Chapter 33 Ezra
We scarcely made it out of the forest before the enforcers found us.
The patrols we had expected at the wall descended upon us at the tree line instead.
Had Dinah and Johanna not been with us, I doubted we would have broken through.
Together we overwhelmed the patrol and disappeared into the city before reinforcements could arrive.
We finally stopped in the shelter of a narrow alley, hidden between two weather-worn buildings.
The girls leaned against the stone walls, trying to quiet their breathing while Liv waited a long moment, listening for pursuit.
Satisfied we had not been followed, she unfolded the map.
Mud streaked her cheek, but her eyes were already searching.
“We're close.” Her finger settled on a small inked circle. Despite the fight, her hands did not shake. “The first girl is here.” She started forward, but I caught her wrist. I drew her gently toward me and pressed a kiss to her forehead. She looked up at me, her eyes catching the lamplight.
“What is it?” Her brow knitted. I opened my mouth, but the words refused to come. I could not lose her.
“It is only...” I sighed, forcing myself to remember she was far stronger than I ever allowed myself to believe. “Stay close, little star.” She relaxed into me for only a moment, snaked her arms around my waist, and squeezed.
“I know,” she whispered. She slowly pulled her arms away, but her hands lingered at my hips as though she was just as afraid of letting go as I was. Then she nodded toward the girls before turning toward the first mark on the map. I followed without another word.
We surveyed the street and the house from a distance, making certain Stanhope had not already arrived to claim the girl.
Mary. Eleven years old, she had not inherited her power, she had been born with it and had spent her entire life in hiding.
She had never been permitted to attend school or play with the other children in town.
I did not know how Stanhope discovered her.
I was simply grateful we had gotten to her first.
I went to the door first and knocked softly. They had no way of knowing we were coming, and I did not want to startle them. A man answered. He could not have been much older than I, but the years had not been kind to him. Living in fear could do that to a person.
“Who are you?” he demanded through the narrow opening in the door.
“My name is Ezra Crauford. I know that name gives you every reason to close this door.” I kept my voice low. “But we are here for Mary.” His eyes widened.
“Prevailing,” he breathed. Before I could stop him he slammed the door. Shuffling and hurried footsteps echoed through the house. Before I could turn to Liv, she was already running toward the back of the house.
“Cover the front!” I shouted over my shoulder to Dinah and Johanna before taking off after Liv. By the time I rounded the corner, Liv already stood before the family, her hands raised in surrender as the couple positioned themselves between her and Mary. The man drew a dagger and pointed it at Liv.
“What do you want with our daughter?” Though his voice was more confident now, the hand outstretched with the dagger trembled. He was no killer.
“We are not here to harm her.” Liv took a cautious step forward just as Johanna and Dinah rounded the corner behind us.
“The council wishes for nothing more than to harm her!”
The woman shouted. “Her power is all they have ever sought!”
She reached beneath her cloak and pulled her own dagger.
“You will never have her while the gods still grant me breath... nor after they cast me into the Seven Hells.” She lunged toward Liv.
My power surged instinctively, shadows lurching toward her.
Liv's vines reached her first, winding around her wrists and ankles before lifting her clean off the ground.
Mary yelped. Storm clouds rolled across the sky with startling speed.
Lightning split the ground before us, and thunder cracked hard enough to rattle the windows.
I had never seen anyone wield power over the weather itself.
“We will not harm her. We will not harm any of you.”
Liv lowered the woman back to her feet. “We should take this indoors. I would not wish for prying eyes to alert the council.”
The man gave a hesitant look to his wife, then nodded.
They led us inside the small house. It was modest, but loved.
Family portraits lined the walls beside childish drawings done in uneven charcoal.
A wooden horse lay forgotten beneath the window, and a doll with one missing button eye rested on the sofa.
They had very little... yet somehow they had made this place feel like a home.
“Why are you here?” the woman asked, stopping us before we could venture farther than the hallway. Though she had lowered her dagger, every muscle in her body remained taut.
“We need to take Mary with us,” I said simply. Liv gave me a look that said, Kindly stop speaking. Considering Mary had retreated so far behind her parents that I could scarcely see her anymore, I reluctantly decided Liv might have a point.
“Someone told us the council was coming for Mary,” Liv said.
“And we refuse to let them have her.” She sighed before dropping to her knee and tilting her head to speak with Mary who clung to her mother’s skirt.
“Mary, darling, I am Lavinia.” She opened her palm and a flower bloomed.
“I am like you, and so are my friends.” She waved the girls over, and they stood beside her, smiling.
Johanna offered the girl a small friendly wave.
“Why should we trust you?” Her father spat. “You are the Prevailing. The council answers to you. The atrocities they have committed. The branding of those girls. It all happened while the council answered to you.”
I rubbed a hand down my face. “I am no longer the Prevailing Diviner.”
Liv’s eyes widened now, and I sighed long and low.
“A lord who I wish to be nothing like, seized the council using fear and ideals that I cannot believe in. If I could have stopped the marking…”
I swallowed hard, and my eyes fell to the floor.
“I tried all I could.” I could not stop it, and I would carry that for the remainder of my days.
Liv took my hand and rubbed her thumb over it in small circles.
Then to my surprise, Dinah, who had been utterly silent for the majority of the time I had known her, knelt before Mary.
“He isn't what they told us he was.” Her voice was small and almost lyrical.
“He really did try to save us.” She rolled up her sleeve, revealing her mark.
“They wanted to brand us as detested women. Wanted to warn people of the evil they think us capable of.”
Then she stood and reached for my hand. I offered it to her, confused.
She looked up at me and tapped her chest just above her heart with a small smile.
I looked to Liv and she nodded encouragingly.
I stepped closer, and dropped to my knee. My fingers fumbled with the buttons of my shirt and the couple gave me a strange look. I pulled the shirt aside, revealing my own mark. Dinah placed her hand on my shoulder.
“He showed us we were never monsters. Being Detested is nothing to be ashamed of, and this mark does not decide our worth. This mark is a symbol of our strength.” Tears welled in Dinah’s eyes and Liv sniffled quietly behind me.
“We have a sanctuary. Outside of Verith. Several girls already call it home. We hope many more soon will. It is safe, and we are free.”
Liv stepped closer. “We take care of each other and teach the girls to be strong. It is the only way we know how to stop what has been put in motion.”
Her lip trembled slightly as she continued.
“We only want to give the girls a fighting chance.”
Mary shifted slightly, and her mother sobbed quietly beside her father. Her father’s quiet resolve told me he had already decided.
“She will go with you,” he said, trying not to break.
“Can mamma and papa come as well?” Mary smiled.
Liv looked at me, though she did not need permission. I nodded. “We will figure it out.” I whispered.