Perfectly marvelous? Who even talks like that? Patricians. Patricians do.
“I’m glad you enjoyed it, Ember.”
My eyes snap in Forest’s direction. I’m Ember. Not this hooker. But he doesn’t even seem to remember my existence as he smiles down at his new Ember, his dimples deepening and his eyes laughing—laughing—and I realize I haven’t seen him smile like that since before the orchard burned down. It’s a smile he used to reserve for only me. And he’s using it on Fake Ember. He’s been serious and somber around me, and I’m beginning to wonder exactly how much of a burden I am to him.
But it’s a show, I remind myself. He’s doing all this for appearances. For my safety. For his safety. It’s all just a show. But by the obvious admiration shining in Fake Ember’s eyes, I wonder how much of it is a show on her part.
“Miss Waters,” Fake Ember says. Her eyes roam down the length of me, head to toe and back up to my eyes again. “How do I keep running in to you?”
Um, because you’re engaged to my boyfriend, I want to say.
Forest clears his throat. “Um. Ha-have you two already met?”
Forest is stuttering. Forest never stutters.
“Yes,” Fake Ember says. “We had the pleasure at lunch.”
“She’s the one who told me you two were engaged,” I say crossing my arms.
“Oh,” Forest says, and then a devastated look crosses his features, and he says, “Oh.”
“So where are you from again, Miss Waters?” She pastes on a fake Patrician smile that reminds me entirely too much of Olivia Doss. What is it with these snotty Patrician girls, and why does Forest always seem to go for the especially snobby ones? It’s just an assignment.
“The countryside,” I say.
“Oh,” she begins. “The countryside. What’s it like there?”
You should know, if you’re really playing my part, is what I probably shouldn’t say. Rain warned me to keep my mouth shut, keep my questions to myself, and make zero threats to Fake Ember, who might be working as a spy for Titus.
I clear my throat. “It’s, um, quiet. And peaceful.” Sudden flashes of memories hound me. Unexpectedly. The sound of crickets singing in the evening. The way the apples looked, searing red in the glow of an autumn sunset. Summer storms and the smell of wet dirt.
And it’s all gone. Because of Titus. And Forest is working with Titus. Forest is doing favors for Titus. Forest is holding Fake Ember Carter’s hand. And I suddenly don’t want to be here anymore. I want to go back to the caverns in Louisville. I have this intense sandpapery feeling that I belong there and have no place here. Tears burn the backs of my eyes and my eyelids slide shut to hide them. I turn away. Blink them back.
“I-I need to go,” I say.
“Oh. I’m terribly sorry—did I offend you?” Fake Ember says. A ghost of a smile appears on her lips. A knowing smile, and I look at Forest, but he’s clueless, so incredibly oblivious to the hatred burning in Fake Ember’s eyes. His long perfect fingers are woven and linked through Fake Ember’s like he doesn’t ever plan on releasing her.
“No,” I say, looking back at her. “You haven’t offended me. How could you?”
You’re nothing, I want to say. You’re nothing but an echo of what I am. A copy. A fake.
“I’m just tired from traveling,” is what I say instead. I look at Forest. “I think I’ll retire for the day.”
“Do you need a ride back?” Forest asks.
Wow. He’s not even going to try and stop me.
“I can take her.” Rain appears out of nowhere. And for the first time since we arrived in Frankfort, his presence is a huge relief. For the first time ever, I feel more secure in Rain’s presence than Forest’s. “I’m headed that way, anyway.”
Forest’s jaw immediately tenses, and I wonder why. Why he can be angry that Rain would take me home while he has a death grip on a girl who looks just like me?
“I’ll see you at home, Forest,” I say with a curtsy. Then I follow Rain out of the intoxicatingly claustrophobic crowd and into his vehicle.
Rain drives me home, then pretty much plops me on the doorstep, like I’m some burden he just can’t wait to get rid of. Then he takes off back into the city. I really don’t feel as welcome in Frankfort as I thought I would. I’m so ready to go back to Louisville. To the safety of the caverns. To the ashen city that’s slowly grown on me and become my home. At least the Resurgence acts like they want me around.
