Chapter Thirteen The Cabin
"Build bridges instead of walls."
Adan woke to the sun beaming into Nox's bedroom.
She was still sore and aching. She could heal faster if she connected to her power--her true power.
Nox was right, she buried it so deep and so far down herself that she wasn't sure if it was there anymore.
Her mental powers gifted to her by her dragon heritage, her great-grandmother, Agnisus Nazyr.
But her phoenix side--her fire side, that she only ever used a trickle of, and only when she had to.
It was one thing to help other Fire House members escape the king's clutches.
It was another to be the one thing he desired most in the entire realm.
His crusade for phoenix ash was and is relentless.
If he ever found out, there would be no escaping him.
The small reprieve would be that he would be unable to breed her.
She is the very last phoenix in Lymia, never once found another.
They were rare before the king annihilated her family.
Flashes of blood filled her mind and she snapped her eyes closed and took a deep breath.
The knock at the door forced back into the present.
She pushed herself out of bed with a groan, and limped over to open the door, to find Nox standing before her.
It wasn't the Lennox she knew, the one that was always in a suit, or something beyond extravagant, like his loafers. Now he was in a plain white shirt and baggy grey pants. She just stared at him perplexed--shocked even.
"We need to talk." He ran his hands through his messy hair, it was clear that he had just woken up. He turned to face her, his jaw tight with tension.
Where did he sleep? She looked out into the hallways, half expecting him to have slept on the floor.
"I slept on the couch, Love." Pushing past her, she might have protested, but it was his room. "We're leaving today. For somewhere safer."
Adan blinked. "You don't think it is safe here?" She asked with a tilt of her head.
"Technically, the king owns the building now that I used it as leverage for your indenture papers."
Adan's jaw dropped at that, he had used his home as collateral for her.
"He could come here any time he wishes. We have until the little prince's birthday to bring the king my head."
He began pacing, pausing every so often to gage Adan's reaction.
"I am hoping that you won't be going through with that plan, now that you have all the information."
"You used your home as collateral...?" Adan stared at him in disbelief, the words still ringing in her ears.
Her voice barely a whisper, but the question made Nox stop pacing.
He turned to face her, head tilting, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly—waiting.
Instead, she just stared at him, mouth slightly parted.
He exhaled sharply through his nose, the corner of his mouth quirking upward in something that wasn't quite a smile. "It was just a building, Love." His voice was almost too casual, as though sacrificing his home was nothing.
Adan's fingers curled into the hem of her tunic, her knuckles briefly going white.
"And you're hoping I won't go through with that plan... now that I know everything."
Her voice was low, almost hollow, her eyes hard on him.
"I haven't decided." She was bluffing, she could never betray him to Cias--not now.
She would have crossed her arms, if one of them wasn't still in a sling.
"After that bull shit you pulled at Sanctum..."
His beautiful face became unreadable, masked, like all professionals who knew how to survive in the City of Bones.
Nox's eyes flickered slightly at the mention of Sanctum—so brief she almost missed it—but then his expression hardened into stone. The muscle in his jaw ticked once. Twice. And just like that, his face was unreadable, slipping behind the mask of practiced indifference she knew all too well.
"I know that the systems that the king has built his rein on are wrong. More than wrong, it's unjust, dishonest, and immoral. But if I am to take down that king, and change the systemic bigotry that his crown has propagated. I have to do that from a position of power, so I play the game.
Understand this, love. You may have been smuggling people out with Czandra for a couple of years now. But I have been fighting this fight for the last hundred and twenty. You're little league, and I'm pro."
UGH. The fucking ego on this guy.
"This is war, love." He said it so evenly, his hands sliding into the pockets of his loose pants. She saw the ghost of guilt flash behind his eyes—the thing he was trying to bury beneath that icy exterior. He smirked.
"How the fuck did you know I am smuggling people out of the capital with Czandra?!" She thought she had managed to keep some secrets for herself.
"I just had to ask Czandra, and she spilled out most of your history. She talks a lot when you get sherry into her."
I'm going to fucking kill her.
"Don't look so pissed. She doesn't love much in this world, but she certainly loves you." He raised an eyebrow at her, "I hope you know how rare that is."
"Don't condescend me about my relationships."
