An extra chair was quickly rushed out, and Alexandra sat as the room followed en masse. The first course was brought out, and the conversation flowed. As soon as the Chancellor’s glass was less than half full, Xari motioned for the waiter, encouraging to be generous in his pour.
Erik’s what-the-hell-are-you-doing expression had Xari wondering if she’d overstepped her bounds, but she remained the perfect host, directing the conversation and changing topics when the need arose, all the while making sure the waiters kept the Chancellor’s glass full.
Alexandra became animated as the night wore on, and a ruddy blush ran across her cheeks and over the bridge of her nose. She seemed to find something David said particularly funny because she openly laughed as she ran her hand up and down his arm.
“I enjoyed your press conference.” Xari set down her spoon. “Since I’ve been here, I’ve discovered an interest in public relations. And you, my Chancellor, are the master.”
Alexandra smiled, cradling her glass to her chest. “You’re too kind, young warrior. In our Society, it’s crucial that hard issues such as terrorist attempts remain transparent.”
“Yes, Scythians value the truth above all else,” David commented.
“I agree.” Xari sat back as the waiter took her plate.
Alexandra studied the young warrior. “Truth. Its realities are often harsh and cruel, but necessary, is it not?”
Silence fell over the table, and David cleared his throat and looked at his watch.
“I believe we’ve lost track of the time.”
“It does seem to fly when in good company, doesn’t it?” Xari placed her napkin on the table.
Alexandra set her glass down with an uncharacteristic thump. “You are a charming host, Toxaris. If you don’t mind, I’d like a word in private.”
Erik stiffened. “Begging your pardon, Chancellor. The press is waiting in the arena for their first official interview with the champions and their Chosen before the opening ceremony of the second round.”
Xari put her hand on his arm, her fingers digging into his uniform. “I’m sure we won’t be long. I asked the Chancellor to keep me updated on Nya’s progress.”
Alexandra stood, keeping her hand anchored on the back of her chair. “Yes, and that’s what I intend to do. Chosen, your warrior will meet you in the arena.”
Xari briefly linked her pinky around Erik’s, squeezing and then letting it go before she stood and followed the Chancellor out of the room.
They made their way up the stairs and past her personal guard in silence.
“What a lovely home,” Xari said as soon as they entered the suite.
Alexandra grunted in agreement, her hand grazing along the backs of the furniture as they crossed the living room. They passed through the security room, and Alexandra nodded at the Amazonian warrior watching a wall of monitors.
Xari grew leery as they started down a darkened corridor.
“Wait,” Alexandra muttered, resting her forehead on the wall. The retinal scanner raced over her eye before a green light flashed and a hidden panel slid open. She swept her arm wide. “Join me, please.”
As soon as they passed the threshold, the door closed, leaving them in silence. Xari felt like a mouse trapped by a cat. “Why did you need to see me?”
“I haven’t had the opportunity to speak with you privately since your accident.”
Xari’s expression became unreadable. “It was nothing. I’m fine.”
“Still, I’d like your account of what happened.”
Xari ran her hand across her chest as if she were scratching her shoulder. She pressed the small listening device taped to the underside of her bra strap, hoping like hell the thing worked. “Nya and I were walking along the path, discussing an argument I had had with one of my Chosen when I fell and hit my head. When I came to, Jax informed me that Nya had helped me to the infirmary, but the doctor there noticed she didn’t look well. When they discovered her temperature had gone back up, they admitted her again.”
“And you remember nothing from the time you hit your head until you awoke in the infirmary.”
Xari shrugged. “The physician said that was normal with a concussion.”
“I had an interesting conversation with the head of security today.” Alexandra turned, resting her back against the door.
Xari raised her brows. “Oh?”
“Apparently, you’ve been very vocal about expressing concerns for Nya’s wellbeing.”
Xari took a deep breath and sighed. “Seeing Otrera’s exhibit in the museum made me miss my best friend. I worry about her.”
The Chancellor thoughtfully shook her head. “As do I.”