Colleen opens the door for me and I step inside.
“Do you need anything, my lady? Perhaps—”
“No,” I snap, then feel bad. I look at her apologetically. “I just need to be alone for a bit.”
“Of course.” She bows and returns through one of the doors in the foyer. I head up to my room, close the door, and plop down on my stomach on one of the most comfortable beds I’ve ever laid in. I haven’t had any real privacy since I lived in Frankfort the last time. And I need time to recharge. Time to think. Time to wonder why exactly I feel completely unwanted by Forest Turner when he claims he still loves me.
And why I don’t care as much as I thought I would.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
I spend the entire afternoon in thought. I didn’t think I was capable of so much thinking.
Thoughts, thoughts, thoughts just dropping into my head like raindrops. Because between the Resurgence, Titus, Walker, Forest, Rain, Fake Ember, Mcallister, and every other crazy person and thing that has happened in my life the past month and a half, I apparently have enough thoughts to take up five hours and it’s suddenly eight o’clock.
I need to speak to Forest.
I need to figure out how serious this thing is between us and how strong exactly his feelings for Fake Ember are. Because I risked my life coming back here. Partly for him. And if he doesn’t want anything to do with me, well, then, I came back for nothing. And, honestly, if he really doesn’t love me, then why should I even care what he thinks about my working with the Resurgence and taking down the chief? My stomach has been tied in knots at the thought of him figuring out my new secret when I leave with Rain, but maybe I shouldn’t even care. I mean, Forest’s best friend tried to kill me several times, and he still chooses Titus’s side.
So maybe it’s time to let go.
But before I give up on him completely, I need to know. I need to know if he even cares for me at all. I need to know how bad I should feel when I completely betray him.
I return downstairs, and Colleen meets me at the base of the stairs.
“Can I get you something, Miss?” she asks. “A hot bath, perhaps?”
A hot bath actually sounds divine, but I need to speak with Forest as soon as he returns, so I shake my head. “I need to wait in the parlor for Forest.” He should be getting home soon, shouldn’t he?
“Oh. Of course.” She leads me into an adjoining room, gestures for me to sit down on a plush white couch, then sets to building a fire. An oriental rug takes up the majority of the room. A white grand piano harbors the corner, and exotic, frond-like plants line the glass wall. A glass cabinet holds old figurines, knickknacks that look like things from the old world, before the White Plague almost wiped us out of existence. Looks like stuff Rain would collect, considering his love for history.
The door opens, and I straighten, waiting for Forest to appear in the entryway to the parlor. Instead Mrs. Turner appears. She unwraps a light gray scarf from around her neck. Her brows lift in obvious surprise when she sees me.
“Miss Carter.”
Holy Crawford, it feels good to have someone acknowledge who I am, even if it is Rain’s unfeeling mother.
“What are you doing here?” She steps into the room. “Why aren’t you out celebrating with the rest of the city?”
I shrug and sink back into the plush cushions, not caring how improper I might appear in front of one of Titus’s highest politicians.
Except. Wait. If she’s one of Titus’s closest, would she smoke me out? Has s
he already?
I bolt upright. “Did you tell anyone I’m here?” I ask, as if she would tell me.
“Of course not.” She frowns. “Why would I?”
“Um, because Titus wants me dead. And you work for him.”
Her lips quirk up in a seemingly friendly smile, and she sinks down on the couch beside me. “Colleen, will you please bring us refreshments? And drinks. Coffee for me. And…” She lifts a brow at me. “Anything to drink?”
I almost shake my head, but then remember this is a politician’s house. They have everything. And I think back on a night when Mom made me a cup of hot chocolate. She got a few discarded packets from Defender Shepherd, who often visited. I remember the warmth, how magically delicious it tasted, and I wonder…
“Can I have some hot chocolate?” I look at Colleen. “Is that…is that possible?”
“Of course it’s possible, Miss Waters. I’ll be right back with your refreshments and hot chocolate.” She leaves the room.
