by Sadie Moss
“I was settling in,” I said demurely, tugging my hand back as fast as I could and—barely—resisting the urge to wipe it off on my dress.
His cool green eyes glittered, giving nothing away. They were so like Jae’s it was unsettling. But while Jae also held his emotions in check, there was a warmth in him that Jonas lacked completely.
“Well, we’re delighted to have you here now. I look forward to getting to know you better over the coming weeks. If there’s anything you need, please let me know. My son—” He broke off, laughing lightly to himself. “My son is not the best candidate to introduce you to the upper echelons of the Capital’s Gifted. I understand he may have been your only choice of companion for the Grand Ball since you were new to the city, but now that you’re settled here, I can connect you with anyone important you wish to meet.”
I bristled. While Jonas’s words had the unintended effect of making me like Jae even more, I hated how casually the man denigrated his own son. His little speech was clearly meant to make me rethink my association with Jae.
“Thanks,” I ground out, shoving my anger back down to simmer in my belly. “But actually, I think I’ll—”
“Jonas! Jonas, I was not finished speaking with you! I want an answer.” An older man with slick silver hair marched down the steps toward us, voice raised.
A flash of irritation flitted across Jonas’s face, but his features were smooth once again when he turned to face the man. “Our conversation was finished. I have no answer to give you, Simon. I’ll be making my full report to the council this morning, and you can listen to it then with the rest of the Representatives.”
“Your report isn’t what I’m concerned about. We already know what’s been happening. What I want to know is what you’re going to do about it!”
The new man had to be over sixty, but his face was disconcertingly smooth. Some kind of magical enhancement or anti-aging spell, probably. My ears perked up at his words, and I shot a furtive glance at Jonas.
“That will be included in my report. Until we know who is behind it, there’s little we can do. But believe me when I say I am pursuing this matter,” the Minister of Justice said staunchly.
“Unacceptable, Jonas! This is the—” The man broke off suddenly, his gaze landing on my grandmother. His angry expression softened, and he ran a hand over his already perfectly styled hair. “Good morning, Beatrice. You look lovely as ever today.”
“Good morning, Simon.” Her smile was almost girlish, and my eyebrows shot up.
Was I witnessing my grandmother flirt?
Jonas took advantage of Simon’s momentary distraction to nod goodbye to us and head toward the palace, walking up the broad steps at a fast clip. Simon glanced once more at my grandmother, seeming torn, then turned to follow the retreating man. “I will not be put off, Jonas! This is the third disappearance this month, and I won’t stand for any more of your empty reassurances. We need answers and a solid plan of…”
He continued ranting as a guard opened the palace door for the two men. When they passed out of earshot, I turned to Beatrice, brow furrowed. “What was that all about?”
She sighed and led me up the steps after them. “Just council business that has spilled out onto the front steps of the palace, I’m afraid.”
“It must be serious if the Minister of Justice is involved.”
“Yes, it is. And although Simon tends to worry excessively, I find it very concerning as well.”
I reached up to tug at the pins holding my hair in place as we approached the small group still lingering on the steps. I was used to wearing my hair down or in a simple ponytail, and every pin was either jabbing my skull or yanking at my scalp uncomfortably, making my head pound.
“He said ‘disappearances.’ What does that mean?” I probed.
“Gifted disappearances.”
The answer came from a broad-shouldered man with a shock of curly black hair that was thinning in front. He had a round face with a large nose and heavy brows, and his deep-set wrinkles gave him the appearance of bulldog.
“What?” I stared at him, not liking the way he’d inserted himself into my conversation with Beatrice.
“Gifted people, upstanding members of society, are being snatched. Disappeared. Taken who knows where.” He walked toward me as he spoke, spitting the words out as if they were a challenge, like he was trying to see if he could scare me.
“Victor!” Beatrice’s voice was sharp. “Save it for the council meeting, please.”
