A new kind of quiet came over the room that involved a lot of shared looks.
King Arthur stepped forward. “The Banner of the West declines.”
“As does the South,” Augustus declared.
Jack’s heart sank. Arthur had already made the rounds, it seemed, garnering support for his side before Claire even walked into the room.
He should have known—and would have assumed—if it had been anyone but Arthur. The king had never been anything but fair with him.
Now this.
Jack couldn’t meet Claire’s eyes as he accepted the inevitable. He and Claire would never work together again.
“The Banner of the North accepts Claire Ramsey as its charge.”
The whole room inhaled in surprise when Prince Abed’s mother spoke. Her son might take after his father in being a child of the West, but that didn’t make Anila any less the Queen of the North.
And she’d just accepted Claire.
In an uncharacteristic show of fury, Arthur stepped her way. “You have no idea what you’re doing.”
“Says the hand to the brain,” Queen Anila said, not even close to backing down.
“I will hold you responsible for her legacy!” Arthur sneered, to which Anila tipped her head respectfully.
“The North never hides from the truth, just as it never lets fear block potential.” She looked at Claire. “This one must have great potential, for you to be so scared.”
As if punctuating her claim, the bells high up in the mountain bell tower started ringing, signaling the end of the Day of Anemone.
Everyone officially had their titles back.
Prince Abed’s father placed his hand on his wife’s shoulder. “The queen has spoken. We accept Miss Ramsey as our charge. Let it be written; let it be done.”
The herald pounded his staff three times. “It shall be done.”
There was some unease on the floor as several of the Royals took note of Arthur storming from the room. Jack had never seen him so mad.
Eyes moved back to Kali. Knowing whatever came next wouldn’t be good for her, Jack launched to his feet.
“I can vouch for Kali,” he said loudly, drawing everyone’s attention. “She has spent most of the past two years on Slaver’s Island. She asked me to place her there so she could learn how to avoid The Fours in the real world.” He sent a pointed look at the knights, who were still on the ground. “I think she learned what she wanted to learn. I know she hasn’t made the best first impression, but I trust her. Everyone on my team trusts her with their lives.”
King Augustus sent a sharp look at Ren, who immediately dropped his eyes and moved into a shallow bow. “Is this true, Ren?”
Eyes still down, Ren nodded. “It is, Your Highness.”
Malachi walked up and tapped his hand against the container that had caused all the confusion. “I’d like to point out that the missile this box rode in on is sitting in the main hangar. It is my gift to the kings and queens of all houses. I ask no favor in return. But, if you feel so inclined, please allow me some time with Kali. I think I can address that situation to the satisfaction of everyone present in the time it takes you all to view the missile.”
At that point in time, his suggestion was an out everyone looked willing to take.
Abed’s father stepped forward. “That makes Kali’s actions your responsibility.”
Malachi nodded. “Of course.”
There were a whole lot of shared looks as the four knights that had escorted Dr. Yalin from the room returned. They saw their peers on the ground and advanced on instinct.
Kali spotted them first and shook her head at them. “Let’s not, okay? Your friends are fine, but not so fine that I’d recommend joining them.”
Jack missed their reaction when Tiki’s voice whispered into his ear. “Now that’s a phoenix!” In a blink, she was standing in front of him, frowning like a disappointed teacher. “You said you didn’t know her.”
“And you said it would be a guy,” he shot back, not knowing why he was arguing with her.
Kali? A phoenix? It … was possible.
Heaven help her, Kali could be a phoenix. If so, Jack had been the one to put her on that track when he saved her from The Fours two years ago.
A heavy sorrow settled into Jack’s chest while Tiki danced in front of him like a cheerleader.
“You have to introduce us,” she gushed. “Is she seeing anyone? I need you to make it abundantly clear that I have absolutely nothing better to do than spend 100% of my time with her, okay?”
That wouldn’t be happening.
Behind her, Jack watched as Malachi motioned for Kali to follow him down the steps. To his relief, Kali played along.
Did Malachi think Kali was a phoenix, too? If so, why hadn’t he come straight to Jack about it? Why go behind his back?
“Are you going to talk to her?” Tiki asked. “You should totally go talk to her. I’m coming, by the way. Be sure to mention that I’m single.”
“She’s not interested.”
“Just mention it!” Tiki begged.
“No.”
“Fine,” she huffed. “See if I ever do you a favor.”
“Please don’t.”
Officially released from duties, Jack stood from his seat, his eyes moving to Claire. She was already looking at him.
What just happened? she mouthed.
Having no answer for her, Jack settled on moving down the stairs and pulling her into his arms as everyone else headed for the hangar via the cloak room.
“Did you see how she took out those guys?” Claire asked against his chest.
“No,” he said honestly. “I was looking at you.”
Claire leaned away. “She’s different now.”
Jack nodded. “I’m gathering that. How are you?”
“Good!” she beamed. “The Banner of the North accepted me. That’s my banner, right?”
