Chapter 49
Chapter
Forty-Nine
TATE
Ara changes before my eyes. Hard, icy determination settles over her like full-body armor. She is lost in thought and doesn't even notice the stunned and wary looks the others give her.
Mariel does as she asks and binds Joel’s soul back into his body, but it costs her. She trembles and can’t even look at Joel, who now walks next to her.
Her gift erased the signs of the attack, and as long as you ignore his too pale complexion, missing markings, and heartbeat, and that he isn’t breathing, he looks just like before.
Unless you look into his eyes, they are filled with a quiet intensity, with a burning ire he never displayed while living.
Either he is pissed someone killed him, or he’s pissed at Mariel for calling him back and binding him to her. It’s hard to tell.
At first, I thought it was Ara’s grief talking, that she was trying to erase his death with this parody of life under Mariel’s control, but then I understood her reasoning, and it’s brilliant—cold, but brilliant.
Bodies, soot, blood, and destruction mark the alley we leave behind—a battlefield. However, no one stops us, and the fact that the fight alerted no guards in the first place suggests that someone powerful is behind this.
We are quiet when we arrive at the house, its emptiness somehow more noticeable now. All eyes are on me, while Ara heads for the stairs without looking back.
“I’ll talk to her. Keep him here for now,” I tell Mariel, and she nods, but she is nearly as pale as Joel, and her bottom lip trembles.
Calix throws his arm around her and starts murmuring soothingly, and I would not be surprised if he uses his gift to support her. She is clearly teetering on the edge.
“No one goes out. Strategy meeting in an hour,” I command, before following Ara.
She is sitting on her bed, with her knees tucked under her chin, her eyes dry but unfocused, staring at the wall. I close the door behind me.
“You were right.” Ara whispers, “I should have trusted you.” She swallows. “And if I had trusted him, he would still be alive.” She looks up at me with trembling lips. “How do I go on? How did you do it?” She sounds lost, and I sit down next to her, pulling her into my arms.
“I know.” I swallow, my voice rough and barely above a whisper myself. “You’ll learn to live with it, even if it doesn't feel like it now. And I’ll always have your back … fight by your side.”
“Frederick pressured me into a promise.” There are tears in her eyes when she finally looks up at me.
“What kind of promise?” My voice is hoarse.
“To marry him as soon as I graduate.”
“You won’t,” I tell her. “He’s not getting you,” I murmur and bury my face in her hair, breathing her in.
She tells me about her grandma’s plan, her family’s reasoning, and her conversation with my brother. I have a feeling there is more, especially since she said nothing about the dragon. But today is not the day to push.
“Fred and I aren’t close, as you noticed, but his hate didn’t start until after the attack or even after I left.” I pull her closer. “I shouldn’t have left the way I did. I’m so sorry you got roped into all of this.”
“Hey, that can’t have been easy for you either.” She nuzzles my neck. “Cut yourself some slack.”
“Look at you, defending me again.” I catch her face in my hands, running my thumbs over her cheek, and lean my brow against hers. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out. We have time. We’ll get you out of it.” I promise. And I mean it. No matter the costs, I’ll help her choose her own future.
The hour is filled with quiet comfort, promises and whispers, and passes much too quickly.
I offer that she can stay up here, that I will fill her in later, but just as I knew she would, she gets up. The tentative smile she puts on her face is a testament to her strength.
She takes my hand, and her grasp gets tighter the closer we get to the room.
The low rumble of voices indicates everyone is already gathered.
Her eyes find Joel right away, and she flinches.
For anyone not familiar with him, he may appear the same, but he isn’t.
His pallor and his eyes are the most noticeable changes, but his mimic is off, too.
“I don't know why we are planning. We are already disqualified and as good as dead,” Boko mutters.
“That’s not true,” I retort. “What Ara realized, even if most of you still don’t, is that the rules only state we have to stay complete as a flight.
Not that all flight members need to be alive.
” My eyes come to Mariel. “So even if this is not a comfortable situation, as long as you keep him with us, we are still in and safe from any repercussions a disqualification might have.”
Mariel grinds her teeth but nods. She's suffering. Her hands clench, and her eyes close for a moment. Maybe I’ll have to set Calix on her to keep her emotionally stable.
“That is something I wanted to discuss with all of you. No promise that the attempt wouldn’t get us killed, but if you want to try to get out, now would be the moment.”
There are a few snorts around the room.
“We all knew from the start we could die,” Zaza states. “So, no, I’d say we fight.”
“Even if I made our lives harder by pissing off the goddess?” Ara whispers, and her eyes wander to Joel again. And getting one of us killed? It’s in her eyes, even if she doesn’t say it.
“He says it wasn’t your fault.” Mariel’s voice is scratchy, watery. “And he says he would do it again in a heartbeat.” A sob escapes her, and she hides her face in her hands. “I’m sorry.”
“I, for my part, think it’s great that you said what everyone thought,” Jared addresses Ara. “It takes bravery to stand for your beliefs, no matter what. So don’t worry about it.” His eyes meet mine. “Let’s do this. Let’s make a stand.” And I know we both think of Louis.
“Let’s do this” is echoed around the room, and we plan until late into the night. Ara is only half present, and if I had to guess, I’d say she is planning something else.
We clean out the hall that was used for eating and deposit all the stuff into the entrance hall, creating temporary fortifications. This leaves us with one big room we can use for practice.
“I also paired us up for the nights,” I tell them. “We’ll charm all the entrances, but going by the trouble someone went through to cut us down, I think pairing up is the safer option. So, Zaza and Mariel, Joel and Calix…” I continue reading off names until only Ara’s and mine are left.
“That was very smooth.” Jared chuckles, and Zaza turns to him with a quizzical look until her eyes fly from me to Ara and back, and she grins.
“Are you alright—” I ask Calix.
“With sharing the room with the dead guy? Yeah, I’m fine unless he smells, then I’ll throw him out.” He winks at Joel, who doesn’t react. “Hmm, his humor didn’t improve with death.” He shrugs.
“Calix.” Mariel wields his name like a whip, and he flinches.
“Damn, Blue, you nearly slashed me in two with my own name.” They go on and on, and even if his comments seemed insensitive at first, he gives her exactly what she needs—a distraction. The color returns to her cheeks, and she looks more alive the longer their bickering lasts.
I pull a frowning Ara into my arms. “Did you really think now that they know, I would let you sleep anywhere else?” I murmur.
“Couldn’t you have warned me?” She grumbles, and I smile into her hair.
“And give you the chance to say no? I don’t think so.” A small smile forms on her lips, and I take it. I’ll take everything she is willing to give.