Chapter 43
“Where’s Nora?” Khort asked the second Bridger approached the opening gates of Vincere. “Has Octavia made it yet?”
“Hello to you too.” Bridger forced a smile. “Glad you all made it in one piece.”
Khort rolled his eyes so hard Bridger could feel it.
Mmm, nope, hate that.
Bridger wouldn’t mind losing the bond to Khort and Arlet…
“We aren’t friends, and I don’t even want to be here.” Khort glanced over at Arlet, who looked as exhausted as Bridger knew they all were.
“Where else would you like to be, Khort? In the caves with no protection from Marlena’s next attack?” Bridger asked, eyebrows drawing in with seriousness.
“Doesn’t seem Marlena had any issues slaughtering your soldiers behind the very walls you’re claiming will protect us,” Khort fired back.
Bridger pulled out his dagger, ready to slit the lizard’s throat for bringing up his soldiers’ deaths.
“Bridger.” Arlet intervened in time to save Khort from a blade through his eye socket.
A few tense moments passed while Bridger fought against the need to watch Khort bleed out.
“Is Nora safe?” Arlet asked, bringing the conversation back to where it needed to be. “Has Octavia sent word?”
“She’s safe,” Bridger gritted. “Asleep in my office with a guard outside the door to take her to Vega when she wakes. She’ll be given a room near you.”
“With me,” Khort demanded.
His possessive nature was getting worse with age.
“As you wish.” He shrugged, realizing he didn’t give a shit where Khort’s niece stayed as long as she was out of Bridger’s way.
“I haven’t heard anything from Octavia. Your dragon might be of good use if you’re looking to expedite that.
” Bridger wasn’t going to waste his time babysitting the Fera family.
He had other things to worry about. Which was exactly why he’d left Vega naked in his shower to come up here in the first place. “Vega is the one I’m worried about.”
Without hesitation, Arlet nodded. “Me too.”
Khort had nothing to say to that, to Bridger’s surprise. “Why don’t you follow me? We have a lot to talk about.”
Leo was put in charge of getting the rebels from the cave settled into rooms and fed while Bridger took Arlet and Khort to the control room—specifically because of the built-in power block sealing the room from the use of abilities outside his close staff, and the shields in place to keep people out who didn’t have clearance.
“A place where we can’t access our powers but you can doesn’t seem fair,” Khort pointed out while standing on the other side of the door.
“I’d be happy to do it somewhere else,” Bridger said, eyes bouncing back and forth between Arlet and Khort. He’d already let Vega know everyone had made it safely, hoping her first warm shower since Earth was keeping her distracted.
“Good.” Khort nodded with a smug smile like he’d won.
Bridger slid behind Khort’s shields with such ease he almost felt bad… Almost. The shifter inside Khort flared to life, showing Bridger what life looked like through the eyes of a dragon.
“Get the fuck out of my head, Dimico.” He growled octaves lower than his normal voice.
“Make me,” Bridger taunted, leaning his body against the frame of the control room’s door. He watched his body move under his control from the eyes of someone else. It was pretty cool, Bridger had to admit.
Khort had nothing to grasp on to because he didn’t know what he was looking for, but Bridger could feel him fumbling around inside, trying.
“You can’t keep me out, which means you can’t keep Vega out.
” He slipped back into his own head. “And she’s a sneaky little goddess if you’re not paying attention.
So, unless you can prove you’ve perfected your shields in the next ten seconds, then I’m going to insist you follow me in.
” He stepped to the side, watching Arlet inspect him from head to toe like she’d be able to see if he was planning an attack.
“Your dragon form wouldn’t fit in the room anyway, and I’d love to keep the control room intact.
Again, unless you have another way to allow access to the entire camera system placed throughout Tolevarre’s cities, then trusting me is kind of your only option.
” Bridger shrugged his shoulders. “You don’t have to like me, but accepting I’m actually on the same side as you again will make things easier… and it might just save Vega.”
Arlet stepped through without a word to Bridger. “Put your pride aside, Khort. We’re at war with two sisters now. One who wants to kill us and the other who might already be dead.”
Khort took a deep breath and joined Arlet and Bridger inside the room.
Bridger shut the door. “It’s going to lock because the place is built to work alongside my powers as an added layer of protection. Don’t freak out,” he said as the sound of the lock slid into place.
