Rebellion in the Mist, page 30
His posture slackened once my words reaffirmed his subpar expectations of me, ignoring the fight I put up seconds ago, as though that too was part of the erratic behavior he expected from me. “I had to lie about that for everyone’s good. You were too weak to handle the truth. You barely kept it together as it was. You could never have managed this mission if you had known how important it was to the Emperor. You were always just a set of golden eyes.”
Underestimating me was his mistake. I looked up at him through my lashes, playacting the docile creature he saw me as. “How important is it? I never did get to find out.”
He smiled at me, pleased he could so easily bring me back under his authority. He reached out and brushed a curl from my face, lowering the knife. It took all my willpower to not recoil from the touch.
“I suppose we’re at the end now, and you’ve been such an amenable little thing that I can tell you. This mission was important enough to send someone very high up in the Empire. My rank is greater than I’ve led you to believe.”
That revelation was not worth this act. I didn’t give a single shit if he was a captain or a commander. I stepped back slightly and dropped my demure posture.
Seeing my response, he added, “You know me better as General Drakemore.”
“What?” I breathed.
“Surprising, I know. I did my best to keep it under wraps,” he said, self-satisfaction oozing from every word.
“Why don’t you look the same?” The question tumbled from me. I had seen General Drakemore the day before I met Lev. I had been seeing him throughout the Compound for the last ten years.
“It’s amazing what a shave and growing your hair can do for a person’s looks,” he said with a smirk. “I’ve been telling you since the beginning. Keep as close to the truth as you can and people will believe what you tell them. Did you even know my first name was Levien in the ten years I watched you in the Compound?”
My stomach churned. I had never spent enough time in the company of General Drakemore to think about what he might look like under his beard. Now that I knew the truth, I could see it.
I was too hungry for the truth to pretend to be passive anymore. “What—Why would you need to be here?”
“Poor little Ness, always five steps behind,” he chuckled. Apparently he was ready to drop his act too. “Fortunately, the Emperor and I were the only ones able to survive that terrible plague that killed off everyone alive during the age of witches and shortened the life span of all the other fae. We remember. The magic that the witches used isn’t gone forever, it only needs to be released by a High Witch.”
“High Witch?” I asked quietly.
He gave a humorless laugh. “It’s such a wonderful twist of fate that you don’t even know what you are. Two High Witches born at the same time. Proclaimed by these mutinous shits to be the heralds of a new era, the sign to start a coup. You needed to be watched carefully.
“When I found out about your existence, I thought you might just be the downfall of our Empire too. A reborn spirit of a witch of old, here to pick up where they ended hundreds of years ago. I ensured you would make your way into the Protectorate so I could keep you from falling into rebel hands until I figured out exactly how you would play into all this.
“Fae power combined with your High Witch golden eyes. You could have been a powerful weapon with both wielding and witch’s magic at your disposal. I needed to make sure I was the one who wielded you.” The flickering light of the fire in the chimenea cast dancing shadows on his face, giving him the ominous look to match his words.
I had witches’ magic? The destructive power that we were taught to fear? No. There had been new growth on the mountain trail.
His humorless grin turned my stomach. “Imagine how pleased I was when you were so easily quelled. You didn’t believe in yourself from the start. It was too easy to always pair you with the strongest wielders we had so you would feel less than from the beginning. You so easily believed it when the tonic started to take effect. I stationed you in the Compound, training the new wielders, so I could watch you. I knew I could end you at any moment, but you were still tied to the Empire and you were harmless. Why not keep you around in case you came in handy?” He was enjoying his moment in the sun, all of his plotting finally acknowledged. I was trying to decide what my next move needed to be to get away from him. Maybe I could use his self-absorbed monologue to sneak away.
“Then you did come in handy—not as I had expected, but here we are. You served your purpose and now I can rid the world of you. Once the others we came here with are gone too, everyone will forget about you, and it will be like you never existed.”