His mean little eyes shot to her, but he inclined his head slightly. “Sorry. No harm meant.” He turned back to me, tilting his head. “You must be the new Lockwood I’ve heard so much about.”
“Yep, that’s me.”
I didn’t offer him my hand, and—thank the gods—he didn’t reach for it. Screw the rules of polite society. This guy gave me the creeps, and if he tried to touch me, I wasn’t sure I could control my knee-jerk reaction to kick him in the balls.
Beatrice took my elbow and gently steered me away from the group. The palace doors opened as we entered, and our footsteps echoed off the soaring ceiling as we crossed the smooth marble floor.
“I’m sorry about Victor,” she murmured, shaking her head with a scowl. “Representative Kruger isn’t the friendliest sort. He stepped into his position on the council five years ago after his father died, and he’s never really adjusted to a life of politics. He was one of those who went out attacking and lynching the Blighted after the Great Death, and I don’t think he’s fully accepted that things have changed since that time.”
Acid rose up my throat as my stomach soured. I threw a glance back toward the huge entrance doors, but Victor was out of sight.
Fuck. That explained why my hackles immediately rose when I met him. The man radiated a casual cruelty that made every word he spoke sound like a threat.
I filed the information away to pass on to Christine later, along with the revelation that Gifted people were disappearing.
Was that the work of the Resistance? I’d never heard Christine or the guys mention anything about it, though that didn’t necessarily mean much. I hadn’t been working with the Resistance very long, and Christine still didn’t fully trust me. She might have kept their more covert ops a secret.
I chewed my lip as I followed Beatrice up the stairs to the fifth floor. She was pointing out various features of the palace, from the detailed molding to the elaborate chandeliers and wall sconces lit by magic. I hardly cared. The opulence around me had been built off the blood and sweat of hundreds of Blighted men and women; that was all I needed to know.
And besides, something far more urgent was burrowing its way into my mind—a thought that left me cold.
What Victor had described didn’t sound like something the Resistance might have done.
It sounded like something I had done.
For years, I’d made my living as a mercenary and bounty hunter, delivering my catches to unknown clients. On more than one occasion, my target had been one of the Gifted or Touched.
I’d never bothered to worry much about who I was performing these tasks for. The magical elite were well known for bickering and backstabbing amongst themselves, and I’d figured I was doing the world a favor by helping them cull their own ranks. But as I’d discovered after I tried and failed to kill Akio, that wasn’t always the case. The incubus had been targeted by someone inside the government because he was part of the Resistance, not for some petty slight.
Was that what these other disappearances were? A way for the government to get rid of Gifted and Touched citizens who were sympathetic to the Blighted?
But if the Representatives were the ones behind the disappearances, then why were they so concerned about them?
Unless…
Maybe they weren’t behind all the attacks. What if there was someone operating outside the council’s purview, who had taken matters into his or her own hands?
But who? And why?
I w
ished I had Jae’s vast intelligence, or Akio’s gift for reading people. My brain felt like mush as I tried to pull all the puzzle pieces together and make them fit.
What the fuck is going on here?
Chapter 4
“Ah! You must be the young Miss Lockwood!”
The booming voice made me jump, and I took an involuntary step back.
We’d reached the fifth floor while I was lost in thought, and my grandmother had stopped outside a set of grand double doors. They swung farther open, revealing a tall man with white hair and a neatly trimmed beard. His face was lined with wrinkles, but his bright blue eyes were clear and sharp, and they twinkled with delight as he walked toward me.
He clasped my hand in both of his, shaking it rather than bringing it to his mouth for an ingratiating kiss like so many of the men at the palace did.
“Yes!” Beatrice exclaimed, beaming back at him. “This is my granddaughter, Lana. I’m sure this man needs no introduction, my dear, but may I present our Secretary General, Theron Stearns.”
I tried to keep the shock from showing on my face as my hand went limp in his.
