by T. A. White
That was one way to look at it.
He clasped her on the shoulder and stepped back. A low chirp came from him and the rest of the Silva began to take off.
"What was that about?" Ryu asked
"He wanted to wish us luck."
Ryu made a noncommittal sound as the last of the Silva took wing, leaving one slight figure in their wake.
"I thought your people didn't intend to get involved," Tate observed neutrally as Mia joined them.
A fact Dewdrop had been quick to jump on since Mia was the one to put the responsibility of retrieving the weapon on Tate.
"I can’t exactly send you alone when I’m the one who made the request. I couldn’t ask the Kinjisan to participate in this undertaking. They have no real stake in this battle and their priorities lie in safeguarding the ones the rest of the world deem too strange or dangerous. I might be one of them now, but that doesn’t absolve me of my responsibilities.” Her attention strayed to Night. “Besides, it's time I face my past and get my affairs in order."
"You should know getting into his good graces won't be as easy as playing guide," Tate told her.
"Nothing worth having ever is."
Tate narrowed her eyes. What was Mia's end goal with Night? She didn't like the thought of Night being pursued because this woman wanted a playmate of her own kind.
Mia seemed to read her thoughts. "My species are compatible with the Silva. A result of us being so closely related."
The bearcat could have children with others. Good to know. That still didn't put Tate at ease.
"He deserves to be wanted for who he is, not what." Tate abandoned subtlety. She'd never been particularly good at it anyways.
Her friend was noble and kind—also annoying and obnoxious. He was a complicated enigma who deserved to be solved by someone who'd appreciate the time spent unraveling the riddle of Night.
"Of course. We all do, but I would be lying if I said his species is not part of my interest. For now, I simply wish the chance to know him better to see if we'd fit. That's all."
Tate pressed her lips together, wanting to drive the other woman off. She resisted the urge. Tate might not like the woman's answer now, but the reasoning was sound. That's how attraction started. You saw someone you liked, then got to know them, their likes and dislikes, who they were inside, only then could attraction turn to something more. Didn't Night deserve that possibility?
Her gaze caught on Ryu. She wondered if that was how his interest had started before becoming something more.
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. She wasn't qualified to make these decisions for her friend. That was Night’s job. Until then, she would remain a neutral party.
Still, she'd leave Mia with something to think about. "He loved his former mate. It won't be easy drawing his eye."
Mia inclined her head, a silent thanks for the warning.
Tate looked around at the assembled group. Two dragons, a teenage banshee, a couple of bearcats, an Avertine with suspicious motivations, and a guardian who looked like he'd be more at home in an archive cataloging books. Not who she would have picked to infiltrate the Harridan's city, but you made do with what you had and hoped for the best.
"Let's get this done." Next time Ilith decided to steal the Emperor's crown she was going to strangle her dragon.
*
They ended up hiding in a storage shed on the outskirts of the city. Dawn wasn't far away, but Mia said many predatory types of Silva were nocturnal. It would be safest to travel during sunrise, when they were finding their beds and those waking for the day were getting out of them.
Ryu settled down beside her and pulled her into his arms, his body a furnace against her back.
Dewdrop looked over and raised his eyebrows. "Is this the type of behavior we can expect from now on?"
"Shut it," Tate fired back, not bothering to move. Ryu's heat felt good and his scent wrapped around her, lulling her into a restive state. She was too on edge to actually sleep, but she no longer felt like she was about to come out of her skin. His arms around her were too comfortable to give up, and she was too tired to even pretend to put a distance between them anymore.
Ryu's soft chuckle was a rumble under her ear as his arms tightened.
"This is probably old hat for you. How many cities have you had to infiltrate?" Tate asked, running her fingers along his dragon's back.
He sucked in a sharp breath and shivered.
She lifted her head to look at him. He'd felt that?
"Not as many as you think, but more than a handful. I've had a very long life. Things happen."
Tate raised her eyebrows. She just bet they did, especially when he acted as an agent of the Emperor.
"This is the second time I've snuck around this city," he confessed.
"What happened?" She raised her head to get a better look at him.
He drew her even closer, as if seeking comfort against a painful memory. "Someone important died and those in power chose to blame me. It was either run or die. I chose to run."
"I'm surprised," Tate said.
Ryu grimaced. "Our relationship with the Silva was much more fractious then."
"Natalia," Gabriella said in realization. "You're the one who killed her. She was said to have the makings of a great leader."
"She was a great leader," Ryu said. "She'd won the challenge for Harridan before her death. She just didn't last long afterward."
"Why would the Emperor send you here after that?" Tate asked.
"Because he's a reminder that we serve the Emperor, not the other way around," Gabriella said
Tate thought Gabriella might be right. The Emperor was a difficult man to understand. He had layers wrapped in layers, machinations under machinations. She'd managed to pick that much up from the few, brief encounters she'd had with him.
He was smart. And tricky. Kind of like a certain dragon she knew.
It was feasible he would send Tate to mediate and also send Ryu as an implicit threat of what might happen if they pushed too hard.
Treat and stick all at once.
Duplicitous, but also a special kind of genius. She didn't know whether to admire the man or fly far away from the realm of his influence.