The General grabbed for my arm again. I didn’t know what he had planned for me, but I wanted no part of it. I stepped out of his reach and swung my wine goblet as hard as I could, hitting him in the face. He reached to touch the spot I struck, hissing, “You bitch!”
I spun and came face to face with Ransom, smiling with his hands in his pockets. “Tsk, tsk, Lev, that’s no way to speak to a lady.” He shifted his attention to me. “See, you didn’t even need me to— Why is your face red?” His hands were out of his pockets, reaching for me.
Drakemore moved trying to block me from Ransom. “She doesn’t need saving, Dimitris. It’s just a little spat,” the General said as he straightened his hair. I was glad to see a bruise blooming on his cheekbone already.
“Some spat,” Ransom said with a frown. “Join me, Fox?” He offered me his arm. I took it quickly and began walking, not enjoying the idea that my back was to Drakemore, and expecting another strike at any second.
Thankfully, the General didn’t follow us.
We paused just before the doorway, and I looked back to the chiminea. Drakemore was nowhere in sight. I leaned back against the cool stone wall for a breath, getting to truly look at Ransom for the first time tonight. He looked damn good. His tailored shirt and pants highlighted the muscles underneath, his hair combed to an usual tameness, pulled back from his face in a knot at the back of his head.
I knew I looked a mess at this point. My hair had come loose in the bun and was falling all around my face from my struggle with the General. Ransom already knew I could wield, so I didn't try to hide it when I focused my Earth magic on my face until the stinging in my cheek and pain in my lip disappeared.
Ransom’s hands came up to either side of my head. I ducked away from his touch and raised my arm to protect my face, my brain still ready for a fight.
“Whoa, sorry. I should have warned you. I was trying to get your hair in order, so you didn’t walk in there looking like you fought off a bear.” He smiled as he looked over my appearance. His smile melted into a frown when he noticed Drakemore’s handprint bruised into my upper arm.
“Ness,” he said tenderly, eyes on my arm.
“It’s fine. Fae, remember? It’ll be gone soon,” I said dismissively. I wanted to forget the interaction with General Drakemore happened at all.
He nodded. “Can I?” he asked, as he reached toward my hair again, this time far more slowly.
“Please,” I consented, leaning in to him.
He was surprisingly gentle as he tucked the silken curls back into the bun. I wanted to melt into his kindness. When he finished, he looked me over. “There. A vision once again.”
“Thanks, Ran.”
He paused, his eyes trained on my face.
“What? Do you hate ‘Ran’ as much as I hate ‘Nessamia?’” I teased. “I won’t call you that again, if that’s the case. Or I might start calling you that a lot more if you annoy me.”
“No, it doesn’t bother me at all. You can call me Ran.” He cleared his throat. “We need to get to the boat as soon as possible. He’s going to be hunting you now. Are Wynn and Jo ready? I can go grab my men.”
“No, I need to get them.” I didn’t want to tell him that I had still been dragging my feet. I knew I was being foolish by not acting faster.
“Hurry and round them up, Fox. I’m going to go get everything set in motion.” He looked at me again and leaned forward. I had the briefest notion that he was going to kiss me again and a thrill ran through me at that idea, but he turned it into a brush of his hand along my arm, and then he walked away. Where he’d touched me left a path of tingling warmth for a long while after he was gone.
Chapter forty-three
My time was running out. Ransom was right. Lev, or rather Drakemore, might not have followed us in that moment, but there was no way he was done with me. At least, not while I still breathed.
I needed to save the unsanctioned crew.
The hall was crowded now and filled with noisy chatter over the songs of the musicians. More people had begun to dance near the stage, making it harder to find anyone in the moving swarms of bodies.
I spotted Jo off to the side of the dance floor, standing near a large group of ladies' maids who were waiting to be asked to dance by the guards. As I reached Jo, Drakemore returned from the courtyard through a door across the room. I grabbed Jo’s arm and pulled him behind the group of ladies whose very full dresses blocked us from the General’s line of sight if we ducked down slightly, but also made me unable to track Drakemore’s movements.
