From the Embers (Ember Society Book 3)

by AR Colbert

  Not Frank! He’d been through so much already. The Embers needed him now more than ever. But I knew Frank was too strong to submit to their will. He’d never give them the information they wanted—whatever that information may be. He’d die before he helped those monsters.

  But which monster on the loose was worse? Conrad and the Supreme Leadership? Or Milo and his gang of Exiled?

  And who had Frank?

  CHAPTER 19

  It took a lot of effort to convince Raf to stay in Louisburg. He launched into action the second he heard Frank was missing. He wanted to hunt Conrad down and kill him before he could touch Frank.

  “It’s not that simple,” Rider said.

  We were hunkered down in a back corner of the carriage house. It was just the three of us—I wanted to talk to the men who had experienced Milo and his evil with me firsthand before cluing our new friends in on any plans.

  “Why not?!” Raf was pacing back and forth, his stare intense enough to cut through the walls. “He murdered our people.”

  “Yes, but you can’t simply track down a member of the Supreme Leadership. He’s got connections and technologies up his sleeve that you couldn’t dream of. He will always be one step ahead of us.”

  Raf kicked a shelf against the wall, sending a can full of tool bits crashing to the floor.

  “Rider’s right,” I said. “Conrad is probably long gone. And we don’t know if he took Frank, anyway. Milo is missing, too.”

  “I’m not afraid of Milo.” Raf ran a hand through his hair and focused on us. “Frank can handle him. In fact, Milo is the one who should be afraid of Frank.”

  I snorted in agreement, but Rider dropped his gaze to the ground. “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Is there something else we should know?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I just wish I would’ve taken him out when I had the chance.”

  “You were just following orders,” I assured him. “You did exactly what you were instructed to do. And Raf is right. Milo isn’t nearly as big a threat as Conrad.” I swallowed, giving myself a moment to let everything settle in my mind. Then, turning to Raf I said, “You do think there’s a chance Frank is still alive, right?”

  “I know it.” His confidence was enough for me. I wanted to believe we could rescue Frank, no matter how unlikely the case may have been.

  “So what do we do now? Set our sights on the Exiled back around Classen City?” Rider asked. His focus sharpened. I could practically see the wheels turning in his mind as he already worked to formulate a plan. He was ready to finish the job this time.

  “No.” Both men drew their eyes back to me as I stood and slowly paced. I hadn’t fully formed a plan of my own yet, but the movement helped me sort it all out as I spoke. “We need to stick to our original plan and convince the Outsiders here to join us and the Embers.”

  “But what about Fr—”

  I held up a hand to silence Raf. I wasn’t finished. “Frank is strong. I’m not worried about Milo, and we’ve already concluded that we can’t hunt down Conrad. But it was obviously Conrad and the Supreme Leadership who attacked the Ember camps. The Exiled men don’t have that kind of technology. And if he struck once, he’ll probably do it again.

  “Felix is working with James to prepare the other Embers back near Classen. But we need to grow our numbers. The only way to catch Conrad is to bring him into our own territory. We’ll wait until he strikes again, and then we’ll use our extra people to catch him by surprise.”

  “He may be surprised, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be able to stop him.” Rider played devil’s advocate well, but I already knew he was in. I saw it in the gleam of his eye.

  “True,” I agreed. “That’s the part I’m still working out. But I know for sure we’ll never get him if he keeps eliminating our people. We’ve got to get the Outsiders here to join us.”

  Raf nodded and licked his still-battered lip. The skin around his eyes had settled into deep shades of purple, but the bruising on his brow was already fading into a sickly yellow. I shuddered to think about him or any of the rest of us getting beaten like that again. But going Outside was our only option.

  “I’ll try to talk to them again,” Raf said.

  “No.” I shook my head. “It has to be me. They’ll know my face and listen to what I say.”

  “Absolutely not.” Raf began pacing again. “I won’t let you go near the camp until we get them to see that we’re not the enemy.”

