Chapter 28
Hungry and Compliant
Cedar
My eyes scanned over the weapons available. You’d think as formidable as the Shadow Brigade was, there would be more weapons, but there wasn’t. If I had to guess, I’d assume they weren’t required when most of the court’s fighters had the magic to create their own weapons from shadows themselves.
Who needed metal forged within fire when you had such magic at the tip of your fingers?
I slid two small daggers in the sides of my boots, another larger one into my side holster, and a fourth sat in my hand before a pale hand fell onto my forearm.
“Here, take this with you,” Silvana whispered, handing me one of her shadow stone blades. “Ensure it hurts when you gut him.”
My eyes flicked over to meet hers. “How do you know what I’m doing?”
She replied with a roll of her eyes. “Please, Cedar, don’t treat me as if I’m some commoner who knows nothing of you. It’s embarrassing.”
My gaze dropped back to the blade and I graciously accepted it, trading it out for the one at my hip.
“I wish I could come with you.” Her arms crossed over her chest as she leaned against the weapons table. “Just had to land a mate who ruled a Fates-forsaken court, didn’t I? And it had to be a safe court, you know? Couldn’t be the Court of Wolves that stays filled with fuckers who need to die.”
I bit back laughter as Raiden walked in, his face revealing nothing as usual.
“Would you like me to see if Oren will trade with us, my Ice Queen?” he mumbled as he wrapped his arms around her.
She scoffed. “Fuck no. I’m just bored with no one to hold at knife point.”
The corner of his lips rose slightly as his onyx eyes took her in. “I have quite a few ideas on ways we could make that happen.”
“Ew,” I muttered beneath my breath. “If you two are done, I’m heading out.”
“Cedar, a word before,” Raiden said as he leaned down and kissed Silv’s forehead. “Run, I’ll give you a head start.”
“Ha! As if I need one.”
His shadows began slipping from his palms and up her thighs, her eyes watching them intently before she conceded. Throwing me a kiss over her shoulder, she walked from the room, leaving Raiden and me alone.
“I am sorry about what was discussed earlier.” He stated it as if it were just any conversation he was talking about instead of words that confirmed everything I’d known from the beginning.
She used me. A means to an end to ensure Silv was safe.
I should be happy, knowing now without a doubt that everything I believed to be true, was.
Yet when the words fell from her lips, I couldn’t help the sudden sense of betrayal I felt over it all.
It was foolish to feel such things when I would’ve done the exact same thing, but it didn’t make the feelings any less apparent.
“I’m not sure what you mean,” I finally replied after a few tense moments of silence.
He shook his head, the disbelief clear. Raiden wasn’t one that spent a great deal of time on words. He, like Silvana, preferred action over all.
“You care for her, Cedar,” he stated plainly.
I sneered. “We fucked, Raiden. We aren’t you and Silvana. The only feelings alive in the bond between us resulted from the blood magic and a mutual hatred for that frozen tundra we were caged in. Nothing more.”
Silence ensued before he finally gave me a tense nod, dropping the subject entirely.
“Do you wish to go after the captain in the Court of Wolves?”
“That’s the plan. Beats sitting here waiting for Paine to arrive. Oren deserves to have those fuckers bled from his home, so when he returns, no one stands in his way.”
“I agree, but I don’t want you going alone.”
“Why? Want me to bring my ward along with me?” I taunted, but he didn’t take the bait.
“Talking about me, Feathers? I can be your ward if you wish,” Bastian said with a chuckle as he walked in, leaning against the doorway. He was fully clad in his armor, the dark leather setting against his tawny skin.
“You’re coming with me?”
“It appears so. Told you, someone has to keep your suicidal ideations and goals in check and not crossing in ways that would upset my queen. Any dark-haired beauties you wish to say goodbye to before we leave?” he asked with a knowing gleam in his eyes.
Shaking my head, I strapped Silv’s dagger to my side. “Fucker,” I whispered beneath my breath. “We’re leaving now if you’re done hearing yourself speak.”
Raiden shook his head while Bastian let out a hardy chuckle. He walked over to the table, grabbing a few smaller daggers, sliding them into various locations on his person, before turning to stare at me.
“Well, let’s go, Feathers.”
