Chosen_Book One

by Rebecca Thomas

  “Your threats don’t scare me, Diana. I know I have a lot to answer for, but I’m not here to talk about the past, I’m here to talk about you having any chance of a future with your son.”

  Diana faltered for a moment, but only a moment.

  “Caleb already made it very clear where his loyalties lie.”

  “That’s because Caleb is practical and is choosing what he knows, as well as the people he cares about,” Ezra said. “If Caleb knew you, if you knew him, things would be different.”

  Diana shook her head.

  “The Elders took away any chance of reconciliation when they sent him away and told me he was dead. There’s no coming back from what has been done.”

  “That’s because you don’t understand…”

  “I don’t understand?! You’re the one who doesn’t understand! You have no idea what it’s like to be separated from your only child!” she spat.

  Ezra had forgotten that they never got the chance to tell Diana that Anya was pregnant. They were going to do it when he came back from his mission, but it was cut short by Caleb’s accident, and everything fell apart from there.

  “You’re wrong. I have a child somewhere out there in the world who doesn’t even know I exist. I don’t know their name, whether they’re a boy, girl or somewhere in between. I don’t know what they’re like, who they like, where they live, what they do. At least you got to know your son for a little while and at least you have a chance of getting to know your son again now.”

  Diana didn’t look like she knew what to do with this information. She was still beyond furious, but she hadn’t stopped to consider what had happened since she had been gone, what she had put in motion with her own decisions.

  “You can’t put that on me.”

  “It was my decision, yes, but your recklessness has spoiled so much of your own life. Why are you prepared to continue down this path when you know that it will only bring you more heartache?”

  “Because this can’t go on. Guardians and Chosen are vital to the survival of life on this planet, but the rules they live under are archaic,” she said.

  “I understand, and I want to talk.”

  “The other Elders won’t,” she still sounded so certain.

  “It may take some coaxing…”

  “No, Ezra. These are the same people who took my son away from me and banned all Guardians from having families after one accident. They are not amenable to reason and they won’t listen to words. It has to be a show of force or they have to be removed.”

  Ezra could feel himself losing grip on this uphill climb. It had been too long, Diana was far too set on this course of action.

  “You won’t even consider doing this for Caleb?” he asked.

  Diana pressed her lips together but didn’t make any other motion.

  “It’s impossible,” she said, sounding sad now rather than angry. “I’m the unstoppable force and he’s the immovable object. There is no way we get a happy ending in these circumstances.”

  “I don’t believe that to be true,” he said.

  Diana shrugged.

  “It doesn’t matter. Your opinion doesn’t matter to me anymore.”

  Ezra stared at her, unable to discern whether or not she truly meant those words. There was too much history between them now that he couldn’t tell.

  “Now, I won’t tell you again. Leave or I’ll let them at you and it won’t be pretty.”

  He knew that much to be true.

  Before he took his leave, he glanced back at her standing there, hands on hips, her stern expression wavering as she thought he wouldn’t see.

  “Whatever happens, I want you to know how remarkable Caleb is as both a person and a Guardian. He’s better than anyone I’ve ever known, and I’ve done my best to protect him and care for him as if he were my own family. It’s torture watching him, knowing that he thinks you’ve made him the sole reason for your entire crusade. Consider that before you make your final decision,” he said.

  Ezra didn’t wait for a reaction, him staying wouldn’t help change her mind. Hopefully what he said would touch what was left of her broken heart and maybe, just maybe, they could find a peaceful solution that would suit everyone.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Caleb had decided to take some time alone to clear his head. Preparing the Citadel for battle was tiring work and kept him distracted for the most part but worries kept creeping back in whenever he wasn’t preoccupied with chores. There were more general concerns about the Citadel at large and everyone who lived there, who would end up fighting there. Even with Will on their side now, there were going to be casualties. Their limited number of healers meant that some might even die.

  But then there were more specific worries too. Lily and Hallie were both defenceless without someone protecting them and he didn’t want to see either of them hurt. Then there was the fact that this was Kiara’s first big fight. The guys at the bar were going to seem like nothing in comparison to well-trained Guardians and Chosen. He knew she couldn’t get killed, but that didn’t stop her from getting badly injured. She wasn’t immune to everything.

  Finally, he was scared about what would happen if he ended up coming face to face with his Mom in the middle of it all. He knew how vehement he’d been with her back in London, but it was different when there was a chance that they could come to blows.

  Caleb kept trying to push this all from his mind, knowing that it would only make things worse for him when the battle began. It was difficult, though, even now that he was away from everyone else.

  His phone ringing startled him. He thought that it might be Lily or Kiara telling him to come back inside, as he’d ended up wandering quite far from the Citadel, but it was a blocked number.

  “Hello?”

  “Caleb, it’s me.”

  Caleb almost dropped his phone. It was his Mom.

  “How did you get this number?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Just, don’t hang up.”

  Caleb probably would have if there wasn’t something different about her voice. He could tell that something had changed.

