Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
Dante
“We found father in his study this morning, face down on his desk, cord wrapped around his neck. We tried to ask him if it was self-inflicted but he wouldn’t answer us.”
— From The Official Record of House Avus, As Recorded by Atticus, Son of Eximius
“Sanctuary,” the Captain repeated, staring across the table at Prima and a strange council of three humans who almost seemed to have been assembled for his benefit, as if to remind him of their shared heritage.
Our, I reminded myself. Our shared heritage.
“You’re serious,” Roman added, looking away from Prima to Ksenia.
The spy only narrowed her eyes at Prima and the council as if she could figure out whether or not they were bluffing just by looking at them. I wouldn’t put it past her if she could.
“And how do you propose we take an entire city that has stood under Geist control for over two millennia?” Roman asked, leaning forward. He almost seemed amused, if the Royal Captain of the Guard was capable of being amused. Weeks spent in his company didn't seem to indicate that he was.
“Adrian,” Prima said simply, shrugging as though it was the most obvious solution in the world.
Roman just blinked at her.
“Is she capable of that sort of power?” Ksenia spoke then, her voice measured and calm but still wary. Her arms were crossed, a clear show of mistrust, but she was trying. Harder than any of them, I realized.
“We believe so,” Prima answered.
“You believe so,” Roman repeated with a scoff, collapsing back into his chair, all hope evaporated. “I cannot ask Prince Leo to march his armies outside of the walls for the first time in two thousand years on a hunch.”
“It’s the best hunch we’ve ever had,” Prima replied, glaring. “And one we’re not likely to get a second chance at.”
Roman stared back at her, obviously trying to decide how much he could trust the fabled leader of the Fallen. Prima seemed to be sizing him up in much the same way. The rest of us were no more than outside observers, not really privy to the discussion taking place but here nevertheless.
I eyed the members of the council whom Prima had demanded be present.
How much say did they actually have in matters of the camp?
Prima seemed to be in charge here. She seemed to be running the show entirely, but these were elected leaders, or so she'd told me. The humans in this camp preferred to elect their own to lead beside the immortal Fallen. But I hadn’t seen much leading from them so far.
It was a strange system they'd devised here.
One that my friends, my family, and everyone I'd ever known would be joining soon enough if Adrian and her accomplices got their wish.
Sanctuary. Taking back Sanctuary, going home, seeing my grandfather again.
Seeing my mother, my cousins, Bria. It felt impossible.
We weren’t supposed to go back. No one ever came back from the tenth Trial.
That was what I'd been taught since I could understand the words.
That was how it had always been, but no more.
Adrian and Prima would abolish the Trials.
They would free the Underground and empty Sanctuary.
They would set aside the religion everyone we'd ever known had always served. But that was a good thing, wasn’t it?
Adrian seemed to think the people deserved the truth.
I thought they seemed rather happy with the lies.
“A full offensive on the city, that’s your plan?” Roman was asking as I snapped back to attention, listening to the conversation taking place in front of me once again.
“Once Adrian drops the wards, yes,” Prima said, nodding.
“Though I don’t imagine we'll meet much resistance. Not at first. The Geist will have left a squadron or two for security after the breakout from the Underground but they’ll be expecting scavenging parties of half a dozen, not the full force of our combined armies.
We can take out a couple of squadrons no problem.
Then we’ll enter the city. I don’t expect any resistance from the citizens there, nor from the ones in the Underground.
If anything, they’ll be shocked to see us. ”
“Even if Prince Leo agreed and our forces left today, it would take a few weeks of marching with a full army to reach Sanctuary in time to join you,” the Captain countered, leaning forward as the details of the plan began to emerge, losing himself in the strategic planning of battle.
“The human cities are much farther from Sanctuary where they are and it'll take some time to rally our armies.”
“Which is why the bulk of your forces won’t be marching on Sanctuary.”
He froze. Everyone in the room seemed to hold their breath.
“You can’t possibly mean—” Roman started, eyes bulging.
“Pavos.”
“Impossible.”
Ksenia was already shaking her head as Roman’s fury rose to the surface and he slammed his fist on the table between them.
“I will not sacrifice our men to the Geist,” he shouted. “And Prince Leo would never agree. I know you think you're superior with your magic and your immortal blood but we're every bit as deserving—”
“We don't intend for you to take Pavos,” Prima interrupted, holding up a finger in an effort to stem the rising tide of the Captain’s fury. “We only need them distracted long enough to fail to send aid to Sanctuary. Just until we can get everyone out of the city and moving across the desert.”
“A distraction. That’s all we are in this battle? Sacrificing mortal blood so you can be the heroes? Again?”
“It will be an even split. We expect some of your forces to march on to Sanctuary to aid us in our battle. Meanwhile, every rider we can spare will accompany you to Pavos. Rainier and his crew will be among them. The Geist are terrified of Zver above anything else, save perhaps Adrian. Seeing the beasts in the sky will likely be enough to keep them holed up in their precious city. All you have to do is kill anyone who comes out or attempts to go in. We cannot risk word of Sanctuary getting in or out of that city.”
