Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
TATE
My chest feels raw, like someone used me for target practice, and there is nothing I can do about it.
She is hurting too. I saw it in her eyes while she landed blow after blow. And still, she didn’t pull any of them, didn’t even hear me out.
She took his word for the truth and stabbed me when I thought she had my back. And that hurts more than anything.
How can an event from four years ago cost me everything … again?
Despite her words, I keep hoping she’ll come back and give me the chance to explain. But she doesn’t, and I finally have to leave.
Every breath is fucking torture, but I don’t allow my mask to crack. When predators surround you, every drop of blood can be your demise.
I try to talk to my brother, seek him out in my father’s office, but his bitterness sits deep, and he is hell-bent on getting back at me.
“I grew up with four brothers,” he sneers at me. “And thanks to you, I have not one left. You got two of them killed, and you and Jared abandoned me.”
“I was in no state to—”
“You simply left,” he roars, jumping up from his seat behind the desk. “If you had at least told me, maybe I would have understood.”
“You didn’t talk to me,” I snap. “Ever since I came back without them, you refused to talk to me.”
“Because you refused to tell me what happened. All I wanted was to know what happened to them. I even begged you, and still, you stayed silent. No explanation. Nothing.” He slams his hand down.
I shake my head at him.
“Really? Even now?” He laughs bitterly. “My life went downhill after you left, but you can’t even give me the truth?”
I scoff. My brother was always envious of my position. I don’t believe him for one second that he’s sorry about that change.
“Our father took it in his hands to bring me up to speed in all the things I was lacking.” He walks over to the window. “And in his eyes, that was everything since I wasn’t you.” His voice is harsh, accusing.
“He was never happy with me either,” I offer, but my words don’t seem to sink in. He turns to me and points an accusing finger at me.
“You cost me my best friend, my brothers, even the woman who was more of a mother to me than our own. Because you left, they broke my betrothal with Deliah since the girl you left behind had the better connections.”
“You don’t have to marry Ara. You can say no. That’s—”
“Nice try. You shattered the life I knew and let me deal with the shards on my own, and now you think you can waltz in here and decide you want your bride back?” He laughs coldly. “I don’t think so.”
“Leaving like that was a shit thing to do…”
“Oh, you think?”
“I had no choice—”
“You cracked, brother, you crumbled under the pressure of a few rumors and suspicious glances, and instead of manning up, you walked away like a coward.” He shakes his head. “You didn’t care about me, so why would you think I care about you?”
“What about Ara?” Speaking her name nearly slays me, but I keep my voice even. “None of this is her fault. You want to punish her, too?”
“She’s just a chess piece, Alec. Sometimes you have to sacrifice a figure to win the game. And she comes with connections and a bloodline I can’t ignore.” He smirks at me. “She will give me magically strong heirs.”
The only reason I don’t kill him for that comment is that Ara more or less promised she won’t go through with the betrothal. No matter what my brother told her, she wouldn’t take such a step without at least hearing me out, right?
I turn and walk away.
“I’m still for taking him apart, slowly,” Daeva caws.
“Not. Helping,” I tell her.
“Oh, I think it would help just fine with all that rage bubbling inside you.”
“Daeva,” I warn. “Focus on the greater goal.”
“Yeah, okay, we’ll take out the others first and then him.”
Since I haven’t brought much with me, packing is done within minutes. On a whim, I slip the signet ring into my pocket. Who knows if it will come in handy? If my plans work out, I will be back in Avina soon, and the royal crest always held more power here than anywhere else in the kingdom.
I pace my room and delay departure again and again, hoping for an opportunity to talk to Ara. Only when I can’t wait any longer, I leave.
We cut it close, but since my stubborn bird refuses to rest even when I try to order her, we make it back with time to spare. I lie down for a few hours, but sleep evades me.
“You want to talk about it?” Jared eyes me from the side on our way to the weight room.
I just look at him, our steps echoing in the empty hallway.
“Sorry, I forgot for a second who I was talking to.” Jared shakes his head at me. “You prefer to let it eat you up instead.”
“Have they made any announcements concerning the flight games yet?” I try to shift the conversation to a different topic, but I should have known better.
“No. How was it to be back?”
“Weird, unchanged.”
“How is Fred?” I nearly groan at Jared’s question.
“A bitter and hostile asshole, who feels like we abandoned him.”
Jared winces. “I guess he isn’t so wrong about that. Was he giving you shit about it?”
I laugh humorlessly. “He wants Ara.”
“What?”
“You heard me. He wants to marry her to punish me and for her … connections.” I spit out the last word and can’t bring myself to say anything else.
“She’s smarter than that,” Jared assures me.
“She hates me and regrets ever letting me close.” My voice is rough on that confession.
“Surely, she didn’t mean it.”