  “Okay.”

  There was a small but grateful sigh.

  “Ezra came to see me last night.”

  “He did?”

  This conversation was full of surprises already.

  “Yes, and he took his own life in his hands to do so, as I almost skewered him on sight,” she said.

  It was a good thing she hadn’t otherwise they probably wouldn’t be talking.

  “What did he say?”

  “A lot of stuff that I didn’t want to listen to at first, but I’ve been walking around the camp all morning thinking about you and the people whose lives I’m putting in danger by doing this and... “

  And?

  “I’ve decided that I want to stop everything for long enough to talk to the Elders. If there’s a way that we can solve this without fighting, then we should at least try.”

  Caleb felt himself trembling.

  “Really?”

  “Really.”

  He didn’t know what exactly Ezra had said to his Mom, but it had to have been some powerful stuff to make her consider doing this.

  “Thank you,” he said.

  “Don’t thank me yet. I still have to convince everyone else that pressing pause is the right decision here. It’s difficult to know how many will be willing to try diplomacy after all the promises I’ve made.”

  She was right, this was far from over. Relief could wait.

  “How do you want to do this?” he asked.

  “I’ll call a camp meeting this afternoon and let them know of my decision. If that goes well, then I will meet you at the border at seven this evening and I’ll come with you back to the Citadel to have a sit down with the Elders. If I’m not there, then…”

  “I’ll assume the worst.”

  Caleb hoped that her people would be willing to listen, he didn’t want to think that they would turn o
n her when she was trying to be reasonable.

  There was silence, neither of them knowing what to say.

  “Be careful,” he said eventually.

  “You too, Caleb.”

  ~

  At the time, Diana hadn’t wanted to listen to Ezra’s words, but they had stuck with her anyway. The man was a pain in her ass. She had been fully prepared to go ahead with her plan, even after Will left, but then he came waltzing in with his wisdom and put her head in a spin. In the end, she hadn’t been able to reason away her doubts anymore. She had to try to peaceful way.

  She called a full camp meeting in the middle of the afternoon that she could see going one of two ways: either most would be accepting of this new plan and she would be able to meet Caleb later, or it would go down like a lead balloon and all hell would break loose. She honestly had no idea which it would be.

  Once everyone had gathered together, Diana climbed up onto one of the benches to give her a better vantage over the crowd. People slowly quietened down until she had almost complete silence.

  “First of all, thank you to all of you for coming. I know it was short notice asking you all to make your way from your respective locations, but I thought we were going to have to make a move quickly once the Elders discovered our plan. As it turns out, we’ve been offered an alternative.”

  A wave of murmurs broke out, but quickly died back down. Aaren, who was stood near her with Priya, looked intrigued.

  “I’ve spoken with Ezra Mahmid and he has told me that he is willing to listen. It seems the Elders want to avoid a fight at all costs. This could work in our favour.”

  “You once told me that you would never consider an offer from the Elders, that whatever they gave us would be nothing in comparison to what we could achieve if we overthrew them,” someone called out from a couple of rows back.

  “Things have changed since then. Will has left us to be with his sister, who is at the Citadel, and I’ve discovered that my son is there too.”

  This earned some gasps and more noise, which didn’t quiet down.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Aaren asked.

  “I didn’t want to be talked out of my plan because Caleb chose them over me, but now I know that there’s a chance for peace, I must try.”

  Aaren nodded. She knew that she could count on him to have her back.

  The others, however…

  “So, you’re just going to give in to them because they have leverage?” Ricardo asked, looking displeased.

  A lot of people were starting to look annoyed.

  “My son isn’t leverage. He was the reason that I started all of this, if I don’t try to work things out then I risk losing him forever.”

  “That’s great for you, what about us? We’ve already turned our backs on the Elders and they know it. Do you think they’ll be forgiving?” he continued.

  “We haven’t made a move against them yet,” Aaren said, coming to her aid. “That’s got to count for something.”

  “You’re being naive. The other reason we started this was because of their lack of forgiveness, the cold-hearted way they treat those in their order.”

  “Please, everyone, if we reject this offer now then there truly is no going back,” Diana said.

  “We already accepted the danger when you recruited us. We won’t back down because of a moment of weakness on your part,” Ricardo told her, brandishing a finger in her direction. “Who is still for the original plan?”

  There was a roar from behind him, the majority of the camp falling in line with their new leader.

  “Ricardo, listen to me, you can’t--”

  “Get her down from there. She can’t be trusted to lead us anymore.”

  A couple of people tried to make a grab for her, but Aaren stood squarely in their way. “If you want her, you have to go through me.”

  “And me,” Priya said.

  “So be it.”

  It was astonishing how quickly everything turned nasty. As the camp surged towards them, Diana hopped down from the bench and stood in a semicircle with Aaren and Priya. She wasn’t going to be silenced that easily.

