Chapter 31
Wren
It takes every ounce of control I have to not show an ounce of shock or fear on my face and to keep my body completely still. At the small of my back, I feel Ryoden’s fingers twitch and hear the way Eli’s breath catches just behind my shoulder.
“Is that so, sir?” he asks, his tone somehow still entirely neutral and light.
“Oh, yes.” The General lets the words draw out, savoring them as his gaze finally turns to me, his beady eyes lighting up. “Seems Charlotte’s been quite busy in your absence. Rumors travel faster than paper, it turns out.”
Around us, the nearest conversations have already died. People are turning toward us, cutting off escape routes with the sheer density of bodies slowly pressing toward us in their desire to hear every word.
“Tales of four supernatural beings walking along your walls unchallenged,” the General continues.
“A dragon cuddling up to the mysterious woman at your side. A month-long ceasefire arranged without command approval. And, most concerningly, the suggestion that our own Colonel Kane has chosen to abandon his duty and his people in favor of a…pet project.”
A tightness blooms in my chest, my body aching to connect with the earth more than ever before.
I need you, please.
Ryoden’s fingertips dig into my back as he bluffs, “That’s not how I remember it going, but I’d be happy to start the meeting that I called you for, if you’d like to begin already.”
“Is that so?” the General murmurs before clapping once, the sudden loud sound making me jump. “So you mean to look me in the eyes and tell me that she isn’t associated with who your people believe were the four kings of the supernatural factions?”
There’s a small murmur from the surrounding crowd at his bluntness. The Admiral’s mouth twitches, but whatever amusement he feels doesn’t reach his eyes.
“She saved civilian lives in my city,” Ryoden says, voice cutting through the low buzz of whispers blanketing us. “She’s a hero that stood on that wall bartering for our people’s lives.”
There’s no point holding onto my fake smile, so I let it drop. Instead, I let Ryoden’s words bolster my confidence as chills course through my body, keeping my chin held high.
I won’t let them make me feel like the threat in the room, not when their hands are drenched with the lives of all that have been lost on both sides of this war at their command. All I’ve ever done is try to protect their people.
When they came to attack Sylvin’s court, I plucked the thread to save them.
When I stood firmly in my neutrality in the battle against them at the border, knowing in my gut I couldn’t use my powers to hurt them.
Then again when I refused to pluck the thread that would wipe them out, choosing the men that I’ve grown to claim as mine.
Finally, when I stood on that wall in Charlotte and prevented the kings from killing a single person, even buying all of humanity a month-long ceasefire.
I know my heart, and I’d challenge them in comparing our morality and crimes any day.
“With the help of four enemy leaders,” the Admiral points out mildly.
“Do you deny that they were there?” the General asks with a heavy sigh, as if this is beginning to bore him.
“No,” Ryoden replies. “I don’t deny that.”
“Do you deny that you allowed them to leave unharmed?”
His jaw tightens. “I chose not to start a massacre in my city. I chose to use the leverage presented to me to secure a temporary ceasefire and regroup our forces at this meeting, rather than die on principle and let my city burn.”
“That sounds awfully noble when you frame it that way,” the General says patronizingly, eyes narrowing as his head tilts slightly. “But it doesn’t change the fact that you are now consorting with the enemy by harboring the woman at your side and bringing her here under a fake identity.”
Before Ryoden or I can speak, he flicks his fingers toward Eli over our shoulders.
“And then there’s your new lieutenant that claims he helped draft the missive that somehow never found its way to me.
A bright young man who called to provide a detailed report that you’d gone rogue and that he was ready to step in to help us correct your mistakes. ”
The world feels like it tilts around me.
It’s not Eli, he’s been with us this entire time. But it seems the General gets his intended impact through as Eli steps up beside me, facing him head on and breathing heavily.
A smug smirk tilts his lips up briefly and it’s then that I realize he wants this to be a dramatic spectacle. He wants to make us cower and beg for forgiveness.
“Who?” Ryoden asks, refusing to take the bait in thinking it was Eli. “Who used my line?”
“One Lieutenant Markham,” the General says with obvious satisfaction.
Rage flares hot in my chest at the thought of anyone betraying Ryoden like this. I don’t know who it is, but from my limited time in that city, it’s always been clear to me how much he cares for his people’s well-being.
