” Gable monotones back.
“First, I’d like you to spark the flames, then if you could ignite the infernos, that would be super, and last—and this is important, Stanley—you’ll have to ash the embers or I don’t want it.”
Gable gives up the ruse and barks out a loud laugh. Then the sounds of wrestling fill the line before there’s a yelp of pain and suddenly Enslee’s voice rings out.
“Ever?” she asks, and the relief I feel is overwhelming. It crashes through me, joining forces with deep rooted longing to see that she’s safe, that she’s okay.
“I don’t have long,” I tell her and then laugh, because I’m pretty sure I’ve said that on every call we’ve ever had, and maybe, just maybe after this one, I’ll never have to say it again.
“You all right?” she asks, clearly picking up on my cartwheeling emotions.
“Better than okay,” I confess, the words coming out choked. “My scale armor is light gray, Ens, and I accidentally siphoned fire the other day. I’ve been training my affinity since.” A tear slips down one side of my face and then the other, and I quickly wipe them away.
“How?” she rasps, and I cry harder, knowing she’s crying too.
“The answers are here, Ens. Get here. All of you. Three days,” I tell her.
“Are you sure?” Enslee asks, and I can feel how desperate she is to believe and how scared she is to actually try.
“Trust me, Ens. This is the only way.”
Silence fills the line for a moment, and then I hear, “Where?”
Eager anticipation pumps through me, and I work to calm myself and focus. “That spot we always talk about from that day we’ll never forget. I’ll have people we can trust meet you.”
“How will we identify them?” she counters.
“They’ll give you a password when you meet; you’ll know it as soon as you hear it.”
I can practically hear my sister weighing the pros and the cons. I say nothing, letting her work through the risks and alternatives like I know she needs to do.
“Three days. At the spot we always talk about, from the day we’ll never forget,” she finally confirms after a nerve-racking drawn out pause.
My smile is triumphant, but all too quickly fear wraps itself like a vise around my chest. It’s not just for my sister and the other Syphons, as I worry whether this is the right move or not, but for Aeson and the inevitable fallout we’re careening toward when the others finally arrive.
“I’ll see you soon, Ev,” Enslee declares, and the longing in her tone makes my eyes start to sting again.
“Soon,” I answer, remembering this swapped goodbye from the first call I made after I escaped the hospital.
I was so afraid that day, certain that I’d be dead within hours of that phone call.
Now I’m striding through the halls of King’s Keep, bonded to Aeson Noctis, and I’m days away from completing phase two and finally bringing my people home.
The line disconnects, and I blow out a breath and hand the com to Luma, who gives it back to Vesper. The empty hall around us echoes our steps, and magnitude of what I just put in motion weighs heavy on my shoulders.
“The other Syphons are coming?” Julian asks casually.
I smile, unable to help myself. “The other Syphons are coming,” I confirm, and then we round a corner and slam right into Karis and Blay.
“What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in the ballroom with Lorn and the others,” Blay barks, his gray-blue eyes scanning the hall like he’s expecting danger to come leaping from the shadows any minute now.
“What are you doing here?” I lob back, worried they just heard the call I made, and confused when I notice no one else is with them. “Where is Aeson? What’s going on?”
“We were coming to get you,” Karis answers, his features surprisingly softer than they’ve been since I was brought back here.
“What happened?” I press, unease crawling up my spine.
“Aeson will explain, just come with us. Can you run?” Blay asks and my stomach drops.
“Is he hurt?” I demand.
Panic seizes my thoughts and I hike my skirt up and start sprinting after Aeson’s Wing. I have no idea where we’re going, but it’s the last thing I can focus on because all the things I’ve said to Aeson over the last few days, and all of the things I haven’t said, ring loudly in my mind.
“No one’s hurt,” Karis assures me, but I turn to Vesper to confirm, because if that’s true, why are they acting like this?
Vesper nods, but I don’t miss the shocked look on Karis’s face, like he didn’t realize the trust between us was that fractured until now. Something akin to remorse flashes in his gaze before Daelith’s big form blocks Karis from view.
We run for what feels like forever, and Karis and Blay only slow when we approach a tower with a singular door blocking entry. The corridor is darker than any of the other towers I’ve been to in the keep. It’s almost as though this area is hoping to be overlooked or go unseen all together.
‘Where are we?” I ask no one in particular, but no one answers.
“Wait here,” Blay instructs, ignoring the tension radiating through me like a live wire.
Karis guides me and my guards off to the side as the solitary door set in the wall scans Blay.
