by W. J. May
Except, he never got there.
At first, Rae didn’t know what was happening. She glanced around wildly, trying to figure it out.
Drake stopped mid-step, freezing in place like he’d walked straight into a wall. It looked exactly like Angel’s freezing power, except, she needed to touch someone to do that and she hadn’t moved from her seat at the table.
Angel was, however, the only one who didn’t look surprised. She looked concerned instead. “Gabriel,” she said quietly.
The rest of the table turned to Gabriel, in shock. At first glance, he didn’t appear to have moved either. He was staring at Drake like the rest of them, his head tilted slightly to the side.
Then Rae caught him lifting two fingers.
“Gabriel,” Angel said again, a little more forcefully this time.
But Gabriel didn’t move. He just stared at the frozen boy with a hard smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Bet you don’t have a lot of information on me, do you, boy? No file?” he asked casually, completely immune to the tension around him. A few yards away, Drake’s face had begun to turn blue. “Metal manipulation. That’s what I am down on paper if there is a file.” A little smirk turned up the corners of his lips as he leaned forward. “Of course…no one ever realizes exactly what that means.”
All at once, Drake’s face twisted in absolute agony. There was a tortured cry, and the next second he fell to his knees.
Angel was on her feet at once, standing in between them. “Gabriel, stop it now,” she growled through her teeth.
With a look of supreme unconcern, Gabriel lifted his fingers and released Drake. It was like cutting a puppet’s strings. Drake’s entire body shut down as he fell onto the grass with a piercing cry. A dozen or so of his friends rushed forward to surround him, but Rae and her group only had eyes for Gabriel.
And Gabriel only had glaring eyes for Drake.
“How did—” Drake sputtered and trembled, wrapping his arms around himself as he was lifted to his feet. “What did you do to—?”
“Ever wonder how much iron a person has in their blood?” Gabriel interrupted calmly.
His face was a mask of indifference, but Rae was horrified. On either side of her, Julian and Devon were staring at Gabriel like they’d never seen him before. In a way, they hadn’t. They’d certainly had no idea he could do something like this.
Gabriel ignored them completely, keeping his eyes locked on Drake. “I don’t need to leave my seat to kill you. I don’t need to do anything more than lift a finger to reverse the flow of blood to your heart, which, I’ve heard, is a particularly painful way to go.” There was fire in his eyes now. A lethal look of promise that darkened the sunny day. “Every person at this table could kill you in two seconds flat. So my advice, kid, is this…” He leaned forward, sending a collective shiver through the Knights. “Don’t give them a reason to.”
“What the hell is going on here??”
There was a loud bang as the door to the outer courtyard opened and shut. Fodder moved quickly across the grass, followed closely by Carter. Fodder’s eyes flickered immediately from Gabriel’s casually threatening posture, to his fallen agent, then back to the bullet hole in Gabriel’s chest.
One of them seemed to negate the other, and he hesitated, unwilling to accuse.
Carter didn’t appear to have the same problem.
“Alden! What did you do?”
Gabriel stared unabashedly up from the picnic bench, but before he could say anything that was sure to land him in a heap of trouble, a voice piped up from the back of the Knights.
It was the same girl Rae had heard defending them in the hall, the same one who’d fallen prey to Drake and his impotent fireballs. “It wasn’t his fault,” she said quickly. “It was Eeks’.”
Eeks? Rae glanced quickly at her friends. Who the hell was Eeks?
But strangely enough, the rest of the Knights fell instantly in line with this accusation, and they turned around as one, staring at the boy who’d spoken up from the back. His face flushed guiltily and Rae remembered the strange way his words had fallen on the air. Maybe there had been more to them than met the eye?
“Power of persuasion,” Fodder said softly to Carter. “If he wants something done, he needs only suggest it.” He raised his voice and called across the grass. “Mr. Benjamin Eeks, is this true?”