“Jo, we’re going to have to leave on Ransom’s ship if we want to have a chance at living,” I whispered to him hurriedly from our crouch. His eyes went round.
He set down his drink on the floor. “Alright, let’s grab Wynn and Lev—”
“No!” I cut him off. “Lev is actually General Drakemore, and he’s the one that wants to kill us.” My hissing whisper caught some looks from a few of the ladies' maids.
Jo chuckled at me. “Good one. You almost had me.” He made to stand up, but I yanked him back down.
I should have left out the part about the General's secret identity. It forced me to explain too much in the time we had. “No, I’m serious. He altered his appearance, but it's him, and we were never supposed to return from this mission.”
Something on my face or the desperation in my voice must have been enough for Jo.
“What do we need to do?”
“We need to find Wynn and Ameal, or Ransom,” I said. “Ameal is working with Ransom, so he can help us get off this island. But I’ll be honest, I don’t know what will happen once we go with him.” It was the briefest possible explanation I could give.
“I knew Ameal was up to something. Why didn’t I listen to myself?” He shook his head.
“Yeah,” I said. “But at least we know Ameal was working with the person trying to save us from the person we thought we could trust. So maybe your deeper instincts were right to keep it to yourself.”
“That hardly makes me feel better.”
“You can deal with that later. We still need to find him or Ransom to actually make it out of here. And we need to get Wynn.”
“Right, let’s stick together.”
My heart was beating faster than a hummingbird’s wings. I stood and spun in a slow circle, trying to see Ameal or Ransom while attempting to stay out of view of Drakemore. Of course neither of those mountainous fuckers were in sight when I needed them.
I hooked my arm through Jo’s and began to walk to an exit. I passed Mira chatting with Chancellor Parisa. They both eyed me as I walked by them. I had no idea what they were talking about. All I could hear was my own blood pounding in my ears. I wondered how much power Ransom really had to stay Mira’s hand if she truly wished me dead. By the look on her face, he was barely keeping her in check. I quickened my pace.
Jo and I rushed out into the entrance hall. A frantic look around didn’t reveal anyone we were searching for. Jo glanced over his shoulder.
“Shit, Lev is following us,” he murmured into my ear.
I spotted a door that I was fairly certain led to a storage closet or pantry. Either way, it would work fine for a quick hiding spot. I yanked open the door to the dark space, revealing it to be a little of both. Shelves filled with bushels of apples and empty pitchers were next to brooms leaning in a corner. We both scrambled inside, and I closed the door behind us as quickly and quietly as I could.
We waited and listened to Drakemore’s heavy gait storm across the entryway. Hopefully, he thought we went straight outside and was following that path.
“Where did Ransom say to meet him?” Jo's voice came out of the darkness next to me.
“He didn’t. He said to find him or Ameal, which presently, is not helpful at all.”
“Alright, I suppose the most likely place for you to bump into Ameal would be the hall. We’re going to have to go back in there. It seems that Lev is searching the grounds for you, so we might have a little time until he comes back—”
Jo’s words were cut short by the bright lights flooding into our dark sanctuary when the door was yanked open. Standing with one hand on the handle and the other with fingers interlaced with Wynn was Queen Elara, blonde hair tumbling gracefully down her shoulders. Her laugh dropped off the moment she saw us standing in the closet.
“What are you doing here?” Wynn snipped.
“I would ask the same of you two, but I think that answer is pretty obvious,” I said, unable to keep the wryness totally out of my voice.
“What’s that tone for?” Wynn asked sharply.
“It’s for your stupid secrets. It’s for purposely making me think you’re fooling around with someone who wants me dead.”
“No one said I don’t want you dead,” Queen Elara chimed in with a mockingly helpful tone.
Wynn shot her a look. “Yeah, well, I couldn’t exactly tell you I was actively trying to sabotage the Empire’s plans this whole time with foreign royalty.”
