Chapter 14 Rorin
Rorin
Time feels frozen. I feel frozen, rooted in place. Her normally rosy cheeks are ashen, her lips chapped, and those bright golden orbs are dimmed. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she were an apparition.
Eveera makes the first move, taking a step towards me that’s stopped almost immediately. My eyes snap up to the man holding onto the fabric of her cloak, pulling her backwards, pulling her away from me.
All of the rage I’d felt in the past few months comes flooding to the surface, and I can feel my Wield start to leak out from my palms. I watch as she looks up at the man, her face irritated.
She shirks off his hand and stares down at mine, her dark brows pulling tight before she raises her gaze back to me.
The next moment doesn’t feel real.
Before I can fully register what’s happening, she barrels towards me, her body crashing against mine. My knees give out at the impact, my arms wrapping tightly around, clutching her to me as we collapse down onto the ground.
My hand strokes languidly against her hair, and I feel as she sucks in a rattling breath — a rare moment of vulnerability for her, and she’s doing it with me, publicly.
“Shh,” I whisper, trying to keep my voice from cracking as I breathe her in. “You’re safe. Shh. You’re safe.” Her nails dig into the skin of my collarbone while her teeth bite into the fabric of my shirt, silencing her sobs.
I lift my chin, glancing down at her. She looks… frail. The voice inside of my head hisses. Hooking my left arm underneath her knees, I adjust her arm to wrap more snuggly around my neck. Her wrist falls against my shoulder, and I feel something cold… metallic, and wrong.
This time, when I pull back, I do more than just lift my head. I peel back her cloak, my attention falling on the hand clinging to my collar. Nausea wells up inside of me when I see the shackle resting there. “Eveera.” I croak.
Her breath hitches, and she buries her face further into me. “Get them off.” She chokes out. “Pl-please.”
“Shh… I’ll–”
“Get them off. Get them off. Ge-get th-hem o-off.” She repeats, her voice rising and shaking, as she starts to panic.
Not wanting to make her any more of a spectacle, or get arrested for my… very public indiscretion. I push us off the ground, thankfully, most everyone has moved onto the woman wailing and cradling the man.
“Consulate. Now.” I say, looking directly at Bennett and Max.
“Will, Millie, and…” the words die off, Eveera’s pleas distracting me.
The two of them are silent, staring at us.
Bennett’s face is filled with a mixture of horror and shock.
Max’s expression has gone completely dark, displaying everything that I’m feeling as he looks at her disheveled form.
Neither of them has registered my demand, and I have to snap my fingers to get them to move. Bennett splits off to retrieve the rest of our party, and Max and I head in the direction of Sabel’s city center. Eveera’s whole body shakes, her words stuck in a monotonous loop.
“Shh..” I hush into the top of her head, brushing a kiss there. “I’m going to fix this.”
She lets out a sardonic laugh, breaking the cycle briefly, the bitter noise rattling through her chest.
I will. I tell myself. I have to.
We burst through the large and imposing brass doors, intent on getting to their portal room, whether they give us permission or not.
“You cannot just barge in–”
“Max – deal with it.” I grit through my teeth, my patience waning dangerously thin, at the boyish guard. We’d ignored him, keeping post outside, not having the time for formalities. Max doesn’t argue, dragging the man-boy away from us.
Eveera struggles in my hold, her catatonic state of shock lifting as she groans out, “I can walk.”
“I’m aware.” She starts to wriggle more fiercely, but I only tighten my hold on her. “Stop moving, I’m not putting you down.”
She huffs in frustration, “but–”
“No,” I say with finality. From the corner of my eye, I see Max returning with the now seemingly more compliant guard. He opens his mouth to speak, and I raise my hand, cutting him off. “We have members on our council waiting to receive a request for portal entry.”
His head bobs as he marks something down on a piece of parchment. “Yes, so your liaison was here days ago. He mentioned more would be joining you. Does that include these two?” His hand raises to point behind us.
Max and I turn slowly to see who exactly he’s pointing at. I’m agitated to discover that the strikingly tall and pale man who held Eveera back in the Bazaar is standing behind us, alongside another man I don’t recognize.
“I–” I start to answer, when the shorter of the two raises a hand, stopping me.