“He’s lying,” Eli bursts out at my side, taking a step forward. “Sir, with respect, he’s twisting everything that happened. The Colonel—”
“Specialist.” The General’s voice cracks like a whip. “You will speak when spoken to.”
Eli snaps his jaw shut, but the muscles in his neck stand out. I can feel the waves of his fury from here. The General lets the silence breathe for a beat, making sure everyone has time to absorb the humiliation, then turns his attention back to Ryoden like Eli no longer exists.
“As I was saying,” he drawls, “your city has been going through some interesting developments.”
Beside me, Ryoden feels like he’s practically made of stone with how stiff he is.
“What developments?” he asks, voice flat and refusing to give the emotional display that the General so desperately wants with his prodding, the air of condescension dripping from every word.
“Oh, just a little reshuffling of command,” the General replies casually, shrugging and pursing his lips. “Interestingly enough that was done without even needing my blessing. They took it upon themselves.”
It’s then that his needling finally gets to me.
Derrick.
“Major Sherwin,” the General continues, flicking a speck of lint from his sleeve like he’s bored with his own words, “has been relieved of acting command until we sort out whether he shares your softness toward the enemy. There were concerns raised by your lieutenants, with allegations of his sympathies alongside yours.”
My stomach drops straight through the floor. I can’t sit idly by anymore. I don’t care if it’s bait, not when Derrick’s life is on the line. The man who befriended me through a crack in a door and urged me to help Ryoden.
“What?” The word tears out of me before I can stop it. “He did nothing wrong. Derrick has done nothing but protect your people, just as Colonel Kane has.”
The General’s gaze slides back to me lazily, as if I am a mildly interesting insect that has learned to speak. “You’re very quick to defend them. How touching.”
Rage flares hot and useless in my chest. I want to pull the roots of the earth up through the levels of concrete in this building and to wrap them around all these deplorable human necks.
“He stood his post,” Ryoden says, each word precise. “He followed my orders. If you have a problem with my decisions, it is me you take issue with. Not him.”
“Oh, we’re taking issue with both,” the General says cheerfully.
“The real hero of your city is the one who had the courage to call us.” His eyes flick over me again, lingering a fraction too long on the bare skin of my shoulders above the line of my dress.
“To recognize that the key to winning this war was being allowed to walk our halls, free for the taking.”
Eli and Ryoden shift at once, placing themselves in front of me and shoving me until my spine presses to the wall at my back. I want to shove them back and to stand up for myself, but I’m useless. I have no powers and no weapons like the ones they have holstered at their hips.
But I do have my bond. In the back of my mind, the steady warmth flares to life as I reach for it.
Torryn.
I reach for him without thinking, fingers curling tightly at my sides until my knuckles ache.
Torryn, I need you. We’re trapped.
For a heartbeat there’s nothing, just the distant hum of the bond that has been a low, comforting presence since we left. Then his answer slams into me with focused attention.
Wren? His voice fills my mind, rough with concern. What’s happened?
The human General knows everything. He wants to use me against you.
Against all of you. My thoughts tangle and I force myself to breathe as I stare at Eli and Ryoden’s backs.
We’re in a ballroom at human headquarters.
He has us surrounded and they’re calling Ryoden a traitor. I don’t know how we get out of this.
I feel the surge of fear through the bond and the agony he feels in not being with me.
We’re coming, Torryn answers in a rush. All of us. Do you hear me, sweetheart? We’re coming for you. You are not alone. Not now, not ever. I swear it.
“So you see,” the General continues, “we already know exactly what kind of man you are and the people who choose to stand at your side. The only question left is what we do with you.”
“Seems you’ve already decided,” Ryoden replies smoothly, but his tone has changed.
It’s still controlled, but now edged with his own fury.
I peer through the small slit between Ryoden’s and Eli’s bodies as the General arches a brow. “Have I?”
“You condemned my major without evidence,” Ryoden says, the words coming out low and even for all to hear now. “You rewarded a man looking to climb the ladder in selling out his commanding officer, which shows how little loyalty he’ll have to any one of you, given the chance.”
His hands curl into fists, the veins in them standing out as he pushes on.