Xari looked around and whistled. “This is the war room, isn’t it? I’ve heard about it, but I’ve never even seen a picture. Isn’t this only supposed to be used when Scythian security is threatened?”
Alexandra crossed the room and flopped into the nearest seat. “I see you paid attention in your government classes. It’s the only place that I have complete privacy. We wouldn’t want anyone to construe our conversation as some conspiracy.”
Xari circled the large oval table, her fingers grazing the smooth dark wood. She stopped in front of the alcohol. “Would you like an after-dinner drink? Brandy, perhaps?”
Alexandra rubbed her forehead. “I’d love one.”
Xari stood in front of the decanters, blocking Alexandra’s view. Her hands shook as she slipped the vial from its hidden place between her breasts. Thick liquid trickled down the side of the snifter as she emptied the vial before slipping it back down her dress. She picked up the crystal decanter and the glasses and brought them to the table.
“You’re a little young for a digestif, don’t you think? After all, we wouldn’t want you stumbling into the arena to address the media.”
Xari grinned as she poured. Brandy splashed into the snifter, mixing with the liquid already there. She swirled the glass, watching the amber alcohol race to the rim. Handing the drink to the Chancellor, she smiled and then poured one of her own. “My father was born in Belarus. I was practically raised on the stuff. And it’s been a long day.”
Alexandra warmed the alcohol between her palms. “Yes, it has.”
Heat rushed through as Xari took a sip. “I do apologize if my concern for Ny came off heavy-handed. I know you must be worried sick, too—you being her godmother and all.”
Alexandra rubbed the glass against her bottom lip before she took a healthy drink. “She’s like a daughter to me, you know.”
Xari placed her snifter on the table and faced the Chancellor. “I knew you must be close by the way she admired you—talked about you all the time. You only had sons, right?”
An Amazonian’s greatest blessing was the birth of a daughter.
“That’s correct.” The Chancellor grimaced. She downed the last of her brandy, and sighed.
Xari’s eyes sparked. “I’m sure you’re extremely proud of them.”
“They lived with their father growing up, but yes. My sons are fine males.”
“Commander Thalestris said as much.”
Alexandra’s breath caught as her glazed eyes looked up. “Really? You spoke with Ike?”
“After the Championships, I joined them for dinner. The commander told me how close the two of you were and how relieved he was that you would be here to watch over Ny.”
Alexandra closed her eyes, as if she were in pain. “I tell you, I’d give anything if Anya could be here. Anything.”
The statement rang in the silence and Xari wanted to lash out and call the female a liar. But she’d have to be careful. The audio file being recorded must sound like a conversation, not like the Chancellor had been drugged and was being interrogated.
“You know,” she finally said. “I bunked next to Nya for four years. Did you know she talks in her sleep? Sometimes the others would complain, but I didn’t mind.”
“Oh?” Alexandra glanced up from her drink, sounding like a
baleful cat.
“Yeah. We never understood why she had such horrid nightmares, waking everyone up screaming something about being nailed to a ship or rolling around gripping her stomach like someone had just ripped a knife through her.”
Alexandra’s hand shook as she brought her glass to her lips. “She’s been through quite a lot.”
Xari swirled the amber in her snifter. “Yeah, she has, but none of us understood why until now. I overheard Myrina talking about it the other day.”
Alexandra’s expression grew wary. “How many warriors were in your barracks?”
“Oh, over the course of four years, I’d say about thirty or so. I’m sure they all remember.”
“God,” Alexandra whispered, rubbing her head.
“You know, one night she dreamed of you.” Xari took a sip of brandy. “At first, I thought it was because of you being her godmother and all. But then she mentioned Sarkov ... something about a promise ... and that you needed to stay out of Russia.”
Alexandra’s eyes rounded in horror as her knuckles whitened around her glass.
Xari leaned in, her voice threaded with steel. “What was she talking about, do you know?”
The Chancellor’s lips thinned to a white line like she was struggling to keep them closed.