Roman fell silent at that. The legendary Rainier under his command. I could practically see the excitement in his eyes at the prospect.
“How will you move so many people through the desert without being seen?” I asked.
Every eye in the room turned to me. Some even seemed surprised, having obviously forgotten my presence entirely. I could hardly blame them, chained like a criminal and sat in the corner like I was. But my question was valid and I saw Ksenia’s tiny smile of pride before she turned away to hide it.
“We have our ways,” Prima replied with a grin. “Let us worry about that.”
Roman looked from me to Prima. Everyone seemed to hold their breath while the Captain considered the plan, brow furrowed in concentration. Finally, he opened his mouth to speak.
“When do we leave to present this plan to Leo?” he said.
Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.
***
“You’re alive.”
I turned to find Ksenia catching up to me outside of Prima’s tent.
I'd been walking away, rubbing my wrists where the chains had been before Prima decided Adrian’s choice to let me live was good enough for her and had freed me, muttering under her breath all the while that she didn’t have time to look after me anyway.
“Guess so,” I replied with a shrug. “Though I’ve been firmly reminded to be on my best behavior under threat of being chained in the caves with the rest of the Pavosian soldiers they managed to capture.”
“That former partner of yours is much more forgiving than I would have been.”
“Me too,” I replied quietly.
Ksenia met my gaze and I turned away, watching ahead of me as I stepped further into the encampment.
“Are you going to march with them?” she asked, nodding to where the strange brooding man from Adrian’s side before, the general, was strolling through the camp, hand selecting men to travel back to the human city with us, to treat with Prince Leo.
I shook my head.
“There’s nothing left for me in Sanctuary,” I said. “Pavos either.”
“So where?”
I stopped, looking around at the children running back and forth from tent to tent, the women washing and hanging clothes or tending cook pots, the men at their craft, making weapons or packing supplies or arming themselves.
“I don’t know,” I confessed.
“Don’t you want to see your family?” Ksenia asked.
I snorted bitterly before turning back to face her. I knew my expression was cold from the way she cringed away from me. I probably should have felt bad for that. I didn’t.
“I did all of this to get away from my family,” I told her.
“I betrayed Adrian before I ever pushed her in that hole. She wasn’t going to do the tenth and I knew it.
She wasn’t going to go through with it and leave her family behind forever.
She just isn't the kind of person who can live without the people she loves. I knew she was going to keep me from that final victory, from that escape, so I told my grandfather. I knew what kind of man he was. I knew he would scheme up a way to force her into the tenth Trial. For all his pride, I knew he couldn’t allow me to come so close only to fail in the end. ”
Ksenia stared at me when I was finished with my confession. I wasn’t sure why I'd told her any of that. She hadn’t asked and I hadn’t admitted it to anyone else before. Not even myself. Not really.
“She knew,” I continued. “I could see it in her eyes when they pulled us apart. She knew what I’d done and she knew why.
She’d seen enough of what my life was those months that we were together, making our way through the Trials.
She saw how much I hated it there. I don’t think she ever really believed I would betray her to get out, but I did.
Before we ever even entered the tenth Trial, before I ever saw that hole, I’d already betrayed her once.
I think that’s what made it so easy to do it again. ”
Ksenia was horrified. She still didn’t say anything but I could see it on her face. I didn’t blame her. Who wouldn’t be horrified by what I’d done? Even I'd begun to hate myself for it. More so now that she'd been given the chance to take her vengeance upon me and hadn’t.
“She should have killed me, Ksenia,” I said then, my voice weak. The despair was plain. I couldn’t be bothered to mask it anymore. I was too tired. “I was counting on it.”
Ksenia inhaled sharply.
“Why didn’t she kill me?” I asked, turning to the spy.
“I don’t know,” Ksenia answered and, lost as I was, I had to admire her honesty. “But the fact that she didn’t only makes me more willing to follow her.”
That was strange. I'd been taught that failing to be rid of those who opposed you was weakness. But I was beginning to believe that real strength only existed within those capable of mercy.
“You’re coming with us,” she said then. “If you’re not staying here and you’re not going to Sanctuary, you’re coming with us.”
“To Pavos?” I asked, fear rising within me.
“We could use whatever you can tell us about the inside.”
“I imagine you know your way around the city better than I do.”
“Then we can use you to tell us what you know about Valin and the others. I could never get close to anyone inside.”
“Ksenia—”
“You’re going to make yourself useful, Dante of House Viper,” she snapped, using a more forceful tone. “And you’re going to earn this redemption your former partner has given you an opportunity to claim. Because it isn’t often that life gives you a second chance and I’m not letting you waste it.”
I blinked at her, caught off guard by her ferocity, her determination, and, most of all, the simple fact that she cared.
“Besides,” she said as she smiled and walked ahead, “no sin is too great that it cannot be forgiven. Trust me. I know.”