  Diana threw a punch at the first person who tried to strike her, knuckles connecting with jaw. As they stumbled backwards, Diana had to bend out of the way of Aaren tossing someone right across her, watching them as they crashed into a nearby tent. She had forgotten what Aaren was capable of when he was angry.

  She floored someone coming up on Priya, then spun and decked another camper right in the neck, which made them collapse instantly, writhing on the floor as they gasped for oxygen.

  “Watch out!” Priya said just a moment too late, leaving Diana unprepared for fist to the gut.

  Another person moved in, the two of them surrounding her as she clutched her stomach. Priya helped fight them off, but there were too many of them closing in fast.

  "Go! Run!" Aaren growled, throwing another of the group away from them.

  "We're not leaving you here alone," Diana told him, pushing him out of the way of a bullet so it grazed his arm rather than pierce his chest.

  There was no way that he could take on a hundred of them by himself.

  Aaren swung out with his arm and it connected with a man's torso, but he was immediately overwhelmed by three more.

  "Aaren!" Priya shouted as she was jumped from behind, but he was powerless to do anything to help her because he was being beaten to a pulp.

  Diana let out a war cry as a distraction, however, it was too late. Despite her attempts to resist them, a blinding pain seared across the side of her head and everything went dark.

  ~

  “Uhhnnn.”

  Diana groaned in response to her throbbing head, briefly wishing that she was still unconscious. She didn’t know how long it been and she couldn’t open her eyes quite yet, just thinking about doing it made it hurt more.

  “Diana?”

  “Priya, is that you?”

  “Oh, I’m so glad you’re awake. I was beginning to think that you might not come around at all, the blood on your head…”

  “It feels worse than it looks,” Diana grumbled.

  Forcing her eyelids apart made her senses start to adjust to her surroundings. There were muffled voices outside, which meant they were likely in a tent. Her hands and legs were both tied up, so she couldn’t escape, and she could now see that the light outside was beginning to fade.

  “How long has it been?” she asked Priya.

  “A couple of hours. Aaren is here too, but he’s out cold. They beat him for a while longer after you passed out, he’s barely breathing.”

  That wasn’t good. If they didn’t get Aaren proper medical help soon then he might not survive, especially if he had internal injuries.

  “Is there a way to get out of these bindings?”

  “Not without a knife and they stripped us of all our weapons.”

  “Calling for help isn’t an option, we don’t know who we can trust,” Diana said, going through their options out loud. “I was supposed to be meeting Caleb soon. There’s a chance that when I don’t show, he’ll try to come get us.”

  “Will Aaren last that long?”

  “I don’t know.”

  This was dire. What they truly needed right now was a miracle. Life hadn’t been inclined to give her any slack before, why would that change now?

  “Diana?”

  “Eshe?”

  Someone up there must have heard her.

  “Are you all okay?” Eshe asked, pressing her ear to the back of the tent so she could hear them without them having to shout.

  “Priya and I are coping, Aaren is in a bad way.”

  “I saw the end of the fight when I came back from the market and had to question a couple of people to find out what happened. I’m so sorry, Diana. If I had been here, then…”

  “You would have got lumped in here with us,” Diana said. “You’re not the one to blame.”

  “Neither are you. You tried to do
the right thing, their animosity towards the order is not all your doing.”

  “I stoked the fire.”

  “Erm,” Priya interrupted. “Aaren is getting worse.”

  Diana could hear him wheezing now every time he breathed.

  “Eshe, I need you to go to the border and get my son. Caleb’s waiting for me there. If you can bring him back here, then he can help you get us out.”

  “Then what?”

  “We’ll seek refuge at the Citadel. The healers there will be able to sort out the worst of Aaren’s injuries in no time. It’s the only good plan we have if he’s to live.”

  “I’ll go straight away. Just, hang in there.”

  “We will.”

  Diana watched Eshe’s shadow disappear as the woman ran for the camp’s parking lot.

  “Diana?” Priya said.

  “Yeah?”

  “Do you mind if I pray for Aaren?”

  “Go ahead.”

  Diana knew that Aaren needed all the help he could get, and it gave her time to figure out an escape if her current plan didn’t work. This wasn’t going to be the day that any of them died, she would make sure of it.

  ~

  Caleb never expected to be this concerned about his Mom’s well-being, mostly because for the last three decades, he thought she was dead. Now that she was alive and risking everything to try to find a way to peacefully resolve her fight with the Elders, he had even more reason to tap his fingers nervously against the steering wheel as he waited for her to appear. Every minute that ticked by only made him more anxious. When she was half an hour late, he considered trying to figure out a way to ring her back on the blocked number but told himself that she might have got held up by traffic. After an hour, however, he was starting to conclude that the worst had in fact happened and that he needed to get back to the Citadel as quickly as possible before the camp launched an attack.

  Sliding the car key into the ignition, Caleb was about to start the car when another car screeched up and parked in front of his, so it blocked him in. A black woman jumped out and ran around to his window, motioning for him to wind it down.