Chapter 26 #4
Light reflecting on the walls, signaling the turn of night to day.
Time moving, spaces changing, and life continuing past the moment it felt like it had stopped.
She didn’t think this place would ever feel clean.
That she could ever stare down the entirety of it without considering what had been found here.
But with the feel of Melisina’s hand on her own, Vaasa thought it was possible to see the place as more than just one thing.
It was possible to acknowledge what it had been, and then let it become something else, too.
Just like herself. A liar, a manipulator, and also someone who would do anything for the people she loved. A person who months ago would never have taken Melisina’s hand. Who never would have looked Reid in the eyes and told him she loved him.
Now those words could roll right off her tongue.
Her body no longer needed to function as the scene of a crime.
She took another step forward. And then another.
It wasn’t a confident stride or a commanding march by any means—her body shook with every inch she moved—but she walked.
Vaasa walked until her hand was on her mother’s door, and she turned the knob before she had a chance to stop herself. Before she could overthink.
Inside was a four-poster bed, white chiffon drapes hanging from each top corner and shielding the quilts in a veil of blurred white.
Along one wall was a light birch armoire, the natural knots of which had been sanded out to leave a uniform beige.
The chambers were untouched, as if her mother would rise from that bed any day now.
A place Dominik hadn’t dared to overthrow.
Vaasa glanced around, and it all felt less scary than the hallway.
It still felt sacrilegious to search through every crevice and armoire.
Yet Vaasa did it. She parsed through each one feeling as if she were overturning a grave, and even more so when her hands came up empty.
There was no necklace. Not in the pockets of Vena’s dresses, not in the bottoms of her drawers.
It was not under the bed or slid beneath the rug.
She looked up at Melisina, who gave a solemn nod. “It’s okay to stop looking here now.”
Vaasa sighed in defeat. “I’m running out of time.”
“We must leave this place, that is the priority.”
Vaasa took one last look at the room and then prepared herself to step back into the hallway. She moved quickly, holding her breath, her magic jostling to life as she sped back into the entertaining room.
Sachia was waiting, leaning against the wall. “Anything?”
“No.”
“So what’s your big plan, consort? How are you getting to the prison?” she asked.
Vaasa pursed her lips. “My lead sentinel has agreed to take me.”
“And you believe it’ll work?”
Vaasa walked back to her father’s office, her magic more under control now, her panic waning. “I believe of all my options, it’s the most likely to work.”
“I agree,” Melisina said as they both followed her into the office again. Sachia glanced around, taking it in the way Melisina had.
Meanwhile, Vaasa sat down on the desk, fiddling with the hourglass her father had always left perched at the edge.
“I’m going tonight. I’ll chart whatever path he takes me through and relay the information.
Those are the guards we’ll have positioned elsewhere on the night we decide to break in.
After tonight, I’ll have more information.
” She eyed the small iron statue of the owl on the shelf near Sachia and stood.
“There is a passageway here that leads to an apartment in the city.” She pulled the latch, and it creaked.
Vaasa pressed on the door, and it opened to reveal the dark walkway Vaasa had taken to the brothel.
Sachia gawked with childish delight, and Melisina stared into the darkness. “This is how you’ve been getting into the city,” Sachia said, immediately crossing through the threshold and doing a full turn in the passageway. “Creepy.”
“I’m going to write down the location of the apartment. Meet me there tonight. If you’re stopped, I’ll have a promissory note drafted saying you’ve been granted use while you craft my wedding wardrobe,” Vaasa said. “I’ll tell you everything I find.”
“You really are clever,” Sachia mused. “I’ll bring Reid with me tonight.”
Vaasa stared at her for a moment, her heart speeding up at the idea of seeing Reid. “Why are you doing this for me? For us?”
Sachia shifted her weight, then shrugged. “Believe it or not, your wolf is a rather… stand-up man. Plus, Melisina told me I have to in order for her to train me.”
Vaasa turned to her high witch, who watched both girls with curiosity. She gave a simple shrug.
“You’re a witch?” Vaasa asked.
Sachia crossed her arms. “Is this an interrogation, or are we going to take your measurements so I can at least pretend to be making you a better wardrobe?”
Vaasa let out a genuine chuckle of surprise. Despite herself, she almost liked Sachia. “You have no more ties here, then?”
Sachia gave a small grin. “No. When I have my brother, I’m going to run from this city and never look back.”
Vaasa bit the inside of her cheek, deciding whether or not to trust the pirate. Eventually, she conceded. “You have a thing for strays, don’t you Melisina?”
Melisina laughed, and the sound of it sloshed into the cracks that had taken residence in Vaasa’s chest. Today, she saw Melisina. Tonight, she would see Amalie. Reid.
Vaasa said, “Your brother. What is his name?”
Sachia pursed her lips. “Micha,” she said. “His name is Micha.”
“What did he do?” Vaasa dared ask.
Sachia leveled her with a stare. “Nothing. I defected from Sutherland’s inner circle, so Vlacik had my brother tied to the iron pole and whipped. Now he fights practically to the death for the nobles’ entertainment.”
Vaasa looked down the cold passageway. “I see why you wanted Lord Vlacik dead.”
“Your husband killed him before I had the chance. But it was me who pushed his body out of the window.”
Vaasa winced. “Wearing a sentinel’s jacket was smart, I’ll give you that.”
“Not as clever as you would have done it, I imagine.”
“I would have made him suffer for far longer,” Vaasa admitted.
Sachia gave a slow nod. “As long as you aren’t like your brother, you and I are going to get along fine,” Sachia said. “Now let’s go. I have a feeling that sentinel of yours is going to check my work.”