Benjamin pawed nervously at the ground. He shifted nervously from side to side before muttering, “Yes, sir.”
“Laps.” Fodder didn’t even look at him when he said the word. He and Carter simply turned around and started walking back to the compound. When they were halfway there, Fodder paused. “The rest of you, continue training. If I have to come out here again, you can all join Mr. Eeks. I don’t care who started it.” His eyes rested briefly on Gabriel. “Or what condition you’re in.”
Benjamin set out in a quick jog around the compound as Fodder and Carter disappeared inside.
Once they were gone, Rae turned to Gabriel accusingly. “What the hell were you thinking?” she hissed. “You could’ve killed him!”
“That’s exactly what I want him to think,” Gabriel shot back. “That I could have killed him. We all could. But we didn’t.”
She shook her head, watching as Drake was half-carried back into the ranks. “I don’t think that distinction is going to mean a whole lot to him.”
Gabriel followed her gaze with an almost critical stare. “I believe it’s the only thing that will.”
When they left an hour later, Eeks was still running.
* * *
“Did you have any idea that Gabriel could do that?” Rae asked later that night.
She was pacing manically around her room, conjuring random items and stuffing them in drawers and along the shelves to make the place feel more like home. Devon was perched in the middle of the bed, watching her.
“No, I didn’t,” he answered softly. “And that alone is scary as hell. Makes me wonder if he was saving it for something…”
Rae paused, thrown by his assessment. “What? You think he was going to use it on you in the dead of night? I told you, Dev, he gave us his blessing.”
Devon shook his head with a faint grin. “Okay, first of all—that’s absolute bullshit. I don’t care what the guy says. He wants you. He always will. So that means he’ll always hate the idea of you and me. There’s no way he’s giving it his blessing.”
“Then why would—”
“Because that’s what guys do, Rae. We act like we’re okay with things, but we’re not.”
Rae rolled her eyes. “Well, that’s rather passive aggressive of you.” Why was part of her just the teeniest bit glad that Gabriel wanted her? She shook off the thought. “What’s the second thing?”
“The second thing is—I wasn’t talking about him saving it for me. It’s more like…” he paused uncertainly, wondering how to phrase it, “he and Angel have way more damage than the rest of us. Which sometimes seems impossible, I know, but it’s true. They grew up with Cromfield as their teacher, mentor, and father figure. There’s a lot they’ve been through that we’ve no idea about.”
Rae sat down on the edge of the bed, staring at him curiously. “I get that. They were basically bottle-fed by Cromfield. What do you expect from them?”
“Nothing,” Devon said quickly. “I think the fact that they were able to get themselves through something like that and come out even remotely normal on the other side is a testament to their character—all by itself. That’s not what I meant.”
“Then—”
“I’m only saying…they can’t erase everything. You know?”
Unfortunately, Rae did know. The adopted siblings had a whole litany of strange and often dark quirks that were constantly presenting themselves. For example, Angel was turning out to be a bit of a kleptomaniac. It didn’t matter that she had money for anything she could want, or that she had a friend who could conjure her anything she couldn’t find; she delighted in the t
hrill of occasional thievery. Julian had confessed that she’d shoplifted him a candy bar on their first date together. At the time, it had seemed unconventionally charming—a kid who had grown up stealing things she needed to survive swiped him a token at the movies. But as the months progressed, shoplifting turned out to be the least of their problems.
Angel slept with the lights on. When no one was around to call him on it, Gabriel did, too. It was impossible to catch either of them at a moment when they weren’t armed, and they were the kind of people who shot first and asked questions later. They were slow to trust, and even slower to act on that trust. Rae knew; she understood some of it, sympathized for their past, but also stayed partially prepared for them to surprise her.
It was the psychological damage Devon was talking about. The moral compass inside them that—no matter what they did to change it—was always tilting slightly to the left.