I’d seen pictures of Theron Stearns before—the Capital was practically wallpapered with images of our illustrious leader—but this man looked almost nothing like those images. In the posters and billboards, he lived up to his name by looking as stern and forbidding as one would expect the leader of the country to be. But the man standing in front of me now resembled a kindly grandfather, one who was spry enough to keep up with even the youngest of his grandchildren.
“It is such a joy to meet you, Miss Lockwood! We all lost many loved ones to the Great Death, and your return is a true gift. A miracle.” He shook his head, his eyes hardening a fraction. “The Blighted took so much from us, but they could not take everything. I’ve never seen your grandmother so lighthearted.”
His enthusiasm put me off-balance. It was also very strange to hear one of the Gifted talk about how much the Blighted had taken from them. Theron Stearns had been instrumental in ending the worst of the violence against the Blighted, but apparently he still fell into the camp that believed they were somehow responsible for the Great Death. How the entire nonmagical community could’ve conspired to create a disease that would kill almost two-thirds of all magic users was beyond me. The theory made no sense, but it was one many of the Gifted still clung to and used as justification for their terrible treatment of the Blighted.
“I’m glad, sir. I’m happy to have found my way back to her,” I said, proud that I managed to speak without raising either my voice or my fists.
Chief Advisor Rain Blackshear, the man who had caught me sneaking back into the ballroom at the Grand Ball, stepped out of the large room and approached Theron. His gaze fell on me and his expression shuttered.
“Beatrice, you know she can’t attend the council meeting.”
Beatrice huffed. “I know that, Rain. I just wanted to show her around.” She turned to me. “Will you be all right here on your own for a little while?”
I almost grinned.
Would I be all right on my own? Left to my own devices to explore the palace? I’d give that a “fuck yes.”
“Yeah. I’ll be fine. I might find somewhere to go sit down. I don’t feel very well.”
That part actually wasn’t a lie. My head was still throbbing, and I was highly tempted to rip all the pins out of my hair and shake my head like a wet dog.
“Oh. All right.” She patted my cheek, her gray eyes darkening with concern. “I’ll find you when I’m finished. If you still don’t feel well, I can have Tarik take you home. ”
Shooting an inscrutable glance my way, Rain ushered Theron and Beatrice inside the room and made a sweeping gesture with his hand. The doors swung shut.
All right, all right. I get it, you asshole. Like I wanted to go to your stupid fucking council meeting anyway.
Actually, I was sure if I asked Christine, she’d tell me that was exactly what I should be doing. The more I could learn about the Representatives and what they knew about the Resistance, the better. But I’d already picked up some interesting little tidbits of information, and I was anxious to share them with the guys. Plus, the worse I felt, the weaker my brain-to-mouth filter got. If I spent much more time around the Representatives in this state, I’d probably end up blurting something I’d regret.
I headed down the corridor away from the council room, keeping an eye out for any open office doors I could slip into. My luck held out for a few minutes, allowing me to wander freely, but when I turned down a side hallway with several open doors along it, a guard stepped in front of me.
“Sorry, miss. This is a restricted access wing.”
“Oh. I’m Beatrice Lockwood’s granddaughter,” I tried hopefully.
The guard shook his head, not budging an inch. “Restricted access. Chief Advisor’s orders. I’m sorry.”
Well, damn. So much for walking the palace halls unimpeded.
“Okay.” I rubbed at my temples. “Then can you just tell me how to get outside? Or is there a balcony somewhere? I need some fresh air.”
“Of course, Miss Lockwood. Go back the way you came, down one level, and to the end of the hall.” The guard seemed a little afraid of me and very eager to please. Apparently, my grandmother’s name did carry some weight around here. Just not enough to get me anywhere good.
“Thanks,” I muttered, turning to follow his directions. My head pounded in time to the rhythm of my feet on the stairs, each step jarring my brain inside my skull.
By the time I reach the balcony at the end of the hall, I was desperate for the cool air that hit my face. I walked across the large expanse and rested my hands on the wide, waist-high marble railing, letting my head dangle between my arms. Then I gave in to my impulse and yanked all the pins out of my hair, tossing them over the side of the balcony.