"I didn't kill Natalia," Ryu said softly. "I considered her a friend. She was assassinated by one of you. They poisoned her drink because they knew they couldn't beat her in battle. I was simply the outsider, easy to blame."
"It doesn't matter if you did or didn’t." Mia had taken a seat across the small hut and a bubble had formed around her that no one seemed willing to enter. "Her death created a power vacuum. The clans warred against each other for supremacy. It's what opened us up to being conquered by your Emperor."
Ryu's body was tense and hard under hers. She ran her fingers over the tops of his hands, before threading them through his in silent solidarity.
His chest expanded against her back and slowly he began to relax.
They needed to find a different topic.
Tate glanced at Vale who seemed engrossed in the notebook in front of him. The world around him had faded into insignificance. "Read anything interesting?"
He jolted and looked up, startled. His hair stuck straight up in spots where he'd absently run his hands through it.
He opened his mouth and paused, his mind hadn't quite returned from wherever it had wandered.
Mia glanced over his shoulder. She frowned and snatched the small notebook out of his hands. "These are from the cave I showed you."
He grabbed the notebook and held it pressed to his chest, glaring at the other woman. "I took some notes before we left."
"I didn't show that to you so you could steal our knowledge," Mia said through gritted teeth.
"You have no right to hide it away. Jaxon is everyone's Savior. His words deserve to reach all of us. You can't suppress knowledge," he fired back. "We compile the writings and teachings for a reason. Otherwise you risk losing them to time or disaster."
; Gabriella scoffed.
"What?" Vale asked.
"It's interesting you say that when we all know the guardians lock the Saviors’ knowledge away. Your people only allow the smallest bit to reach the rest of us," she said.
"That's not true," Vale protested.
"She has a point," Tate said.
He blinked at her and frowned. "What do you mean?"
She shouldn't have said anything. It wasn't her place, and she didn't want some of those secrets getting out anyways.
Instead of mentioning the hidden room of artifacts in the guardian's own headquarters, Tate pulled out the book the Grand Marshall had given her.
"How many people have had a chance to read this?" She tossed it to Vale.
He caught it and thumbed through its pages. "This is Jaxon Kuno's writing. I'd guess from the latter half of his life." He sifted through several more pages. "It might even be from the time period when he visited this city."
Grand Master Keel had insinuated as much, so Tate wasn't surprised at his conclusion.
Gabriella reached over him for the book, but he blocked her, hunching in on himself as he flipped through it
"How do you have this?" he asked.
Tate suddenly found herself the focus of several pairs of eyes. Only Ryu was uninterested.
She affected a nonchalant shrug. "The Grand Master gave it to me before our trip. He thought it would make good reading material considering our destination.
"But why?" Vale sounded confused and skeptical. "Their writings aren't supposed to leave the Keep."
"And you say your order doesn't hide their knowledge away." He'd just proven her point.
Vale didn't respond, his expression unsure as he glanced down at the book.
He paused, his forehead wrinkling.
"What is it?" Tate leaned forward.
"This word. Allegra. You can find it throughout his texts, but we've never known its meaning or why it’s repeated so much."
He might not, but Keel did. And so did Tate.
"It was also on the wall paintings," he said.
Mia's expression was careful as she avoided Tate's eyes. It confirmed for Tate that Mia knew, or at least suspected, her significance to Jax.
"Why is that important?" Tate asked. She'd deal with what Mia did or did not know, later.
He looked up, his gaze distant. "Many in our sect believe Jaxon left a puzzle behind to be solved. It's a bit of a risqué belief, but it's persisted over the centuries."
"What's the puzzle?" Dewdrop asked.
Vale shook his head. "No one knows."
"Then how do you know there's a puzzle?" Evan asked. The Avertine had been quiet until now, content to let the rest of them set the pace and agenda. He, like the rest of her friends, would know the significance behind the word Allegra.
"There are patterns in his texts. Symbols, phrases. Allegra isn’t the only one," Vale explained.
Jax always did like his riddles. It was a game to him. Almost compulsive. Even Tate hadn't been immune. Guess right and he'd reward you. Wrong, and he'd think up an interesting, vexing punishment.
Like the time he had rigged the showers and ended up turning everyone's hair blue.
Tate blinked at the thought that seemed to come out of nowhere.
A memory, or at least half of one.
"See, I think we've been looking at this wrong all along," Vale said excitedly. He held up the two books side by side.
On one was a diagram, dots in the middle connected to lines that seemed to go nowhere, as if the drawer had lost interest before completing it. Tate recognized it from the wall. The other drawing was in the notebook she'd given. The edge of the pattern in her notebook looked similar to the one in Vale’s.
"I think they're connected," he said. "I think everything he's written is part of one large riddle."
There certainly seemed to be a connection between the two drawings.
"Now look." Vale flipped to another page.
"Another part of the pattern," Evan said.
Vale nodded excitedly.
"To what purpose?" Ryu asked from behind her.
To hide something in plain sight. Tate kept the dangerous thought to herself.
"It could be a misdirect," Tate said. "I'm sure you're not the only person in all these centuries who thought to connect them."