“We just wanted to make sure she was safe.” I narrow my eyes at them, not really having the bandwidth to understand why they’ve followed us after watching Eveera and me in the street.
“Oh..kay, well she’s safe. You can go.” Max answers curtly.
The white-haired man scoffs, tugging on his companion’s arm, “let’s go, Devlen.”
Devlen protests and tries to keep himself rooted in place. Amidst their arguing, I see the remainder of our ensemble round the corner, and give them a warning look to hang back until Eveera and I are through the portal.
I don’t need to give her any more reasons to fall apart right now; her eyes have already glazed over, her mind fully checking out.
She looks so… defeated. I’m furious that we don’t have Ezra with us. That we’re not bringing him back to Obsidian, where I can deal with him. But right now, getting her home is more important than continuing my witch hunt.
I can deal with him later.
The guard waves us on after another few pointless minutes of him scribbling, and we follow him down the expansive hallway.
“WAIT!” Our guide stops abruptly at the shout, and Max nearly collides into his back. Hissing out a breath, I turn my head to the side. I’m unsurprised to find that Devlen and the white haired man have followed us – again.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I growl, my tone bordering on lethal.
“We should come with you.”
My eyes bulge, “excuse me?”
“Please–” he starts, but his partner interrupts to claim that “he’s against this.”
Devlen shoots him a withering look, and I huff, pushing forward. “I… cannot handle this right now.”
By the obvious boots clicking on the polished metal floors, I take it that they’ve decided to push their luck and continue following us.
They’ll either give up when we reach the portal or…
or I’ll let Felix and her council handle them.
My only priority right now is getting through that portal and these fucking shackles off of her.
Count your seconds, Ezra. Because once I find you — that’s all you’ll have left. I curse inside my head, the creed ringing out into the void.
I am never prepared for the intense wave of vertigo that comes with portaling, no matter how many times I do it. And the less often I do it, the longer it takes me to shake it off.
My eyes drift down to her face, still frozen in the same shock-ridden expression she slipped into when we arrived at the Consulate. When I raise my gaze, I’m startled to find her portal room filled with people.
Not just Felix and Armond as I had expected, but her entire bleeding council was there – waiting for us.
“Oof!” I stumble forward, Millie crashing into my back as the rest of our band of misfits spills out of the magic.
She gives me an apologetic look, and I rest my hand against Eveera’s cheek, preventing her from seeing Millicent urging our guest from the room while the rest of the men find their balance.
A few eyes bulge at the two of them, but nobody has anytime to say anything, because their attention all drifts to the two stragglers standing beside Max.
I’m ready to order Armond to shove them back through the glimmering portal when a shrill voice pierces through. “Where is she?!” Marjorie demands. She bursts through the council members standing in her way, her face twisting in outrage at the lifeless queen.
THWACK!
“You’ve brought her back to me half dead.” My Wield flares involuntarily at the old woman’s outburst, but she senses it quickly, her frown deepening. “And now you threaten an old woman.”
“Nice to see you too,” I say to her, my voice gravelly.
“I didn’t say that.” She quips, flitting behind me and giving my shoulders a push.
She pushes us all the way out into the hall, the sound of our horde clamoring into the hall, bouncing off the familiar stone halls.
The deeper we walk into the belly of the court, a heady scent of smoke and fire fills my nostrils. “What is that smell?”
“You’re not the only one who’s been…experiencing a few outbursts of emotions.”
Glancing over my shoulder, Felix gives me a subtle shake of his head. I’ll inquire about it more… later. I tell myself.
We pass the entrance to the throne room, the smell of char thickest there, and the pieces start to fall together as I recall Marjorie's words. I think it’s safe to assume the other she’s referring to is Vada.
I guess later is now. I slow down, falling into step with our head of council and lean in, “what has she done?” I ask tentatively.
“Nothing worse than the rumors floating through the air about you.”
“Understood.” I dip my chin, the doors to Eveera’s room coming quickly into view, and Marjorie surges forward.
She spurs us over to the bed, where I set Eveera down onto the bed, her eyes staring out hollowly.
I give Felix a terse expression before climbing up onto the bed and positioning myself behind her.
PAT! PAT! “Eveera, look at me.” PAT! PAT! “Come on, look at me.” She says firmly.
Eveera’s head lolls to the side, “I just want them off.” Her plea barely above a whisper.