“Yes,” Jack said, joining her enthusiasm. “And if Prince Abed is anything to judge Queen Anila by, you are in excellent hands.”
“I know!” she squealed. “She seems amazing.”
Jack smiled down at her, unable to resist the urge to press a kiss to her lips. She returned it enthusiastically but seemed to sense his more somber mood.
“What?” she asked, pulling away. “Why aren’t you happy?”
“I’ll miss you,” he admitted. “You’ll need to go with her tonight. We won’t see each other again for at least six months.”
Her smile faded. “What?”
He nodded. “That’s how it works. You either get on her plane when we all leave, or you don’t. That’s how you accept her offer.”
“Oh,” Claire said, paling a bit.
He reached out and took her hands in his. “But you know where to find me. And I’ll be waiting, okay?”
Her cheeks filled in with that shy pink shade that had charmed him from the beginning. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” he said, taking a moment to memorize how she looked right then—wearing that unbelievable dress and looking up at him like he was the Prince Charming of the night.
He didn’t deserve someone as pure as her. Deep down, he knew that. But love didn’t care what you knew. It just knew when your heart had what it needed to make it in this crazy world.
And he needed Claire. Six months was a long time, but if it meant he got to keep Claire with him forever after that, then it was an easy sacrifice.
“How long do we have before we have to leave?” Claire asked.
“Not long,” he said softly. “Queen Anila is a mom, after all. Once the kids start crashing, all the parents start taking off.”
That got a smile out of Claire. “Not so different from regular folks, eh?”
“Oh, they’re different,” Jack laughed. “You’ll find that out soon enough. But they are people.”
“I’ll think about them later,” Claire said, playing with his cravat. “For now…”
She pushed up on her to
es and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. For a moment, Jack enjoyed the simple touch. Then he pulled her close and lost himself in it.
Chapter 28
Kali
Recent virtual experiences had made Kali more than a little wary of getting in elevators with strange men, but there was something familiar about Malachi.
Besides, she could definitely beat him up. So she got in the elevator and stayed silent as it went up a couple hundred feet. The green-eyed man was taking her somewhere very high off the ground.
This should be fun.
Careful, Ace teased. He might surprise you by not trying to kill you.
I’ll believe it when I see it, she thought back, even though she sensed Ace was right. Kali knew the vibe of a person intent on killing pretty well. She’d seen how it played out on nearly every type of face imaginable.
And Malachi didn’t have that vibe.
He did, however, have an agenda.
Of all the things this Malachi could have asked for as payment, he’d chosen her.
Why?
Ask him, Ace urged.
When they reached the top, the door opened to the view of a vast nightscape of snow-covered mountains with ribbons of northern lights weaving through the sky.
Wanting to see more clearly, Kali pushed the hood from her head, silencing Ace and surrounding herself with some of nature’s most brutal beauty as she stepped out of the elevator.
The “room” they stood in was a glass box of sorts, a drop of hundreds of feet directly below her shoes. She felt no wind or the bite of being cold, making the view even more surreal. A phantom sense of vertigo tickled on the edge of her awareness before she breathed it away and told her mind to accept the situation and just focus on the view.
Either it was a new moon, or it hadn’t risen yet, but there was plenty of light to see the type of snow-capped mountainscape she’d only seen in pictures before.
Not caring if it was real or pixels, Kali drank it all in.
“This is one of my favorite spots on earth,” Malachi said next to her, clearly at home in the space. “I don’t come here enough.”
Kali studied the green-eyed man as his thumb nervously toyed with the ring on his right hand. The rest of his body was still and his eyes looked like he wished he could see even farther than the current view allowed.
Kali knew the look. Hope. Faith.
He’d said back in the ballroom that he wasn’t an optimist, but that was a lie. Malachi had the eyes of a man whose vivid hopes still remained unseen. Kali knew the look because she’d sported it once herself. The island had cured her of it long ago, but she still knew the basic recipe for trying to will something into existence.
Poor guy. People like him felt life’s blows the hardest.
“It’s breathtaking,” Kali replied, knowing they had to start the conversation somewhere. “Any reason you’re sharing it with me?”
He smiled at her, his green eyes flashing the same color as the ribbons of light in the sky. “Privacy, mostly. There’s a fae down there who is desperate to shadow you. But she can’t reach here, and everyone else avoids this spot on purpose.”
“A fae?” Kali asked, not sure she’d heard correctly. “Is that a term, like a pimpernel or an angel?”
He nodded, appearing pleased she’d made the connection. “Yes. A fae is someone who performs one skill to perfection, without failure.”
“What kind of skill?” she asked, curious despite herself.
He looked back toward the Northern Lights. “It’s different with every fae, and every fae can only do one thing. They live in the real world, but most people never see them. You, however, will likely end up seeing them a lot.”
Great. That didn’t sound good. “Why?”
He pointed his thumb toward the elevator. “Because of that show you put on down there. She thinks you’re a phoenix. Or, as they say it, a faenyx.”