“Oh, she meant it.” Just thinking about the truth in her voice feels like a knife twisting in my chest.
“We all say things in the heat of the moment…”
“She meant it, Jared,” I snap, desperate to stop this conversation. Thankfully, he takes the hint. I throw myself into training and work hard to keep my thoughts off her, but it’s impossible.
I’m back for only a few hours when I get a message summoning me to the merchant quarter. I stop in front of the house I visited once before, and just like last time, I’m surprised the spider didn’t choose the seedier area around the arena for his operations.
The bang of the heavy brass knocker hangs still in the air when the door opens silently.
Even if I didn’t know that the man in front of me—one of the spider’s most trusted—there would be no way to mistake him for a servant.
His clothes are too fine, his posture too arrogant, his striking green eyes too keen and calculating for that.
Just like last time, the silence around him is heavy, nearly solid. He steps back, and there is amused respect in his eyes when I don’t speak either. He leads me down the corridor, his movements so soundless I would have questioned his existence if I hadn’t been able to see him.
We enter a library, where the spider, a cruel-looking man with graying hair, thrones behind a massive desk. The spider marked on the back of his right hand lets everyone know who they’re dealing with.
I’m not comfortable with owing him a favor, but he was my best chance for finding out what happened on Mount Albión that day, and who hurt Ara. Rumors claim he knows everything happening in and around Telos, and the fact that he learned so quickly about my return seems to confirm that.
Now I only hope he has what I need.
“You have the information I was looking for,” he greets me.
I nod and retrieve the sheet of paper from my pocket with the information about one of his assassins. Silence, the soundless man with the green eyes, steps up to take it from me.
He opens it, and the corner of his mouth twitches when he notices my father's letterhead. He then passes it on to the spider. The spider nods and gives Silence a signal to go ahead.
“The attack on Mount Albión was orchestrated by a group originating from Kystis.” Silence sounds slightly rough, like he doesn’t speak much. Until he took my promise, sealing this deal, I even thought he wasn’t able to.
“They arrived weeks ago and asked around for two skyriders whose description matches you and your Phoenix rider. What piqued our interest is that they started by asking for a girl even though, if I’m correct, the Phoenix rider’s gender was only revealed after bonding?
” I nod my confirmation. “But they also asked for a Grayson Summer, which is the name the Phoenix rider used previously, right?”
I nod again, my head spinning. How had men from the Ice Coast been alerted to Ara’s presence, especially if they had been looking for her under her false name? That doesn't fit my theory that they went after her because of her family. And why had they been looking for me?
I think back to the man who told me they were supposed to bring me back alive, and trepidation settles in my gut. Could it be that they had been after me? But how had they known about Ara?
“One of them mentioned a fight with a dragon.”
I freeze. Shit. If that is what alerted them, then it is truly my fault.
“Does the name Foley ring a bell?” My jaw clenches, and he nods.
“Yeah, I thought so. We have it on good account that they met.
We don't know why or what they were talking about, but they have been seen together more than once. So my guess would be they work together.” He pulls something out of his pocket.
“You're lucky. Our man providing the information is an illusionist. He was able to give me a face.” He hands me a sketch.
And I bite my tongue to hold in the curses that want to slip free.
I know that face. I see it nearly every night.
If this man is behind the attack, all of this is about me.
Ara got sucked into this because of her connection to me.
“I take it the man means something to you,” the spider observes.
I shrug. “He looks like someone I met a long time ago. Doesn't have to mean anything.”
“Half of the little finger on the right hand is missing. Does that trigger anything?” he asks. And I'm thankful for all the practice I’ve had with hiding my feelings. I’m the reason he's missing it.
Bile rises in my throat. Once again, someone I care for was attacked because of me.
“Is there more?” I ask, surprised by my even tone.
“They’re still around,” Silence says. “Never staying long in one location, frequenting different taverns, different inns. Slippery as fuck.”
I nod. The information doesn’t surprise me. They haven’t got what they came for, so it’s only a matter of time until they try again. Suddenly, I’m glad Ara is in Avina.
Silence accompanies me to the door.
“Nice detail with the letterhead.” He smirks.
“I thought it was good for authentication,” I say, before I leave the house and walk back toward the Aerie.
My thoughts are racing. The man I have been dying to get my fingers on for nearly four years is here in Telos, the same year the flight games come up. That can’t be a coincidence.
Ara. My chest aches just thinking of her. Maybe things do happen for a reason. Perhaps hating me is the best thing she can do for now. Her betrayal hurts, but shit, I’d rather rip my own heart out than be the reason for her death.
Maybe now she’ll stay away from me, stay away from Telos. Perhaps it will keep her safe. And since Janus announced this morning that Foley will be in charge of the qualifying competitions for the flight games, I hope she stays away for at least another week.