Ah. Sweet fucking relief.
Tilting my head back, I reached through the cascading mass of my hair and pressed the stone to activate the communication charm.
“Hey, guys?”
“Lana? What’s going on?”
Corin’s voice came through immediately, and I breathed a sigh of relief at the sound.
“I’m at the palace. My grandmother just went into a council meeting. I met a few of the other Representatives, and picked up on a few… strange things.”
“Strange?” Akio drawled in my ear. “Strange how?”
“Has the Resistance ever sent operatives to abduct or kill magical society members?”
“You mean like you tried to do to me?” The incubus’s tone was dry.
Ugh. He’d never let me live that down. You try to kill a guy one time….
“Yeah. Like that. Only not targeting their fellow Resistance members, obviously. Maybe going after powerful Gifted citizens or high-ranking government officials?”
“No. That’s not Christine’s style,” Corin said. “It would’ve been too risky with too little return. We’re playing a longer game than that.”
Resting my elbows on the railing, I gazed out past the city at the snow-capped mountains in the distance. “Well, someone is going after the Gifted. There’ve been three disappearances in the past month, and from the sound of it, more before that.”
“Well, that’s a good thing, right?”
I massaged my forehead lightly. “Maybe. Maybe not. Until we find out who’s doing it and what their motivations are, I’m not ready to count them as an enemy or an ally yet. But it’s got to be someone with pretty extensive resources. Taking down a Gifted target is no joke.”
Corin gave a grunt of agreement. “Good point. We’ll tell Christine. Maybe she’s heard something about it.”
“Tell us, kitten, what other strange things did you uncover?” Akio’s curiosity seemed to be piqued.
“No other actionable info. I met a few more of the Representatives though. None of them seem to like or trust each other very much.” Victor’s cruel eyes flashed in my mem
ory, and I shivered. “These people are…. Fuck, I hate this place. I miss you guys.”
“We miss you too, kitten.”
Akio’s sincere words surprised me. He was always quick with a sarcastic remark or flippant comment, but it was much more rare for him to admit to an honest emotion. He must be feeling the strain of our separation too.
Corin spoke again. “Jae’s been talking to Christine. She doesn’t want us to have open contact with you while you’re staying in the Capital, but…”
His voice slowly faded, replaced by a loud rushing in my ears. Was the damned communication charm malfunctioning?
I raised a hand to fiddle with the stone on my earring, but as soon as I took my weight off the railing, I stumbled, my legs no longer able to support me. Heat rushed through my body, throbbing in my veins to the same rhythm as the pain beating at my skull.
Oh, fuck.
I’d only felt something like this once in recent memory, and that was right before the magic that’d been lying dormant within my body for two decades blasted out of me like a bomb.
Could that happen again? Was there more untapped power inside me?
Godsdamn it, I couldn’t go through that again. And I didn’t need more men bonded to me through my magic. The four I had were about all I could handle.
My vision darkened as I slid down the side of the railing to the balcony floor. Over the rush of blood in my ears, I thought I could make out the sound of voices raised in panic.
“Corin…” I slurred. “Akio… My magic. I can’t…”
A familiar nausea roiled my stomach as magic surged inside me. I tipped over onto my side, curling up into a ball as if that would somehow keep the magic contained. I was vaguely aware of the decorative potted shrubs in their huge marble planters lifting up from the balcony around me.
“Nooo…” I groaned, pressing my hands weakly to my stomach.
“Lana? Lana!”
The words came through my communication charm, faint and garbled.
“I can’t stop it. I can’t… Help me.”
A tear leaked from my eye, forced out by the pain and pressure building in my head, in my limbs, in my stomach. It felt like lava had replaced the blood in my veins, burning a path through every inch of me. The fragile vessel of my body was too small and weak to contain the magic raging inside it.