Mrs. Turner turns to face me. “I work for Titus,” she says quietly. “That’s correct. Doesn’t mean I agree with anything he does.”
I laugh—or choke, not sure which—and stare at her in shock. “Then why work for him, if you don’t agree with him?”
“Because staying in my politician role is the only way I can make any difference in Ky.”
Whoa. She sounds entirely too much like Forest. The part of Forest I don’t like.
“Roll your eyes all you want, Miss Carter. I don’t blame you. Ky has been flawed for over a hundred years. These last few decades have been especially rough. Titus keeps a tight rein on his ruling methods, and one wrong word slipped at the wrong time will earn someone—anyone—a death sentence.”
I remember Rain saying something similar at one time.
“It’s a wonder I’ve been able to stay in his tight circle for so long,” she continues, her voice lowering. “But things aren’t what they seem. Don’t judge me based on my position in society. Don’t judge me based on my absence from both my sons. You have no idea who I am, or what I’ve been doing these past fifteen years. So don’t pretend like you know me.”
I break eye contact, because a part of me feels like she can see into my soul, and that makes me uncomfortable. I’ve never really taken the chance to place judgment on Mrs. Turner, but I do remember Rain commenting that he was closer to his maid, LeighAnn, than he ever was to his own mother. I remember thinking how strange that was. So I guess if I ever did think deeply about it, I would have judged her harshly.
“So tell me,” I whisper. “Tell me what you’ve been doing these fifteen years that has been more important than raising your own sons?”
She straightens, a look of relief, and something else—admiration?—crossing her features. “I’m glad you asked. I can’t tell you the details.”
I snort. Of course not.
“But I can promise you this. I have been watching Titus closely. I have a bigger hand in the undercurrent than it would appear. I’m the least well-known politician, but perhaps the one with the most power. Because one slip-up, one little loophole in Titus’s grand plans, and this government will collapse, creating a perfect doorway for the Resurgence to rise up.”
Her treason steals the air from my lungs. Sure, I hear the Resurgence talk about this all the time, but a politician? Thomas’s wife and Forest’s mother? She’s more like Rain than he knows. On the other hand…she could be lying, trying to earn my trust.
“If you’re trying to pretend to be on my side so that I’ll tell you the location of the Resurgence, you’re wrong,” I say.
“I already know all about the caverns.”
My stomach hollows. “Then why are you telling me this? Why are you confiding in me your plans to take down the chief?” What is she trying to get from me?
“Because your mother and I were friends, Ember. Best. Friends.” She searches my eyes, her own warm and fearless all at once. “I’m your godmother.”
Whoa. What? A million questions file into place, each fighting to be the first to be asked, when the front door clicks open. Mrs. Turner glances back, then whips around to face me. “I might not get another chance to speak with you,” she whispers, her words tripping over each other. She places her hands on both my cheeks—a gesture that is so intimate it grabs my full attention. “When you leave Ky, take your look-alike with you.”
“WHAT?”
“Promise me. Take her away from Frankfort. You want Titus to fall? Create the necessary loophole.”
Thomas steps in the entrance just as Mrs. Turner stands. She forces a sweet smile and smoothes out her black dress as she turns to face him. “Did you have fun at the party, dear?”
He huffs out a sigh and nods, then looks at me, disapproval weaving into his eyes. “What are you still doing here?”
“I…um…”
“She twisted her ankle at the picnic,” Mrs. Turner says. “Now come. I have some important matters to discuss.” Her voice fades away as she leads him out of the room.
Create the necessary loophole, she said. Take her away from Frankfort. Not sure how that’s going to happen, seeing as Defenders follow my look-alike everywhere she goes.
I’m your godmother.
Rain’s mother is my godmother. My and Titus’s mother was best friends with Rain’s and Forest’s mother. It suddenly makes perfect sense that Titus and Forest are best friends. Everything Mrs. Turner said to me keeps spinning webs in my head. She knows all about Rain being with the Resurgence, so why hasn’t she said anything to him about her hand in the undercurrent, as she described it? And did she send Rain with LeighAnn on purpose all those years ago so he would learn about the Resurgence?