“I would never have done what Gabriel did,” Devon said quietly. “I certainly wouldn’t have done it just to prove a point. He’s lucky nothing went wrong. That guy could have been seriously hurt. I don’t care if he deserved it or not. We just…don’t do that.”
Rae sighed, pushing her long hair up out of her face.
Devon was right. No matter how many times the game was explained to them, both Angel and Gabriel played by a slightly different set of rules.
“Angel stopped him,” she offered half-heartedly.
Devon gave her a sarcastic look. “After the kid was already on the ground. And you know she only did that because Jules was there. She always tries harder when he’s around.”
“So what do you suggest?” Rae asked briskly, eager to move on. She’d spent countless nights worrying about exactly this problem, and she was sure she’d spend countless more. She didn’t want to dwell on it any more today.
Devon shook his head and shrugged. “Nothing. I have no idea what to suggest. It is what it is, you know?” His eyes drifted out of focus for a second as he remembered. “I hate to admit it, but a part of me was thrilled. That he could do that,” he explained when Rae gave him a questioning look. “It’s a powerful weapon, and we’re going to need all the help we can get.”
Right again.
“Except, I don’t want to talk about Gabriel.” He smiled suddenly, leaning forward and catching her by surprise with a quick kiss. “There’s actually something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”
“Me first!” she blurted, realizing all at once that this was one of the first times they’d been alone, and there was something she’d been dying to say. “Carter proposed to my mom!”
Devon blinked. Whatever he’d been expecting, it certainly wasn’t that.
“Carter, as in…Carter?”
“Yes.” Her eyes narrowed. “You know, for the Privy Council’s former golden boy, you seem to be lacking in certain key areas.”
“I just can’t believe it,” he mused, eyes wide. Those eyes were quick to find her. “How do you feel about it? I mean… to have Carter as a stepfather? That’s…”
Actually, Rae didn’t know how a guy like Devon would finish that sentence.
Neglected, ignored, and pushed to the brink by his own father? Only to be temporarily disowned altogether for the simple act of falling in love?
To someone like Devon, Carter must have seemed like the perfect alternative.
Engaging, trustworthy, honorable. A man who could play the game but have genuine affection for the players as well? It was the dream.
Wasn’t it?
“I don’t know,” she said carefully. “I mean…I guess I just thought it would never happen. They’ve always known each other from afar; I assumed it would always stay that way.”
Devon nodded understandably, watching with concern as she bit her lip and stared worriedly out the window.
“And you know my history with Carter. We’ve butted heads more times than I can count. I’ve basically made a career of disobeying him. He’s made a career of trying to put me in my place.”
“But he also cares about you,” Devon reminded her gently. “He may show it in a weird way, but he cares about you more than I’ve seen him care about anyone. Except your mom.”
She smacked at his shoulder as he pulled away with a mischievous grin.
“You just had to add that last part in there, didn’t you?”
“What can I say?” His eyes danced as he stayed carefully out of reach. “Who am I to stand in the way of true love? Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Carter. It has a nice ring to it.”
“I’m about two seconds away from showing you what a real fireball looks like.”
“Not the infamous Rae Kerrigan! I wouldn’t stand a chance.” He held up his hands with an adorable look of surrender, and her heart melted in spite of her wrath.
“Fine,” she sniffed. “I’ve decided to spare you. Now, what did you want to tell me?”
She had a pretty good idea about what it was, but it was best to play it cool. She didn’t want to appear over-eager, or like she was expecting anything…
“Carter asked me to go away with him for a few days.”
Rae blinked and then stopped dead in her tracks.
Seemed like they were both full of surprises today.
“After the showdown at Guilder, he wants to try to collect as many ex-Presidents of the Council as possible to rally to our side. Not only would they be invaluable allies as far as tatùs go, but it would send a loud message to anyone still at Guilder who is considering joining our cause.”