Xari’s tone softened. “You can tell me the truth.”
“I had nothing to do with Dmitri and his plan to take over Russia,” she finally blurted out. “And I never thought they’d steal Anya from her family.”
“I’m sure you didn’t. You thought of Nya as a daughter, and Ike trusted you to keep his pumpkin safe.”
The Chancellor brought her empty snifter to her chest, hugging it like a lifeline. “Ike’s resignin’ from his post, d’you know?” She squinted as her words began to slur. “Gia’s done the same. And Penn’s threatenin’ to go to the Senate, all because of a mistake I made almos’ thirty years ago. The summer I met Dmitri I had no clue who he was ... I thought he was jus’ some Allos I’d toy with to piss off my father.” She sighed and closed her eyes. “But Sarkov knew who I was. And hell, I’ve been paying for it since.”
“Is that all?”
“Ike’s hell-bent on never seeing me again.” She rested the snifter’s cool glass against her cheek. “I’ve loved him for over twenty-five years. Twenty. Five. Years. Even after he humiliated me in the arena and then shouldered someone’s mark beneath his bloodline. Even after he was blessed with a daughter while I was given sons. And now this. It isn’t my fault Penn’s obsessed with Nya. An’ how in the hell was I supposed to know that the Drahzda would use her blood to further that damn Genesis project?” Her voice grew desperate as her bleary eyes met Xari’s gaze. “It isn’t my fault.”
Xari sat back in her seat, looking at the wreck of a washed-up warrior teetering on the edge of destruction.
“Is there anything else I need to know?”
“I had to do it.”
“Do what?”
Alexandra wearily rubbed her forehead. “Sacrifice Anya for the greater good. If Penn gets her, the Drahzda leave us alone. Don’t you see?” Her voice broke as she closed her eyes. “I had no choice.”
The Chancellor’s head bobbed a few times before she slumped over, her chin resting on her chest.
Xari replaced Alexandra’s snifter with her own before picking up the empty glass and heading toward the door. The panel slid open as soon as she drew near, and she let out a sigh of relief.
She passed the warrior watching the monitors. “The Chancellor has asked not to be disturbed.”
“I’ll let her guard know,” the female said, her eyes not leaving the flat screens on the wall.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
The moon peeked through the clouds as Nya’s Chosen trudged through dense woods. Aren, Giovanni, Victor, and Luka soon broke from the group, planning to draw any Drahzda on guard away from the back of the castle. Gia led Ike, Jax, and Killian to the south, her quick even strides pushing them to keep up.
She took little notice as Ike stayed by her side. She hadn’t spoken to him since she’d taken charge of the mission. Her mind raced with impossible situations. Everything from being forced to kill her daughter, or, worse yet, her own grandchild.
The thought left her bitter. If she made it out of this alive, she would take Nya away, and they would live as outcasts. Her nata wouldn’t have to find a rovni unless she wanted to, and Ike could have his precious Alexandra and the Society. Hell, she should have done that years ago.
They stopped at the top of a small hillock overlooking the courtyard. Gia waited until Killian, Victor, and Jax caught up. Several metal containers lined the castle’s back wall.
“There,” she tipped her head toward the long black tube stretching from the parapet to the dumpster below. “Ike, Jax, you’ll head that way. Killian, where do we start?”
The warrior closed his eyes and took a deep breath, his brow furrowed in concentration. “He’s here. I can sense it.” He pointed to a servant’s entrance, just beyond the dumpsters. “We’ll enter there.”
“Gia.” Ike stepped close.
His gentle voice, so warm and loving, made her leery.
He ran his finger down her cheek. “Please. Let me go with Killian. Nya will need you when we find her.”
She jerked away from his touch. “It is my right. I will avenge my nata.”
Ike’s eyes lost their warmth as he stepped back. “Be careful.”
She turned from him, and she and Killian slipped through the trees and into the night.
Victor’s phone buzzed, and he reached into his pocket. His brow furrowed as he swiped the screen.
