Chapter 23 #2
It would have been in my father’s best interest not to let the ceremony’s details spread widely, but clearly, everyone knew.
I stretched my neck in thought, cataloging how rumors might have spread.
There had been too many Blessed in that room to keep it a secret, but none of them would have shared details with the Feared.
My nostrils flared as I mentally found the connection.
Six feared had been brought forward to test the soon-to-be Blessed.
I rolled my eyes, remembering that Ember had given one of them a chance to escape.
“What have you been doing since the Blessing? Any new acquisitions?” I asked.
I hadn’t wanted to discuss plans to fight Rodric without Ember—without knowing she and I were on the same page.
She’d barely mentioned what she wanted to happen with the kingdom after we challenged my father.
I returned to thoughts of finding her beside a fire at the Storm’s camp.
She’d seemed so close to acknowledging that what had broken between us wasn’t over.
At least I thought she had been. This lust thing had me twisted in knots. Or maybe I had too much hope.
But since Nicholas pushed, I might as well use the time to understand our resources. It would come to a fight with Rodric, and the Feared would be a key resource. They had long wanted an open rebellion.
Nicholas tipped his chin at a younger man. He reminded me a little of Reid, and from the way he rolled a coin across his knuckles then made it disappear, I’d bet his talents were the same. They’d recruited a new thief without me here to help.
“I’m Alek, sir. I’ve had one lift since the Blessing, and am working on placement for another, but the Blessed are getting scared. I…”
“Go on.” I knew where this was going. If my father no longer had a jeweler, he could not replace any of the missing adamas pieces. If he was as desperate as they said, he might take drastic actions.
“I had been working in the mark’s household. The day after I took the ring, the man was called to the castle. He hasn’t been seen since. I think Rodric killed him. It would also explain why no one is even taking the adamas off to polish anymore,” he finished quietly.
I nodded. The Feared had a long history of working as servants in Blessed houses and stealing the adamas when the time was right.
It seemed we’d come to a point where that was no longer a viable plan.
If Alek had taken another, and I still had the adamas ring Soren had used, there should at least be five armed among the Feared.
It wasn’t enough.
It could be if Ember or I also wielded.
The Blessing Ceremony and the Selection Festival had both proved that much could be accomplished when the room fell to nightmares.
I needed to talk to her about it, needed to understand her perspective.
Adamas had caused so much harm in her daily life that no matter what she’d agreed to with Charon, I wasn’t sure she could bring herself to use it.
Or if she would let me without it … affecting everything.
It wouldn’t hurt our cause if Charon wanted to help, either.
And if Alysa wasn’t opposed, we might have the numbers we needed. Ember had said we had to make more progress on the trials, but we had. Alysa would need more details before she agreed, but I felt good about Ember’s odds of convincing her.
If both groups participated, we could launch a multi-pronged attack on the Blessed. It would require coordination—a plan. The groups needed something to rally toward.
“Don’t risk yourself,” I said to the young thief. “Take the chance if you have it, but don’t take a shot that’s not there. Do you understand? We may have other options.”
Alek nodded. Nicholas stepped forward again. “When will we know about these other options?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. It wasn’t his fault; it was a valid question, just one I didn’t have the answer to. “When do you meet next?”
“In three days.”
“Fine. Let’s talk then.” I didn’t give them a chance to press further. I turned on my heel and left the room.
Ember and I needed to talk. We could put off lust for another day. I had no worry that emotion could be collected between us, even if her desired location for collection left me uneasy.
As I pushed through the door into the main hall, a different emotion slithered through me, like a snake constricting my veins.
Someone leaned in close to Ember. His fingers grazed her elbow, and his mouth was inches from her ear.
He turned, and I caught his profile. Light brown hair set in a perfect wave across his face.
His square jaw only made it look more punchable.
And everything in me wanted to take a swing at him.
The idiot who’d endangered Ember’s life when he tried to deliver her to the Feared. The moron she’d risked herself to free during the Blessing Ceremony. And Ember still let him stand next to her. What was it about him?
Fucking Chaos.
It would have been too easy to hope he’d died in the aftermath of the ceremony.
My hand balled into a fist at my side, and I walked through the tavern, not bothering to note those who moved around me.
I came to a stop between the two of them.
My gaze narrowed to focus on the way his hand cradled Ember’s covered elbow.
“Chaos, I did warn him if he touched you again, I’d kill him. Do you need me to follow through?”