Arlet looked around in awe at the screens staring back at her, flickering light onto her face as they rotated cameras every so often.
“This is the place you dreamed of building, isn’t it?
” she asked as she walked down the first row of screens with seating and chairs underneath for those trusted individuals who were Bridger’s security team.
Most of them were dead now…
“I spared no expense.” Bridger waved his hand over a small scanner in the center of the room, and his credentials popped up on every screen, giving full access to the entire system.
“I worked with the smartest mechanics and makers in Littera.
This place is designed to withstand the war we've just started.”
“The war began fifty-five years ago,” Khort countered.
Bridger shook his head. “No, it didn’t. Marlena wasn’t scared then.
Those battles were nothing more than her asserting her dominance and reminding people to stay in line.
” Bridger pulled up cameras to the city of Stella, where soldiers who hadn’t left with Meyer patrolled the streets.
The citizens kept their heads down and shuffled to and from where they needed to be with a sense of urgency that had Arlet fixated.
“We need a safe place for those wanting to flee. Vates, Imber, and Demuto have been diminished to nothing and offer us nothing. I’d like to see Fortis burned to the ground.
” Not all of its people, but his mother included.
“Fraus needs no explanation. Pax, Oro, and Littera have nothing to offer other than their people. Leaving this the best and obviously”—he motioned to the control room—“the smartest location to set up base.”
“Is Zetta Ignis of no worry to you?” Arlet asked about Meyer’s mother, peeling her attention away from the screens. “This is her territory, after all.”
“This is Marlena’s territory. As is the rest of Tolevarre.
It would take nothing to storm Zetta’s home and take Ardor for ourselves.
I can almost guarantee she would leave peacefully without a fight.
Especially if we free the people Zetta allowed Marlena to use as slaves in the northern mines to produce energy for her overconsumption in Aeris.
They’d be happy to tear Zetta to pieces if she tried to fight back. ”
Khort scoffed. “And you think Meyer is going to let you do that?”
Bridger snapped his head towards him. “Meyer is my second, and he’s made his choice.
He knows he’s going against his parents by standing beside me.
It will come as no surprise to them when he shows up at their door to commandeer the territory I’ve claimed half of already.
” Bridger flipped camera views, pulling up the city around the Ignises’ home in Ustilo.
The place was surrounded with angry citizens.
“Ah, would you look at that?” He zoomed in with his fingers on the main screen, the others following behind.
“The foundation is already crumbling.” The people of Tolevarre were finally ready to fight back against their oppressor.
“Now, let’s talk about Vega before she tracks us down and kicks our asses for conspiring behind her back. ”
Khort had barely moved from his place at the door. “We shouldn’t hide things from her.”
“Vega’s been hiding things from us since before she left for Earth to break her curse, and she hasn’t stopped since she got back either.
” Bridger would play by her rules only if she followed them too.
“As of about thirty minutes ago, I’ve decided that I’m happy to hide whatever I need to after Vega snuck behind my nearly impenetrable shields and started poking around at whatever power binds the four of us together.
” Bridger backed up to the counter and lifted himself into a seated position on the edge in hopes it would get Khort to relax.
He was seconds from pacing. Bridger would have to snap his neck and see how long it took for the ichor inside to fix the break if he started that right now.
“She what?” Arlet barked.
Khort stumbled forward, finally leaving the entryway. “She can do that?”
“Apparently, which means she’s going to do it to you two as well. Especially if she thinks you don’t know she’s capable of it.” Bridger didn’t have to explain Vega to them. They knew exactly who she was.
“You think she’ll break the bond the second she gets the chance?” Khort asked.
Bridger shook his head. “No, but I also don’t think me calling her out on it is going to stop her from trying eventually.”
“Gods, Vega.” Khort sighed.
“She’s done exactly what she promised she would. We can’t be too surprised,” Bridger added. “This started because she wanted to kill her sister—to save our people.”
Hesitantly, Bridger told them everything he knew about Death, giving them an insight on the Dimico family’s lore and what he suspected it meant for Vega.
They were missing something. Bridger knew it. “I just can’t stop thinking about the things Romulus said, about the tie Vega’s had to death since the night of our summoning.”