by F. F. John
Looking back at Adela, her eyes are alert and dart between them. If she gets Invier killed …
“I take it you want to die next, Invier Floran?” He lets loose a sardonic grin and my mouth dries.
“No I don’t and nobody else has to. You’ve proven your point - you control the estate and you have Neith locked in there.” Invier gestures at the door. “You’ve won.”
Mehrdad raises an eyebrow pretending to be stunned. “Is that a compliment?” He strides to Invier. “You bookish Florans may not understand, but merely winning is not the objective of warfare. The complete decimation of the opponent is.”
Several seconds pass with them scowling, noses practically touching and I feel a nervous flutter. Back away, Invier.
Finally, Mehrdad chuckles and steps away. The sound makes my skin crawl but a sense of relief soon comes over me. I lessen my grip on the table’s edge. This de-escalation needs to last a little longer so I can get Invier and Bel out of there.
“I’m tired of talking.” He turns his back to Invier and eyes the door separating us. “Since the scioness has chosen to stay hidden in there, someone else needs to die.”
“Scion Cyra,” I say, “we can work something—”
“You know you would never have won, right?” Adela says while wiping blood off her face. “This one,” she tilts her head at Invier, “was in cahoots with the scioness to win the whole thing.”
My stomach leaps to my mouth.
“You bitch!” Invier cries. “How could you?”
I grip the table’s edge tighter.
Mehrdad whistles a slow tune. “Is that true, Invier Floran?”
Why did Adela tell Mehrdad about Invier and me? How does that further the plans made with my father? My brain sputters to make sense of this development and frustrated, I stop trying. For once, Mehrdad, Invier and I are in agreement on something. She’s a bitch.
“And I thought you were the most upstanding of us all,” Mehrdad says to Invier. There’s a maniacal grin on his face and laughter in his voice. “I’m saddened to learn that you are no different than the rest of us.”
He returns to twirling his gun. “Time to be as scared as you were during the opening ceremony.” Invier steps back but a soldier grabs him. “Actually, perhaps I should have some fun with you, first.”
A burly soldier wraps his thick arms around Invier from behind. He struggles to break free as my hands sweat. With Mehrdad’s track record for depravity, I don’t want to imagine what he’s going to do.
“Bring him over here,” Mehrdad commands.
The soldier drags him to the eastern table, not far from where a disabled Aina lies. I wish she was working. I could get her to intercede on Invier’s behalf right now.
“Aina!” I call her but she doesn’t move.
“Don’t come out, Neith!” Invier calls out. What is Mehrdad going to do to him? I have to do something.
“Place his hand here.” Mehrdad taps a spot on the table with his gun’s barrel. The soldier holds Invier’s right wrist, keeping his fingers spread across the surface.
“Scion Cyra, this is far from necessary.” I try to keep my voice as stable as possible but his response is a dark cackle. The gun points at Invier's hand.
“No matter what happens, don’t you dare come out!” The terror in Invier’s voice is all I can focus on. The gunshot roars in my ears as do his screams. He can’t withdraw his hand as the soldier continues to hold it down. The table is slick with his blood and Invier writhes to get out of his captor’s grip.
This time, my scream is loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Scioness?” Mehrdad sings my title while waving his gun in the air. I tremble as I watch Invier fall to his knees. “Your co-conspirator has another hand and two feet. Then two knees and two elbows …” He quirks an eyebrow, his threat hangs in the air. “How much longer will you keep me waiting?”
Mehrdad lifts his gun to Invier’s forehead.
Chapter Forty-Seven
Neith
I’ve had enough. My lips part. “Open—”
A clicking sound to my right makes me freeze. The middle panel in the wooden wall swings open.
“Don’t you dare open that door!” Father rushes to the table, drenched in sweat. Behind him comes Sohr. She dips her head to clear the top of the opening and enters the office.
“You’re alive!” I say, breathless. “Where have you been?” My gaze strays back to the wooden wall. If I hadn’t seen a door materialize, I wouldn’t believe there was a compartment there.
“Activate Phalanx, authorization code 5306690,” he says instead of answering my query.
On the screen, Invier breaks free from the soldier and elbows him in the face. He then turns on Mehrdad knocking his small gun from his hands. It clatters against the floor and they both dive for it. While they tussle, Aina rises to her feet in the corner of the room. The soldiers, who were moving towards the brawl, freeze in their tracks at the sight of the female AI.
She dashes to Mehrdad’s side and grabs his hand as he’s about to smash Invier in the face. Aina pulls him upright. The female soldier drops to her knees with her hands up as Aina withdraws a gun from a section in her left thigh and shoots the three standing male soldiers. With one bullet for each soldier, she hits them all north of their neck. I drag my eyes away so as not to see the points of impact. Upon a fourth shot, my eyes open. The female soldier is on her back with most of her face gone.