"But we didn't have this missing piece," Vale said.
"It might not be the only piece missing," Gabriella pointed out.
They were all quiet as they considered that.
"We are going somewhere Jaxon hid his greatest accomplishment,” Mia said. “If that pattern points to anything, it'd be that."
"What about Roslyn and the rest?" Dewdrop asked. "We should free them first."
Gabriella shook her head. "The others are fine. Tala has people looking out for them, and they have the dragon at their side. At the first sign of threat, he'll be released from the terms of the mediation and be able to act. My people will get the others out at that time."
"Either way, once they're freed, it becomes a race to escape," Mia said. "We need to recover the weapon first."
"We can't do that," Dewdrop protested.
"He's right," Tate said. "Which is why Ryu and I will be facing the Harridan while the rest of you get the others out."
The small hut erupted in quiet protest.
"I'm not leaving you behind," Dewdrop said.
"That would be a mistake," Mia and Evan said at the same time.
Gabriella held her silence, her expression thoughtful.
"We were called in for a mediation," Tate said firmly, quieting the protest. "Right now, we have suspicions, but little proof. I won't doom thousands of people without being very sure I'm right."
She glanced at Ryu. "What would the political fallout be if we returned now?"
Ryu stared above her head, thoughts turning behind his eyes. "That's complicated. Until now, the Silva have been a powerful opposing voice against the pro-human movement. Their loss could hurt the Emperor's power base. However, if they’re no longer loyal, they need to be excised."
The stakes were high. It wasn't just their lives they were talking about. Many would be affected if they didn't handle this properly.
And if she kills you? Even small predators can bring down bigger ones if they have enough numbers, Night said.
"Then you'll have your answer, and you can tell the Emperor we did everything we could," Tate responded. "I need to know if the Harridan is as lost as she seems."
It was the only way Tate would be able to sleep at night.
"Your weapon is not my main objective," Tate told Mia. "Preventing a war is."
Mia was quiet for several moments as she studied Tate. She dipped her chin in acknowledgment. "You are wise. I hope we are deserving of such wisdom."
Tate hoped so too.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The sun had peeked over the horizon by the time Tate ducked out of the shed they'd found shelter in. Bright rays heralded its return to the world as it stretched out fingers of pinks and oranges, purples and blues.
She stopped, taking a moment to pause and admire the Harridan's stronghold. City of Stairs indeed. It was aptly named.
Staircases ran throughout the length of the city. Her thighs burned just thinking about climbing all of them. If she'd thought Aurelia's hill was bad, she was sadly mistaken. This looked ten times worse, the stairs doubling back on themselves until they created a twisting maze.
The city itself, nestled into the mountain's base, was a monument to the Silva's fortitude and stubbornness. Not many would see the stone slab of the mountain, its craggy exterior and brutal drops and decide to carve a home into it, but that's exactly what the Silva had done. They'd burrowed into the bedrock, using it as their base, as they built the city around them in terraced levels connected by endless stairs, in some places so steep she wouldn't be surprised if people plummeted off them on a regular basis.
There were architectural simila
rities to the port city of Auburn in the domed shapes of the roofs and the circular towers on most buildings. The same balconies and terraces popular there had found a home here too, but on a scale unmatched by any place Tate had ever seen.
The city looked ageless, as if thousands of years had gone into its making and in a thousand years it would still stand unaltered. Every stone, every board and building had a history. Tate couldn't imagine living in such a place, where the ghosts of your ancestors lurked on every corner.
The higher up the mountain, the more the buildings gave the illusion of being built on top of each other. The crowning glory was the imposing structure built in the shadow of the mountain’s peak. It dwarfed the rest of the city, austere and silent as it stood sentinel. If Tate had to guess, she'd bet that was the Harridan's residence—and her destination.
"I don't like the thought of us separating," Dewdrop said from behind her. He took in the city with a brief glance before focusing on her. "You need someone to watch your back."
"You don't think the dragon will be enough?"
Ilith snorted at that. Dragons are always enough.
Dewdrop made a sour face and folded his arms, unable to argue. Even if Ryu hadn't had the dragon, he would still be a powerful force. Deadly in his own right. The dragon just tipped things in his favor.
Night prowled toward them. The dragon isn't family.
"Not yet anyway," Dewdrop said with a sly look.
Night ignored his innuendo as Tate rolled her eyes at the subtle jab. We'd feel better if one of us was there.
Tate understood. In their place she'd feel the same, but she couldn't let them have their way. Not this time.
"There's a chance I might not come out of this." A good chance, if she was being honest. "I need people I can trust to get Roslyn out. You two are it. Ryu's focus is on the primary mission."
She knew without asking that he wouldn't alter its parameters to include Roslyn. Not with everything at stake. He might have done it for Tate, but others were a different matter.
"Not to mention he's so lost on you he wouldn't let you go into this alone," Dewdrop muttered.
The corner of Tate's mouth lifted as she conceded that point.
"We owe it to Roslyn to get her out. She wouldn't be here if not for us." Tate paid her debts. Dewdrop and Night, as much as they might argue, were the same.