  “Oh, you won’t let me?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Last I checked, you weren’t in charge.” I turned to Rider. “I’ll go out Saturday morning. I’d like for you to come with me, but I’m going whether you do or not.”

  “Of course I’m going.” The corner of his mouth twitched as Raf groaned beside me. “And I bet we can get black-eyed Betty here to tag along, too.”

  Raf shot Rider a glare, but his shell was cracking. I knew Raf wouldn’t dream of letting us go without him.

  “So it’s settled then. Saturday morning we’ll go meet our soon-to-be Embers.”

  I just had to get through a few more days of pointless work and another one of Everett’s dinner parties, first.

  Joy fussed with my hair Friday evening in my bathroom. This party wasn’t as big a deal as my birthday had been, so I didn’t get an outside stylist to come in and prep me, thank goodness. I didn’t have the patience for someone like Olivia after the news I’d received that week. It was just me and Joy and the royal blue dress I’d originally hoped to wear for my birthday.

  “I still like this dress better than the red one Director Walsh chose for you last time,” Joy said as she pinned a loose strand in place on my head.

  I tilted my face, studying the reflection of the girl in the mirror. “I do, too.” This wasn’t how I pictured my life going, but here I was. At a dinner party, faking smiles and small talk while worrying every second if another innocent person was being attacked or killed by the very people I clinked glasses with.

  “Did you ever find out who you’re entertaining tonight?” Joy stepped back and spun me in a circle, double-checking to see if anything was out of place before I made my entrance downstairs.

  “No, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to be able to focus on anything they’re saying anyway.”

  Joy frowned. She and Asher seemed just as upset as we were at the news of Ember camps being attacked. Asher had sided with Raf. He was ready for war. But it was no use fighting an invisible enemy. We had to be patient. Step one was getting through tonight. Tomorrow we’d worry about winning over the Outsiders of Louisburg. One thing at a time.

  “Well good luck down there. I’ll work with the kitchen staff to move things along a little faster for you.” She winked as she turned to leave.

  I followed Joy down the stairs and into the foyer. She gave me a thumbs up as she turned toward the kitchen. I took one more deep breath and spun in the opposite direction toward the dining room. But it wasn’t full of guests as I’d expected. There were just a handful of far-too-familiar faces.

  “There she is!” Everett chuckled, his voice tinged with so much sweetness it made me sick. What a phony. “We were starting to wonder if you decided to skip out on us.” His tone was jovial, but the glint in his eyes said he wasn’t happy.

  He directed me to the empty seat between him and Emmaline Frasier, who stood and flashed me a wary smile. Her eyes met mine, and I swore she was peering into my soul again. They swam with knowledge and something dark—almost angry, that I couldn’t put my finger on. Yet I wasn’t afraid. Emmaline was a known hazard. I didn’t have to fear her anymore.

  Dimitri, the Director of Defense for Classen City sat to her right. Two of Everett’s mistresses from my party sat opposite them, on Everett’s left. But it was the face glaring at me from the opposite end of the table that caused my heart to stop beating. With a bitter pout twisted over to one side and eyes that could murder, sat a very unhappy Justice Hines.

  I paused behind my em
pty chair, locking eyes with the beast at the opposite end of the room. She burned with rage that rivaled my own, and her lip pulled up slightly as she took me in. If we hadn’t been surrounded by other Leaders in our dinner finery, she might’ve spat on me.

  My first instinct was to cross the room and wipe her out with the candelabra. I couldn’t stand the sight of her or anything she stood for. She was despicable. But it struck me as odd that she was feeling much the same way I was. Justice Hines was angry.

  If she had been responsible for the deaths of the Embers, she would have been gloating. Smug. Maybe even cheerful as she twisted the news deep into my heart like a knife. She took great joy in my pain, so she wouldn’t have been angry.

  Almost as though she had the same realization, we simultaneously whipped our eyes apart and settled in at the table. Noticing a glass of wine waiting for me, I picked it up and downed its contents, trying not to gag as the bitter liquid burned down my throat.