Nox's lips twitched upward, but the smirk didn't quite reach his eyes. "Condescend you?" His voice dropped lower, almost a purr, as he took a slow step forward. "No, Love." He tilted his head, his dark eyes narrowing slightly. "I'm reminding you."
Adan's mis-matched eyes dangerously narrowed. He chuckled, and she curled her lip at him.
"Look, you want an apology for doing what I had to, regardless of who stands in my way? Something tells me you know what that's like. You've had to make sacrifices too, just to stand here today."
He took another slow, measured step toward her, his voice dropping into a near whisper.
"You think I should beg for your forgiveness?"
Her eyes flashed, and the corner of his mouth twitched upward again, the barest hint of cruel amusement.
"You can hate me for it." He gave her a sharp, humorless smile. "But you'll still be alive to do it."
Her throat bobbed slightly, but she didn't look away.
"Your linage matters, you matter, Inara."
Shivers travelled like fire ants across her skin at her name on his lips. "Don't call me that."
His head tilted slightly, "Then tell me what happened to your family."
Gods, this pushy male."I don't want to talk about that day." The day her parents died, it's written in all the history books. Though not necessarily a first account, not like the memories that haunted her. She knew better than most about sacrifice.
His eyes hardened slightly at her deflection, his voice losing its softness.
"You don't want to talk about it?" He took a slow step forward, his tone sharpening.
"You forget that I know you flinch in your sleep, love."
Adan flinched at his words. He took a slow step forward, his voice dropping lower.
"I know you wake up covered in sweat, barely breathing."
Another step. "I know you think if you bury it deep enough, it'll disappear."
Her pulse pounded in her throat, hot and uneven. She took a step back, but her eyes never left his. "Don't." The words came out hoarse, her throat tight.
He stopped, close enough that she could feel the faint heat of his breath, his gaze locked onto hers. "I'm not asking you to tell me about that day." His voice was barely a whisper, almost reverent. "I'm asking you to stop bleeding for it."
Adan looked down at her feet, anywhere but at his sincere face. Her fingers clenched into fists at her sides. His words stung, but they weren't wrong. Gods, how he saw right through her.
A finger slipped under her chin and forced her head up to lock eyes with him.
"I know you don't want to face it." His voice softened, but only slightly, still commanding.
"I'm not asking for your confession. I'm asking for you to stop punishing yourself."
Adan swallowed, trying to will the anger to burn through the ache in her chest.
He dropped his hand, "but like I said, we need to get out of here, and I'd rather be a couple of steps ahead of our enemies." He drawled.
"So, what is your plan? Stay in this unknown location forever?" She mocked.
"No, love. But the fact of the matter is where we are going is safer, for a multitude of reasons. I figured we could talk out a plan there." He paused, "together."
"Wow." She chuckled, "that looked like it hurt."
"Hardly." He ran his hands through his hair again, and then shook his head at her expression, "don't look so smug."
"Not in my nature." She let her words drip with sarcasm.
He mumbled something indistinguishable. "Just pack." He grumbled.
"Pack what?" She laughed, motioning to herself. She was still in her leathers, her shirt was handing on by a thread and her jacket was gone, again. She had lost one of her daggers, but carried the other here in her gut.
She needed a bath, a change of clothes and a hairbrush.
"Fuck." His began pacing again and it was making her dizzy. She sat down on the bed as her head spun, and he finally stilled. "Okay. Here is the plan, you get in the bath, I'll find you something to wear, and we will figure out the rest as we go."
"You." She looked him up and down. "Are going to just figure it out as you go?"
Her laughter filled the room. "I can't wait to see that happens."
Lennox Hollow was many things, but impulsive was not one of them.
He was a control freak who no doubt had lists and graphs and stats that backed up his choices. Hasty decisions were not his forte.
He groaned as his hand slid down his face, "Just get in the tub, love. I'll be back."
--
Adan undressed slowly, leaving her pile of clothes by the bedroom door.
She tested her arms mobility without the sling.
She thought her bathing room at the castle was nice, but this room was stunning.
The tub was larger, and Nox had at least double the products she did.
She grabbed a fluffy white folded towel from an open cupboard and wrapped it around her middle.
She started the bath, while she undid her plait.
Her curls were a raggedy mess, but she pulled it into a messier bun atop her head.
Washing her hair right now was not an option--it would have to wait.