“And what’s a faenyx?”
“A large-scale disrupter pretty much everyone is trying to kill all the time.”
Yeah. That sounded like her life, alright. Although she’d really been looking forward to turning over a new leaf on that front—especially if Ace had been telling the truth about erasing her from The Four’s system.
Oh, well. Some things never changed, it seemed.
“Sounds fun,” she said, pushing past the instinct to get derailed on the topic. She wanted facts, not theories. “What’s a fae’s role in your world?”
“They balance karma, making them unpredictable allies, but ultimately benevolent. They exploit weaknesses before they become catastrophic, so the sooner they get to you, the better. But doing that requires never putting themselves in the position of obeying orders. They must remain free agents with the autonomy to agitate anyone and everyone.” He smiled slyly. “But even they don’t dare to talk back to the Royals like you just did. You’re going to have some fae groupies after tonight, whether you’re a faenyx or not. I hope your time in VR simulations prepared you for that.”
Her time in VR.
He was implying this was real. She was standing in a climate-controlled glass box on top of the world somewhere, with the Northern Lights swirling around like a dream, and he wanted her to believe it was real.
But the truth was that unless he was about to tell her the past two years were a bad dream and she could go home, Kali didn’t care if this was real or not. In fact, the more virtual, the better. Especially when the gig came with a cool jacket and a nice view.
A thoughtful silence followed before Kali bit the bullet and broke it.
“So is this the part where you tell me why I’m here?”
He took a slow breath. “I’ve spent a lot of time, up until now, debating how I should answer that question.”
“And?” she prompted.
He weighed what he said next before he spoke. “I’ve seen kings lose courage and refuse to step out of the elevator when they come to this spot.”
Kali wasn’t sure how that was an answer, but she nodded her understanding. “Okay. And that’s relevant, how?”
“You’re not afraid, which means you see,” Malachi said, looking at her again. “Clearly. That tells me if I lie—even in the slightest—you will know.”
“I’d like to think so,” she replied.
He took another breath. “I never practiced telling you the truth—the whole truth. I was always going to tell you part of it, but … give me a second, okay?”
She did. Then she gave him two. But when she saw his jaw clutch with tension, she decided to break the mood.
“Why me?” she asked. “Why have Dr. Yalin break me out, when Jack could have just flown there and gotten me?”
“Ah, that choice was two-fold,” he said, sounding more relaxed. “I needed Dr. Yalin to prove himself while burning all bridges back to The Fours. And I needed you back on the playing board.”
“You could have just asked.”
Malachi shook his head. “No. I’m sorry, but I don’t know if you’re aware of where you’ve put yourself psychologically. Since killing your born identity, you’ve spent nearly all your time virtually dying in an attempt to find your way back to an old life that no longer exists. If Jack would have offered you the chance to leave the island, you would have stayed and kept looking for a way to undo what was done to you.”
Well, that was … accurate.
“You got caught in a loop,” he said as if apologizing for it. “Intent on beating a system within a program designed to only let you escape when you lost all respect for life. You died, on average, five times a day, slowly compartmentalizing yourself until everything that mattered to you got tucked into a hidden box, and you could call everything that was left by the name Kali and keep going.”
Again, accurate. Much more accurate than she wanted him to be.
“The truth is, I really need Kali.” He reached out and touched her hood. “And I need you to succeed so much, that I’m trusting you with Ace. Because without the two
of you, I pretty much sentenced Jack to death tonight.”
It had been a long time since Kali had felt her heart lurch with emotion, but the thought of Jack dying got a solid tug from her. “How can you know that?”
He shrugged. “It’s what I do. There’s no way to prove it, but one of the things I planned to tell you tonight is that we take life-debts very seriously in our group. When someone saves your life, you stay with them and serve them until you return the favor. Then you get your life back.”
“That sounds like a movie,” Kali said.
“Well, it was tradition before it went into the movies. And we started it.”
“Sounds noble.”
His green eyes sought hers again. “Will you be noble, Kali? Will you stay with Jack until you save his life?”
The intensity in his voice caught her off guard. She knew her answer, but part of her wanted to know more before she answered.
“How do you know I will?”
He hesitated, starting to say something before stopping himself. “Because Claire is going to make a mistake,” he said finally. “She will become an oracle and join Jack’s team, and she will be amazing. They will do great things together. But Claire has a blind spot, and that blind spot will get Jack killed. I see it, as does my father, but we are not allowed to intervene. We have rules, and one of them is to never interfere with free will.”
Interesting. “But aren’t you breaking that rule by sending me in?”
He shook his head. “No. Because you will have free will to do what you choose, and I will not tell you what to look for. You will decide what to do or not do. You will determine if Jack lives or not. That is why I chose you. Because you have the potential to see the blind spot before it strikes.”
Kali let all that sink in a bit. It certainly made the drama back in the throne room make a whole lot more sense. The anger. The fear. The veiled threats.
Malachi’s father cared about Jack and saw Claire as his downfall.
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