  “I’m so glad you were all able to fly out with everything going on back home.” Everett addressed the room before settling his gaze on me. “I generally prefer to keep business discussions at the office, but given our unique personal connections to Classen City, I thought it best to invite our guests into our home tonight. I hope you don’t mind mixing business and pleasure, just this once.” He winked at me and I wanted to flick him in his twitchy eye. This wasn’t the night to mess with me.

  But I didn’t. I played dumb, just like he wanted. “Of course I don’t mind, Everett.” I fluttered my eyes and smiled sweetly back at him. Judging by the way Emmaline shifted in her seat next to me, it may have been a little over the top, but Everett was too dense to pick up on it. He looked like I’d made his night. His mistresses across from me looked like I’d ruined theirs.

  A couple of attendants entered the room carrying trays with our dinner salads. Everett steepled his fingers, donning his more serious politician’s mask. He spoke again as the attendants exited. “I’m afraid there has been some bad news back home. Unfortunately, some of the Outsiders—citizens that have been exiled from the city—have become aggressive.”

  I cut my eyes back to Justice Hines, who was staring me down with her salad fork held like a weapon. But I wasn’t intimidated. Everett wouldn’t let her touch me. I was his prized possession. The thought almost made me giggle. Or maybe that was just the effects of the wine kicking in.

  “Yes. There were reports of that kind of activity before I left as well. Thankfully we were able to apprehend the man in charge. How’s Milo doing, Justice Hines?”

  She stabbed a piece of lettuce and narrowed her eyes, but she didn’t answer. Instead, Everett continued to drone on as though I was an idiot who had no idea what was going on. Then again, how would I? He didn’t know I’d been speaking to his son, and he certainly never filled me in on anything of any importance happening here in Louisburg or anywhere else.

  “It seems they’ve turned on each other now, leaving a trail of dead bodies in their path.”

  I tried not to flinch. All eyes were on me. How would I react if I neither knew this information before tonight nor cared about the people who had lost their lives?

  “That is a surprise,” I uttered. “But I suppose that makes a trail of fewer problems for you to worry about back home.” Hopefully, I was the only one who could hear my heart pounding.

  “It would,” Justice Hines dabbed at her mouth with a napkin, trying unsuccessfully to appear cool and calm, “except they used weapons they shouldn’t have had access to. It appears someone may be feeding them intelligence—or worse—providing them technology that is strictly off-limits to anyone outside of the Leadership.”

  “Please excuse us, ladies.” Everett casually dismissed the women across from me, shooting Justice Hines a look. She’d said too much. Maybe he should’ve thought about that before inviting his lady friends to a business dinner.

  They exited slowly, moving their hips from side to side and flashing me a final disdainful glance over their shoulders before turning a corner and almost knocking over an attendant who was coming to remove our dishes. Everett raised his glass to the attendant, tapping his finger on the side for a refill. I began to do the same, but the feeling of Emmaline’s hard gaze stopped me from moving. It was probably for the best. I’d have to stay sharp to deal with these goons. No more wine for me.

  Once the room emptied out again, I cleared my throat. “That’s awful. It must be very difficult to work with a bunch of people you can’t fully trust.” A small strangled sound came from Emmaline, almost like a soft laugh, but she remained completely devoid of emotion when I glanced over at her. Justice Hines, on the other hand, was seething.

  Dimitri looked pretty upset, too. “Most of the Leadership doesn’t even know about these weapons!” He slammed his drink on the table. “It just doesn’t make any sense. That information should never have been leaked to the Outside.”

  “Hmm...” I placed a finger on my lips. “Maybe it’s time to involve the higher-ups. Aren’t you working with a consultant from the Supreme Leadership right now? What was his name?” I tapped my fingers lightly across the table. “Conrad Reynolds. That’s it, right? How are things going with him?”

  Justice Hines threw her napkin on the table and stood, startling the attendant carrying in our dinner plates. I never heard the words she wanted to yell, however. Growing impatient with the attendants in the room, she finally croaked, “Excuse me for a moment. I’ll be right back.”