We’d decided against bringing horses. Normally we’d do so because while it wasn’t a far journey, you never wanted to be the one injured and then have to deal with that injury on the way back.
Keres had shadow stone cuffs and chains, so it remained likely his warriors would have shadow stone weapons.
However, with just the two of us, we wanted to keep an element of surprise. So Bastian ran and I flew. Damn near half the night fell away by the time we arrived, hiding below in a valley, hidden amongst trees as we watched, getting a lay of the land and what inhabited it.
The structure itself was an old castle made of solid midnight-colored stones on the edge of the Mistral River.
It sat elevated upon a slight hill overlooking the town beneath it.
Pointed spires, looming stoned beasts sat on the thick walls surrounding it.
But the establishment itself was falling—missing stones in the ceiling, shattered windows.
There was even a section of the wall that had been split and crumbled into a heap of fallen rock.
“Is this really where he lived?” Bastian whispered from next to me. “I mean, Oren, before it all.”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure. We didn’t deal directly with court rulers. It was always their underlings that we reported to. So it’s possible.”
“Well, I counted a rotating shift of seven around the top barrier there and an alternating team of twelve on the ground. Plus the two at the main gate. So twenty-one on the outside,” Bastian stated with a shrug.
“Just another day on the job,” I muttered under my breath.
“I was hoping you’d say that. So I suggest we go into town, get a room, sleep, eat, and then tomorrow we conquer.”
I wanted to groan against his plan, even though it was a good one. I wanted to rage now, feel the blood beneath my fingertips and watch the life drain from someone’s eyes tonight. Not much else would quench my thirst for violence.
“Fine,” I replied instead. “We’ll do it your way.”
“Oh thanks, Feathers. I’d appreciate not dying tonight, so it’s nice of you to agree.” I didn’t need to look at him to know there was an eye roll involved in that sarcastic tone of his.
I opened my eyes to find myself staring up at a dark ceiling, the damp cold seeping into my skin from beneath me. My heart began racing and my limbs felt frozen.
I couldn’t be back here.
I forced my magic to reach out for my raven, only to find nothing responding back.
I-I couldn’t—
“Cedar, get off the floor.” Her voice, mumbled and soft, cut through the internal breakdown I’d been having only moments ago, feeling coming back into my limbs almost immediately.
It was only then that I noticed the crowd around me—us. Pushing myself to a seated position, my eyes scanned the dark room. Stone surrounded us. The lack of light felt suffocating. Small sconces along the walls with thin tapered candles lit within each.
“Where are we?”
Cora let out a long sigh. She looked exhausted and for a moment, I thought she wouldn’t answer. It wouldn’t be the first time I found myself stuck in her memories with none of my questions being responded to, and part of me knew it wouldn’t be the last.
“It’s Keres’s… his, um—” Her breath caught as she tried to let the words fall from her lips, but they seemed to be stuck and I found I didn’t want to push her. Something about the look on her face had my brain begging me not to make a snide comment or snarky remark.
“In the beginning, when he was first trying to… control the people of his court and… expand his militia and his influence, he’d hold these…
meetings. These were the beginning of what you’d come to know as The Eternal Outcasts.
Vampires would travel in from around our court, even other courts, to hear him speak and gain insight into what he claimed to be true.
What began as hushed whispers in the back of taverns grew to this. ”
My stomach dropped as I looked around the dark stone room filled with roughly thirty vampires, males and females of various backgrounds and abilities.
“That doesn’t make sense, why have we never heard of these meetings? Surely not everyone joined?” I questioned as my eyes continued taking everyone in.
Cora’s gaze dropped to the floor and her lips were flattened into a straight line, as if she not only wouldn’t speak, but couldn’t speak on it. Her arms crossed tight across her chest, her nails digging into the heels of her palms.
“Cora, do we need to leave?” I found myself asking. I’d never seen her react this way and it wasn’t setting well in my chest. But before she could answer, the male in question strolled out onto a raised dais at the front of the room.
He was dressed in all black—dark pants, his matte pointed boots, his button-up collared shirt.
Even his midnight-colored hair was slicked back and tucked behind his ears.
He appeared more together now than I’d seen him before.
There was an air of confidence I’d yet to witness.
A sense of masculinity he normally didn’t possess.
If this were my first impression, I’d imagine being intimidated.
However, it was not my first impression.