“What is this?” Mehrdad cries in distress as he tries to free himself from Aina’s grip. “Get this thing off me!”
Father pushes me out of his way and settles into his chair, “Alpha Squad, report to my office immediately. Zeta Squad, I need you and Delta Squad to get rid of all hostiles. Beta Squad, report to the security building. All remaining squadrons, await instructions from Landen Sohr.”
The eastern wall in the narthex reveals another hidden compartment and white-clad soldiers stream in. Each wears a helmet that hides their face, making them indistinguishable from one another. I blink in surprise when I notice my nome’s insignia on their chest in silver. Soldiers attend to Bel, Invier, and Adela.
I’ve just opened the office doors when Father says, “I need you to stay here.” Mere steps away, one of our new soldiers injects Invier with something. His twisted features immediately relax. I want to be by his side but for now, the danger has abated and he’s in good hands.
Retracing my steps, I walk past Sohr who taps me on the back as she goes by. When I get to his side, his screen changes to show live footage of Reffour soldiers taking down Cyra’s men across the estate. They move with unnatural speed and I watch as they absorb ammunition without flinching or slowing their advance. They overcome Cyra’s soldiers in a matter of minutes.
I clasp my hands together and breathe a sigh of relief when a squad leader announces that all intruders have been apprehended or killed. If only Portan could be here to share in this moment. I close my eyes and see the muzzle flash and his body drop. Tears threaten to drop but I fight them away.
Focus, Neith! There will be time to mourn him. With that, I fold my arms and think about the next issue that needs to be tackled. These new soldiers. It’s been years since my family participated in the annual Synod by purchasing a contingent of soldiers to protect our estate and other business or personal properties. Yet, despite that, hundreds of soldiers have spread out across the grounds. I need to know where they came from and make sure we haven’t amassed a private army outside of the purview of the Pact.
“Please tell me we haven’t violated the Pact with these soldiers because if we have, you’ve put our future in jeopardy and we need to find a remedy right now.” Like me, Father is aware of the rules. Nomes are only to acquire security forces from Nome Cyra. “This won’t be tolerated by the others. We’re already under scrutiny with the death of two scions and with another in a coma, we’re going to get the sort of attention we don’t need.”
His expression is almost amu
sed. “Everything is going to be fine. Your Pursual created an opportunity and I seized it.”
“You’re not taking this seriously.” My voice cracks, further rankling me. I have to be commanding in this moment. “Between you working with the Seltans to kill scions and now this secretly amassed army, you have gone entirely too far!” I get louder.
“Neith—”
“I’m not done. So you know, I’m tired of you treating me like a child. I have a right and a duty to know what’s going on with this family!”
A silence stretches between us as I struggle to get a hold of myself. I must be level headed to figure out a way to get us out of this quandary. I can’t freeze the way I did tonight in the face of trouble. Had I been more proactive, I might have prevented Portan’s death and protect Bel and Invier from tonight’s madness.
Portan once told me, “Doubt leads to fear. Fear leads to costly mistakes.” His words have never been truer than now. I have so much to learn if I’m going to someday become the sort of Titane who can protect my nome and the ones I love.
“Adela told you?” Father breaks the quiet. His voice doesn’t convey the concern it should.
“She did and I can’t believe you’d go that far. If anyone finds out, you’d be killed and we’d lose everything.”
He groans. “We’ll talk about it in a moment, let’s take care of something else.” The screen now shows that only Mehrdad and Invier remain in the narthex under Sohr’s watchful gaze. An electronic bolt spits out sparks around Mehrdad’s wrists. Leaning against the table opposite him is Invier, whose injured hand is encased in flexband. They glare at each other.
“Bring in Scion Cyra.”
The sight of Mehrdad makes me seethe as Sohr marches him in. His expression is confident and defiant. He has a small smile on his lips.
“This has been a captivating evening. Don’t you think?” Father rubs a cheek. “I imagine you thought yourself the lion ready to devour helpless prey. Look at you now … you’re nothing but a lamb preparing to be slaughtered.”
Mehrdad’s smile broadens. “I assume you’re going to do the slaughtering, Nabo Reffour?” He holds his head high. His chest out.
It must take a special sort of madness to show no fear. For his attack on our estate, Mehrdad’s fate is dire. Despite that, he glares, unfazed.
“Tell me, why did you attack my estate?”
He smiles. “What does it matter now?”
“Let’s say I’m curious.”
“My Titan instructed me not to come home without a win. I thought I’d have time to make up for my poor performance in the first two challenges but when you said there’d be one more challenge, I knew I needed to do something drastic.”
“And so, you kill my nome’s master and many more in the process?” I shriek at him.
“I wasn’t going to kill you, Scioness. At least not until after we’d married and I’d acquired your family’s businesses and resources.”
Father grabs my hand holding me in place as if he knows I was about to fly across the room and claw his eyes out.