  The room grew tense with her away. Dimitri seemed to be stifling a smile, and Emmaline, ever the symbol of poise, began a casual conversation with Everett. But something was off. Justice Hines was gone for a long time—long enough for Everett to down two more glasses of whiskey. And despite her refined behavior and emotionless expression, Emmaline was worried. I felt it when her arm brushed against mine as she was taking a drink of water.

  I managed to keep my mouth shut throughout the rest of the dinner, listening instead for any details I may be able to use to my advantage. According to Dimitri, they feared there was a division among the Outsiders, and those who craved power eliminated those who wanted to remain peaceful. He noted that the camps that were attacked weren’t on the Leadership’s radar before this incident. They suspected the group of power-hungry Outsiders may set their sights on the people of Classen City next. That’s why they were here to seek guidance from Everett.

  “I’ve been saying for years you need to build barriers along the outer edge of the city, just like we did here in Louisburg. We haven’t seen any sightings of Outsiders since the fences went up.”

  “That may be true, but you have other problems to deal with in this city.”

  Everett, now red in the face from too many glasses of whiskey, narrowed his eyes at Dimitri. “Let’s not talk about such things in front of the ladies. They can’t be interested in matters of the slovenly.”

  Finally, as the dessert plates were being cleared, Justice Hines entered the room again. “It’s time to go,” she said curtly. “I’m not feeling well and I’d like to get back to Classen tonight.” She locked eyes with Dimitri and gave him a small nod.

  He stood as well. “Well, Everett, it was enjoyable as always. Thank you for hosting us in your fine home.”

  “Well, this is rather abrupt. I’m sorry you’re not feeling well, Martha. Are you certain you can’t stay for drinks?”

  We were all standing now and Everett slid his hand onto the small of my back. My body stiffened in response. Just a few more minutes and I could escape up to my room.

  “I’m sure. We must get back.” Her tone was cool and disinterested. She’d made up her mind and was already turning for the door.

  “Very well, I’ll have my driver come around with the car.” Everett turned to find an attendant in the hall and Emmaline quirked an eyebrow at me when we were alone. I stared into her crystal blue eyes, and the strangest sensation came over me. But again, I couldn’t quite place what I was feeling. I never reall
y knew what I was feeling around Emmaline—she was a master manipulator of my own emotions. She was just as bad as the rest of them.

  I bid her goodbye and turned to head back up to my room, but Everett caught me by the wrist in the foyer. “Just because they’re calling it an early night, doesn’t mean we have to. Come. Let’s have a drink with our friends in my office.”

  Everett’s lady friends stood waiting and watching. I remembered the door to his secret room and swallowed down bile rising in my throat. He disgusted me. I wasn’t going anywhere with him.

  I snatched my wrist away. “No, thank you. I’m going to bed.” I spun on my heels and went straight for the staircase before he could object.

  He couldn’t have been happy with my behavior, but after the strange evening I’d just endured, I didn’t care. All I cared about was getting the rest I needed to win over the Outsiders the next morning. It was time to bring these horrible people down.

  CHAPTER 20

  The powdery pink light of dawn was just beginning to creep over the horizon as our car approached the guards posted at the edge of Louisburg. Asher rolled his window down and spoke to them quietly. I strained to hear what he was saying, but it was difficult to move. Rider and Jeremy had me wedged between them in the backseat of our car. Raf sat up front to better direct Asher toward the Outside camp.

  After a brief exchange, the guards let us pass out of the city, though I felt their hard eyes through the tinted windows as we went. Asher always made an effort to vouch for me. He tried hard to build me up in the eyes of the local people, but that didn’t make them trust me. They still watched me through town with the same disdain I felt when looking at Everett. We were one and the same in their minds.

  It took nearly two hours to reach the Outsiders. They made little attempt to hide the entrance to their settlement, but it was remarkably protected. Like the city of Louisburg, a fence had been erected around the perimeter as far as I could see. We stopped the car about fifty yards away from the entrance.