CHAPTER 48
ZEPHYR
Now
EVERY SECOND OF SUFFERING I’VE EVER ENDURED IS WORTH THE UTTER DISBELIEF IN DAVINA’S FACE AS HER EYES TRAVEL BETWEEN LEON AND I.
Priceless.
If I could bottle it, I would, if only to relive it every time I fall into that familiar, dark place, from this moment till the day I no longer exist—of which I anticipate many in my near future.
You’ll remember this day as the day I bested cunning, ruthless Davina Lachlan.
All the iciness in her eyes has been replaced by shock, plump lips parted in a perfect ‘O’ as her chest heaves, fighting for breath that the revelation seems to have stolen.
I can almost see the gears turning inside her head, desperately trying to put all the pieces together.
Is Leon a Kobrant soldier, or am I a member of Kaelthorn’s cell?
Did we know each other from before, or did we find each other after her visit to him?
Most importantly, did I know there was no stash from the beginning? Did I know about the lab?
I almost feel bad for her. It’s unfair, really, how even in her impressive cleverness, Davina has been playing this game two steps behind from the start.
Almost.
Then I remember her ruthlessness, and any hint of guilt disappears. My blood heats at the memories.
Even more important, the most pressing question hammering into my godsdamned soul is one I can never voice.
Can she be redeemed?
It’s the sole reason why I insisted on bringing her here. Why I chose to delay everything, even though it poses a colossal risk for what we’ve spent half our lifetimes fighting for.
What’s worse, I’d do it all again. Because if every word she’s uttered is the truth . . .
I don’t dare hope, but Abenza would have said something if she’d lied.
“Did you follow me to his house?” Davina’s question interrupts my thoughts. It’s not the most obvious one to ask, but I guess it’s one that will give her several answers at once.
“Yes,” I reply.
Her eyes squint. “Were you in the house while we spoke?”
A smirk fought to rise to my lips. Clever woman.
“Yes.”
I’d revealed myself briefly to Leon when she appeared at his door, letting the invisibility drop.
That told him everything he needed to know about who she was, given we’d discussed where, precisely, I was going to be mere hours before.
It hardly took him by surprise, we’d been expecting it.
He’d made sure to hold the door open for a second longer after she entered, allowing me to sneak in undetected, dwarfed in my ability.
Davina’s expression slowly turns from wistful to understanding, then dreadful. “You’re one of them.” The words are barely above a whisper, as if worried that uttering the truth aloud will make it more real. As if whispering it would soften the blow.
I straighten, letting my palms meet in a slow, mocking clap. Then another one. “Well done.”
Sky-blue eyes ripple with the weight of the revelation. Only because I’m watching her so closely can I distinguish the slight trembling in them that betrays how she’s running through everything she’s done and said. Fighting to understand how thin the ground she stands on is.
“Did you really think the King’s Army would have allowed for something like this to happen?” I ask, waving around us.
Out of everything, I truly believed that bringing her to one of the cell’s safehouses and questioning her without a single sign of official army involvement would have been the thing that gave me away.
Not to mention Abenza’s presence. Not even the rulers of any of the four nations are exempt from the use of illegal abilities, even if Davina’s very existence seems to defy that.
“If you’d pulled that move on a real soldier, Lachlan, you would have expelled your last breath yesterday.”