“What is it?” Giovanni asked.
They stopped in the middle of a dense copse of evergreens. “Not sure.” He held the phone to his ear, his eyes growing wide.
Luka stepped forward. “Have they found her?”
Victor smiled. “It’s not from Jax. It’s Toxaris, and she’s left us a gift.” His phone buzzed again, and he scrolled to another incoming text. “Interesting. Zander got the same message.”
Sirens blared and Klieg lights exploded to life, flooding the castle’s perimeter in blinding light.
The warriors hit the deck, scurrying for cover.
“So much for the element of surprise.” Killian ducked behind a tree.
“I hope to God that’s not because of us,” Giovanni muttered.
“We’d be dead if it were.” Aren peered through binoculars. “I bet Nya’s escaped.”
Victor kept low and crept back into the shadows. “Damn it, we can’t wait for Zander now. The Tovaris are still thirty minutes out, and that’s a lifetime when a Drahzdan battalion is breathing down your neck.”
Luka shifted closer. “Nya won’t last that long.”
“Then we’ll give her the distraction she needs.” Aren shucked off his pack. He zipped open the front pocket and pulled out several small blocks of green clay.
“Well, that should shake things up a bit.” Luka grinned.
Aren grunted in agreement as he placed the putty at the base of a tree. “I’ve got a few more, which should hold us until Zander gets here.” He took out a small device and pierced the clay before throwing a clump of wet leaves over the explosives. “We have ten minutes before these trees turn to toothpicks.”
Aren zipped up his pack, and the warriors ran, skirting the fringe of lights flooding the open field.
Nya stayed crouched under cardboard as the nursery door opened. Soldiers dipped in, then out, checking that no one was there.
Luckily, the dimwits never gave the upside-down box in the closet a second thought.
Hidden in plain sight. At least, for now. Someone eventually would think to do a better search of this room, but she’d be damned if she’d be there to see it.
“No one gets through the front gates. And for god’s sake, lock that door. If the Scythians are here, we don’t want them anywhere near the nursery.”
The door slammed shut,
muffling the rest of what he was saying. A bolt snicked in place, and Nya closed her eyes, straining to hear if someone had been locked in with her.
Nothing but silence.
The box scratched along the floor, and she silently cursed as she tipped it forward. She peeked from beneath a corrugated flap. Relief surged through her. She was alone. There’d be no reason to waste energy killing a grunt over being in the wrong place at the wrong time. A box cutter and putty knife lay just a few feet away, and she picked them up and made her way past the bassinets lining the wall.
Rich mahogany paneling loomed before her, and a shiver ran down her spine as hideous memories surfaced. Penn opening the panel that served as a hidden door, its small hinge creaking in the dark. Her pulse drummed in her ears. The hours Penn spent with her alone in this room were some of the worst memories she had. He’d drone on and on with his vision of their future, petting her in sensitive places while she was shackled and defenseless.
She should cut off his hands before he died to teach him how wrong it was to touch someone without their consent.
The thought had adrenaline pumping through her veins, and she dropped the wet clothes by an antique armoire. Running her fingers along the wainscoting’s raised frame, she found the hidden latch and pulled. The metal lever released before it snapped off, and she silently cursed. Now she wouldn’t be able to secure the panel closed.
Dirt, must, and the scent of damp rock swirled through the passageway as air rushed in.
Nya stepped through and closed the panel as best she could. Dozens of doors lined the right side of the darkened hallway, the left remained riddled with boxes. Frustrated, she scrubbed her face with her hand.
It never occurred to her that the passageway would be full of other hidden panels. It would only be a matter of time before she opened one with a roomful of workers or Drahzdan soldiers. And the more doors there were, the less secure she became. Anyone could come strolling through, and if she were caught now, Sergei and his merry band of tranquilizers would just slow down the process of killing Penn.
She tucked the box cutter into her waistband at the small of her back and left everything else behind.
The Scythian Trials Page 33