I hear locks disengage, but the door opens so slowly it feels like I’m trying to watch a pot of water boil.
Finally, the door swings all the way open, and I debate making a run for it.
Instead, I force myself to breathe, and wait.
They said Aeson was fine, that he wasn’t hurt.
No need to cause an incident, except it feels like there’s every reason to cause an incident.
My head starts to get light and my limbs begin to feel fluttery. My dragon stirs, like it knows something I don’t, and I’m pretty sure I’m minutes from losing it.
Aeson suddenly appears in the doorway, and my panic comes to a screeching stop. I run to him, leaping into his arms and he catches me easily. I don’t know why this feels so life or death, but it does, and I’m just so fucking relieved that he’s okay.
“What the fuck is going on?” I demand. “You scared the shit out of me!”
He looks exhausted, and worry sinks its claws back into me. “I’ll explain when we’re inside,” he tells me. “You’re authorized to enter, but I need your Wing to stay out here.”
I reel back at the strange order, and open my mouth to argue, but Aeson drops his mouth to my ear and whispers, “It’s about Ren.”
My blood freezes in my veins. My body throbs like every bruise and scrape from that day once again covers my body. Rage rips me open, and agony steals the air out of my lungs and makes me work twice as hard to refill them.
I look up into Aeson’s pained eyes, and I don’t know if I want to hit him or break down.
“What the fuck did you just say?” I growl, and the sound makes everyone in my vicinity go perfectly still.
“Please trust me, Claws. I’ll explain everything when we’re inside, but I can’t do it out here, it’s not safe.”
Thoughts and emotions cyclone through me.
I feel hollow and somehow on the cusp of exploding.
I don’t recall answering Aeson, but I must have because the next thing I know he’s pulling me through the armored door.
I’m on some kind of autopilot as I try to piece together everything that’s happening.
Why would Aeson say that? As far as I knew that building exploded before The Horde could comb through it.
There would have been no sign of Ren or even me, and yet?. .?.
“Did the General and his Flight arrive?” Karis asks.
Aeson answers, but I tune it out when we stop at a sleek, black-metal door.
It has gleaming opaque panels on each side that take up the large wall, and I’d bet whoever is inside can see me, even though I can’t see them.
The setup appears to be some kind of security room and I notice several others spread out behind me.
“I don’t know where to even start,” Aeson declares, pulling my attention back to him. His gaze is intense, and red rims his blue eyes.
Has he been crying?
Karis slips around us to go inside the secure room.
The door slides open, the faint sound of a pressure release accompanying the motion, and then a voice spills out of the open entryway.
Something about the tone has me homing in on the cadence and tenor of the orders that are being given.
Automatically my muscles coil in response to that voice.
It scratches at the back of my skull, and for a split second I’m not with Aeson any longer.
I’m hiding, crouched, crying, and then my past collides with the present.
“Aeson,” I ask, my voice bereft of emotion, while my thoughts lock on to one thing and one thing only.
“There was another hack,” Aeson starts. “Only this time they didn’t take anything and instead left something behind—”
“No,” I hurry to interject. “This is important, please!” I whisper, forcing myself to look up at him, to let him see the desperation, the agony, the rage. “The drake that was just talking when Karis went in—”
“General Fairwyn?” he questions, and I nod.
“Is he a Render, Shield class?” I ask, each word growing sharper in my mouth as I slowly spit them out.
Aeson studies me, and like a fire growing from a pyre to an inferno, I see the moment he understands what I’m asking?.?.?. and why.
“He is.”
“Does he have purple scale armor? It’s a little darker than lilac, but in that range. And his mask, his horns, do they curve forward instead of back? I motion with my hands the direction his horns curve. “And there’s a crack or a small gouge on the right one, about midway?”
“I don’t know about the crack on his horn, but the rest is correct,” Aeson confirms, his eyes flicking back and forth between mine.
Anger battles the ache in my chest, and it takes everything I have not to rip open the door and slit this General Fairwyn’s throat from ear to ear, but it’s not enough. He deserves to suffer the same way my kindred suffered, and before that, I can use him to lead me to the others.
Gently I pull Aeson’s head down and lift up on my tiptoes until I can whisper in his ear.
“That drake in there helped slaughter my kindred,” I snarl quietly, the need for vengeance raging in my veins.
“He held the shield that protected the others while they destroyed almost everyone I’ve ever loved.
And if you don’t take him into custody right this fucking minute, I’m going to lock myself in that room and tear him limb from limb. ”