“And how did you think you’d convince the Council to not punish your nome and yourself after slaughtering so many?” Father asks in a monotone.
“Money can sway anyone, even the other nomes,” he says, looking bored. “That and my Titan has dirt on everyone who matters. Enough to make them forget about this little … mishap.”
Mishap? That’s what he calls the mayhem he caused tonight? My blood boils and I dig my nails into my palms. Reminding myself to relax, I gulp back my anger. One look at Mehrdad’s smirk and I know he’s happy to get under my skin. It gives him a sense of control over me and the situation, despite the fact he’s the one in shackles. Anger will only cloud my ability to process.
“I don’t believe you thought that plan through, young man.”
“Trust me, I did. Old man.”
A vein pulses ever so slightly on Father’s forehead. I’m not the only one he can rattle. “I would be well within my rights to slice your throat right here, but despite the carnage you caused tonight, I’m going to leave you to the Council.” He rubs his hands together. “For what you’ve done tonight, you will die. No amount of money or secret scandals will change your fate.”
At first, he doesn’t react. He looks on with those dark eyes. Slowly, chuckles. It starts out small but soon grows into a bellowing sound.
“Is that it? You think I’m afraid to die?” He throws his head back, laughing for many seconds. “And what do you think will happen when the Council learns this competition was a ruse to allow your daughter’s boyfriend to win? I always wondered how he managed to win both challenges, given he’s not known for physical prowess or anything other than hiding behind books. Now I know.”
I’ve had enough and yank myself free of Father’s grip. I slide around the table and march to Mehrdad. “And who will believe a word you say?”
I’m not sure if it’s the venom in my voice or how close I am to him, but he takes a quick step away from me. Something in his expression changes but it happens so fast that I don’t register what emotion it was. He cocks his head to the side and the sneer is back.
“Adela said—”
“Adela said what?” I ask, my tone more measured. “There isn’t a single person still alive who heard Adela’s lie that will attest to your claim.
“But you know what people will believe?” I narrow my eyes at him for emphasis. “They’ll believe you’re a monster. You’ve done a great job and making people believe you’re this great scion. Your fans think you’re sane though that last challenge showed you for the coward you truly are.”
His nostrils flare and his eyes harden but I carry on.
“I know better. I’ve seen the depravity that lives within you.” I step towards him. “What do you think the public is going to think when they finally know who you really are? All I need to do is show them video from tonight, Mehrdad.”
He blinks several times as if unable to understand what I’ve said but I know I was clear. Hands still in the bolt, he lifts them to scratch at his right cheek. Finally, his mask crumbles and I watch it fall piece by piece. Eyes widen and his breathing speeds, coming out in noisy spurts. It’s nice to see fear kick in and even nicer to know I’m the reason for it.
Father joins me. “If you put this all on your father, we will protect you. I will seek clemency for you and recommend you be allowed to control your nome. Though you’ll secede your first position and all your key assets will be assigned to other nomes.”
I don’t like where he’s going with this and wish we could have spoken so I’d understand what he’s up to. Nevertheless, I smile because Mehrdad’s shoulders are no longer held high when he tips his head down in a solemn nod.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Neith
Swiveling in his chair to face me, Father says, “How did you know what buttons to push with Mehrdad?”
Sohr escorted Mehrdad out of the office leaving Father and me behind. I crumple into a chair and hold my head in my hands.
Considering his question, I eventually say, “I figured he’s been used to having control his whole life. I threatened to take that away and hoped he’d cave.”
“And cave he did,” he says sounding impressed. “Now, let’s get back to what Adela told you.”
Adela’s confession pours from my lips with ease and I share what I know of his alliance with the Seltans and his plan to eliminate Loic, James, and Mehrdad.
“Do you deny it?” I demand.
He reclines in his chair. “Not at all.”
Mounting irritation needles through me as my gaze locks on his. Unlike Mehrdad whose weakness I figured out, Father is an impenetrable stone, betraying no emotion. “Why is it you could trust the Seltans with your plans but not me?”
Outside, the sky grumbles and I turn my gaze past Father. Lightning flashes, turning clouds into ghostly apparitions. The many gray clouds hiding within the night’s sky, threaten to erupt
. And when they do, they’ll surely rain their judgment on us.
“I didn’t tell you because I wanted to protect you in case things went wrong.” I didn’t expect him to give me an explanation. I’m left stunned and disarmed of my irritation.
“As for working with the Seltans,” he continues, “they’re our highest-ranked allies. I also thought that with how ruthless Adela is, a marriage to her would keep our nome protected long after I’m gone.”
“There’s nothing ruthless about that girl.” I walk over to the glass wall. “She told me all your plans in the presence of others and while Mehrdad held her and the others as prisoners, she announced to him that you and I were using the Pursual to improve the public’s perception of Invier. I can’t trust someone who could fold under pressure like that and neither should you.”