“Wynn,” Jo exhaled, like a disappointed father.
“Fuck, Wynn. I— Never mind. What’s important right now is Lev going to kill us.” I wasn’t going to mention that Lev is Drakemore yet. I didn’t think Wynn would let that detail go as easily as Jo had.
“Mother’s hairy legs. I knew that he was a bastard from the start,” Wynn said.
“Shit, he wants to kill Wynn too?” Queen Elara asked, worrying her lower lip.
“Yes,” I said firmly.
“I am bound by the treaty to not help,” Elara said. “I can no longer harbor you. You’ll have taken an active role against the Empire.”
“I’ve been doing that since before I joined the Protectors,” Wynn said as she rolled her eyes.
“Yes, but once the Gathering ends tonight, you can no longer be my guest and under that protection. You need to get out of Nixia tonight,” she said.
“That’s fine, because we need to find Ameal or Ransom to get on their ship,” I said.
“Ameal? I think I missed some details here,” Wynn said.
“Later,” I said. “There’s a lot to tell you.”
Queen Elara looked into Wynn’s eyes. “This has been so nice and so needed,” she whispered to Wynn, her hand on her cheek, their foreheads pressed together. “You helped me remember to enjoy life again.”
“I enjoyed it too,” Wynn said softly, as she raised Elara’s hand in her own to place a kiss on the back of it. “You reminded me it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.”
They exchanged a tender kiss. I wished I hadn’t been intruding on this intimate moment between the two of them, but there wasn’t much I could do about it in this tiny closet. I looked over to Jo, who was staring intently at a broom.
“Ready?” Wynn’s voice drew my attention back up. Queen Elara was gone.
The three of us entered the great hall and surveyed the room to find our fortune had finally shifted. We spotted Ameal against a wall almost immediately and didn’t see the General at all.
We crossed quickly to where he was leaning his shoulders against the stone wall, arms crossed, one leg propped back so that his foot rested on the wall. His usual all-black attire was much nicer for tonight.
“We’re ready to go with Ransom,” I told him without preamble.
He nodded, pushed off the wall with his foot, and began weaving through the hall smoothly, like he had been planning for this moment all night and had already plotted his path amid the crowd. He nodded discreetly to the two guards from Solterra in the hall as we passed them. Apparently, it was a signal they had been waiting for, and they fell in line with our parade to the door seamlessly.
When we got to the stables, we met with Ransom along the rear side of the building, standing in a shadow. Sugardrop and a few other horses were already saddled and tied to a post a few feet away. Ransom told Jo and Wynn he hadn’t prepared their horses yet. The guards and Ameal went inside the stable to help them saddle their mounts, leaving the two of us standing alone.
“Did Sugardrop give you any trouble? She’s got a bit of a reputation for being a pain,” I said.
“No, she was easy,” Ransom said. “You don’t have much time to change. Here.” He tossed a bag to me. “I don’t have any for your lady’s maid, though. We couldn’t get her trunks.”
I opened the bag to find lined leggings, boots, a loose tunic, and my leather jacket. As I pulled each item out, I hung it over the low wall next to me.
“Thank the Mother I won’t have to try to ride in this dress,” I murmured.
“Or you could thank me,” Ransom teased.
I shot him a narrow-eyed look before waving to my dress. “Help me get out of this thing.”
“I thought you’d never ask,” he said in a low voice that made heat curl in my stomach, despite the circumstances.
He stepped up to me and gathered the skirt in his hands at my hips with deft movements that did nothing to help the blood coursing through my body. This wasn’t the right time or place, and honestly, with my recent experiences with men, it was probably better I swear them off altogether for a while.
He helped me pull the bunched material over my head and shoved it in a bag. I had forgotten what I was wearing underneath that dress—the provocative, lace-trimmed brassiere and assless underwear with little bows. When I looked up from my glance at my undergarments, Ransom was staring at me with dazed eyes, his mouth slightly open.