He looked at her expectantly, and she hurried to pull herself together. She couldn’t really blame him—not when things were so up in the air, not with so much at stake. They all had a hell of a lot on their minds. But hadn’t he wanted to ask her out again? Or whatever ex-couples did to get back together officially?
“Yeah, uh,” she tucked her hair behind her ears, “that makes a lot of sense. When are you guys going to leave?” She could have predicted the answer even before he said it.
“Tonight. I just wanted to give you a head’s up.” Even as he said it he got to his feet, grabbing his jacket off the chair and slipping it over his muscular shoulders.
Rae watched the whole thing, still frozen in position on the bed. “Right, right. Well…thanks, I guess. For the head’s up.”
He glanced back curiously at her tone, studying her face. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she covered quickly. “I’m just…going to miss you. That’s all.”
He smiled and leaned in for a kiss. “I’m going to miss you, too. That’s why I made Carter promise it’s only going to be a few days.”
Their lips parted as quickly as they’d come together.
“Right, well… be safe,” she said glumly as he pulled open the door.
He looked back with a wry grin, the adorable dimple appearing. “Hey, look at it this way. Every second that Carter’s with me is one second where he won’t be here—marrying your mom.”
She groaned and chucked a pillow at the door. “Never mind. I’m actually quite eager to see you go.”
He chuckled and gave her a parting wave.
She waved back, feeling as though her stomach had fallen out and was rattling around somewhere on the floor.
The second the door closed behind him, she crumbled.
Was he serious? He’d actually forgotten? And mom’s not going to be here either. She’s going to Scotland to start scouting out agents for the same reason…
She lay on her back and stared up at the ceiling, counting the tiny cracks as the sun sank lower and lower in the sky. Her post-graduation life plan wasn’t going at all how she and Molly had originally planned out.
No apartment. No Privy Council. No life in London. Shaky relationship. Mom set to remarry. Allied with the Knights… The list just went on and on.
She was still lying there hours later, feeling very sorry for herself, when there was a knock on the door. Half-hoping it was Devon coming back to say the whole thing was a joke, she leap
t to her feet, grimacing at the pain in her stomach, and ripped the door open.
“Oh…” her face fell as she internally deflated, “…it’s you.”
Gabriel chuckled and shoved his way inside. “And a big hello to you, too.”
“Sorry,” she apologized, shutting the door behind him. “It’s not that. I was just expecting someone else.”
“Drake?” he teased cheerfully. “Because I don’t think he’s going to be up for a rematch anytime soon.”
Her face tightened up in rage. “Are you kidding me? You’re actually going to joke about that? Because no part of it is funny, Gabriel. You could have really—”
“I didn’t come here to make jokes about it,” he interrupted carelessly. “I actually came here for another reason entirely, but I knew you were angry about it, so I wanted to bring it up and get it out of the way first.”
She hesitated, thrown a little off-track. His bluntness could be so derailing. “So you’re here to apologize?”
“Not even remotely,” he smiled charmingly, adjusting his bandage as he gazed up at her from the bed. Despite the bruises and the blood-stained gauze, there was still something overtly sexual about the way he was reclining, and she forced herself to turn away.
“We said we weren’t going to antagonize them,” she chided. “Before we went out to watch them train, I told everyone to keep their distance. No matter what was said.”
“I know you did. I disagreed.”
She gawked at him. “So you just went ahead and did whatever you wanted to do?’
Much to her surprise, he laughed softly as he pulled himself to his feet. With surprising grace, considering the fact that he’d recently been shot, he crossed the room and took her hand. “Yeah, Rae. I did. Because—and I can’t see how the hell this would come as much of a shock—I don’t take orders from you.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but for once came up infuriatingly blank.
He laughed again. “Little Miss Leader’s got nothing to say? No, Rae. I might go along with you when I think you’re right, but I certainly didn’t vote you in charge. Neither did Devon, by the way,” he added suddenly, with a bit too much interest. “I imagine that was a subject of much conversation after you left him behind before the Guilder fight.”