I sink back into the couch cushion and massage my temples. Too many thoughts bombard my brain, giving me a headache, and I try to think of something else, something less pressing for just a moment. Like how incredibly comfortable this couch is. Holy Crawford, I could sleep on it and never wake up. It’s like sitting on a cloud. My brain has uploaded so much new information the past month, and this thing with Mrs. Turner almost seems like the final installment before my brain explodes.
I allow the couch to swallow just a little more of me, and slide my eyelids shut. I mean, if I could just snuggle in a bit more…and that fire is so warm, and the familiar scent of cinnamon is so intoxicatingly divine I feel like I’m in a dream…
“Ember.”
My name is a whisper. Then something strokes my cheek. “Ember, you wanted to see me?”
My eyes fly open, and I jerk into a sitting position. Forest is kneeling in front of me, an amused look in his blue eyes. The room is cloaked in darkness, the only light coming from the fire’s glowing embers.
“You fell asleep,” he says.
“Did I?” My hot chocolate sits untouched on the end table. I reach out to touch it, but it’s cold. A tinge of disappointment. I was looking forward to drinking the rich HOT chocolate. Not it’s cold echo. And now, by my ungratefulness, I’m really beginning to think like a snotty Patrician.
“Do you want me to have Colleen heat it up for you?” Forest asks, looking at the mug. He picks up a small bell on the table and almost rings it. I cringe.
“No,” I say.
He stops.
“I mean,” I say. “She must be asleep by now. What time is it?”
“One o’clock a.m.”
“Oh.” Oh. I must have slept for hours. “Why-why are you home so late?”
“I had matters to attend to,” Forest says. “With Titus.”
Now I’m really awake. Titus. Just his name is enough to make my nerves want to take a vacation. But his name also reminds me that I have questions. For Forest. Which is why I’m on this couch instead of in my bed.
“I-I have some questions. For you.”
He frowns, sinks down on the couch across from me, clasps his hands between his knees. “I’m a bit tired, but…okay. What questions?”
Tired? I’ve been gone for two
weeks and he’s too tired to talk to me? I look at him, study the features I’ve missed so much. His perfect, straight nose. Hair the color of a noonday sun. Eyes the color of the evening sky.
And he’s dating Fake Ember and too tired to talk to me.
“How long, do you think, will Titus expect you to stay with…Fake Ember?”
His eyes close briefly, his jaw working like he’s struggling to maintain his patience. “Not this again.”
“I need an answer. Because if it’s indefinitely, then maybe I should just leave Ky.”
He looks at me sharply. “Don’t be dramatic. You have no idea what’s outside of Ky. It’s way more dangerous than anything you’ll encounter in Frankfort.”
His certainty sends a shiver up my spine, but I resist the urge to ask questions that will lead me down that trail.
“I just need an answer,” I say. “Because I’m risking my life to be here with you, and, honestly, I’m not entirely sure if it’s worth it. Do you even want me here?”
“Of course I want you here.”
“Then break up with her.”
“It’s not that easy! I can’t just leave her.”
“Why not?”
“Titus and you and I are the only ones who know her secret—that she’s not really you. I can’t just abandon her, leave her with no one to talk to.”
“She obviously deserves it!” I can’t believe he’s defending one of Titus’s puppets. “Why has she agreed to pose as me, anyway? For an elite position in society? Comfort? Or has she been brainwashed like all the other Proletariats?”
“She’s not brainwashed.” He frowns, looks away. “Her mind is as Patrician clear as yours. She knows exactly what she’s doing.”
“She knows? And you still can’t get it in you to leave her?”
“She’s been through a rough time, Ember. Don’t even pretend to understand. Aurora has had it rough and she needs someone to talk to other than Titus. I happen to be the only other person she can turn to.”
I stare at him in shock. “Aurora?”
ashen city (Black Tiger Series Book 2) Page 19