by Sadie Moss
Squaring my shoulders, I pushed my way inside.
The council room was large and opulent. A giant, ornate rug covered most of the floor, and a broad cherry wood table had a prominent position in the middle of the room. Portraits of the Representatives and other people I didn’t recognize lined the walls.
At the sight of me, everyone in the room froze mid-action as if they were posing for a painting. Theron Stearns, the Secretary General, sat at the head of the table. He leaned heavily on one armrest, head jutted forward and brow furrowed. On his right side sat Jonas Nocturne. The Minister of Justice’s eyes glittered with malice as he took me in, and his promise from the other day echoed in my mind, filling my stomach with ice.
He had vowed he’d never let me replace my grandmother on the council.
Rain, the Chief Advisor, sat on Theron’s other side. The bags under his eyes were as puffy as ever, and his whole face looked a bit gaunt and strained.
The other Representatives were spaced out around the large table, with one empty seat next to Simon Gaunt. Nicholas and a single remaining female Representative, Olene Romo, were both on their feet, leaning toward each other across the table. It appeared I had interrupted an argument.
I released the doors, and they swung shut with a dull thud behind me. The sound reverberated in the suddenly quiet space, and it took all my self-control not to reach for one of my daggers or spark a ball of flame above my hand.
No one looked happy to see me.
“My child. Lana, is it?” Theron Stearns was the first to speak, his old face pulling down into a frown. “I’m so sorry for your loss. Beatrice was one of our oldest and most esteemed members.”
“Thank you. I’m heartbroken to have lost her when I’d just found her. But I know she would want me to carry on in her name.” I stepped toward the empty chair at the table. But before I could sit down, Jonas was on his feet, his nostrils flaring.
“Secretary General, I must object to this. This girl is neither qualified nor worthy to occupy the seat her grandmother once held.”
Nicholas turned to me, his half-lidded eyes burning with malice. “She’s a Blighted-lover. She likes ’em empty. She’s not one of us.”
“Don’t know why she wouldn’t want the Blighted all dead since they were the ones who killed Beatrice.” Victor smiled at me, but it wasn’t a pleasant smile. More like a baring of fangs.
I clenched my fists. “That’s not—”
The room erupted into noise, the three men talking over each other and gesticulating in my direction. Olene and Simon tried to restore order, while Theron Stearns just looked at me, his old eyes tired. He was the figurehead of this government, but I was starting to wonder how much power he actually wielded. He seemed to be letting the other Representatives run wild.
“No one wants you here, girl. You’re practically one of the Blighted yourself!” Nicholas pushed his chair back and stumbled around the table toward me, lightning sparking between his fingertips.
I turned, ready to fire back if he dared to attack me, but before I could summon a flame, someone stepped in front of me.
Rain.
He faced down the advancing man, holding a hand out. Magically, Rain was probably the least powerful person in the room. I could tell he had power, but it wasn’t strong. Still, Nicholas paused, little sparks of light dancing between his fingers.
“I’ve known Beatrice for years,” Rain said stiffly. “I knew Dominic Lockwood for years before that. And I can’t think of a family more worthy to govern in the Order of Magic. Even”—he glanced back at me, his expression almost warm for the first time since I’d met him—“a long-lost member of that family. I have no doubt that Lana Lockwood will be an excellent Representative.”
I blinked. What the fuck? Had Rain just stood up for me?
“Rain is right.” Theron finally waved a hand, calling for order in the room.
I pursed my lips, forcing down my irritation. A little late for that, Secretary General.
“Beatrice talked often of how pleased she was that you’d come back to her, Miss Lockwood,” the older man continued, running a hand over his white beard. “I know she wanted you to take her place someday. That law shall be honored.”
“But—”
Jonas’s usually cold face was red and blotchy. He looked like he might join Nicholas and start hurling magical attacks at me at any second.
“If you choose not to have your son succeed your position, that’s your prerogative, Jonas. But the law is the law, and it will be enforced.” Theron’s voice rose a little, the words steely. The kindly old man I’d met the first day was gone entirely, and I could see now why he presided over the council.
I suppressed a grimace. These fucking Representatives; they were impossible to get a read on. To call them two-faced would be to underestimate the sheer number of masks they were able to wear.
Jonas looked mutinous but sat back down. He wasn’t actually a member of the council, although his role as Minister of Justice gave him plenty of power in other ways. But if Theron Stearns wanted me here, I’d be allowed to stay.
As if in response to my thoughts, Theron inclined his head toward the empty seat before me. “Sit, Miss Lockwood.” There was a sharp intake of breath behind me, but he held up his hand before Nicholas could protest any further. “There are more important things for us to deal with today, Representative Constantine.”
Nicholas slunk back to his seat, glaring at me through the slits of his eyelids.
Simon spoke up from my left. His silver-white hair was perfectly styled, and his too-young face was grave. “I believe the most pressing issue we’re facing is the increasing number of attacks against the Gifted. The Minister of Justice failed to stop the disappearances of Gifted men and women in the Capital, and now the Blighted have brought their attacks to the palace. This is the second in almost as many weeks. If we don’t do something soon, we’ll all be in danger.”
His voice quavered a bit, and I shot a glance at him. I’d gotten the sense he had a bit of a crush on my grandmother, and I wondered if he’d chosen the seat next to her on purpose. My heart cracked a little at the thought.
“This ‘Resistance’ group is getting out of hand.” Eben Knowles, the wizard Jae had pointed out to me at the ball, steepled his fingers in front of his face. “We need to make an example of them.”
“I’ve been saying this for years,” Victor cut in. “We gave the Blighted too much freedom, and now look what’s happened.”
“Are you sure the bomb was set by the Resistance? Or by one of the Blighted at all?” I blurted.
Everyone turned to look at me, and I gritted my teeth to keep from shrinking under their collective stares.
“Who else would it be?” Olene asked slowly. She was regarding me thoughtfully, as if trying to discern whether I was mentally sound.
“I—I don’t know. But you should be sure before you start leveling accusations. If you let people just assume it was the Blighted, you’re putting innocent people in the Outskirts in danger.”
“Blighted-lover,” Nicholas muttered under his breath.
My jaw clenched, anger pulsing through me as I jumped to my feet. I wanted to leap over the table and wrap my hands around his throat. But I gripped the edge of the dark wood tightly and tried to speak evenly.
“It’s not about being a… ‘Blighted-lover.’ It’s about justice. Punishing the right people instead of just lashing out blindly. You don’t think I want to find out who did this? It was my grandmother who died in the explosion. I want to find the culprit as much as anyone here. But I don’t think it was one of the Blighted. I think it was one of the Gifted. And I think it was the same person who’s been abducting magic users.”
“One of the Gifted?” Victor scoffed. “Sit down, little girl, and don’t speak until you know what you’re talking about.”
“I do—!” I started, but Theron Stearns slapped the table hard enough to make me jump.
“Sit down, Miss L
ockwood, before I reconsider my decision to have you on this council.” His voice was cold, and I knew I’d lost one of the only potential allies I had in this room.
Jonas smirked as I sank back into my chair. Rain met my eyes thoughtfully, his expression almost sympathetic, but I glanced away.
Who the fuck had I been kidding? Had I really thought I was going to take my grandmother’s place on the council and actually bring about change? Convince these people that the bigoted beliefs they’d held for decades were wrong?
The meeting continued on, and I held my tongue, doing more listening than talking. If I couldn’t change things from the inside, I needed to gather as much intel as I could for the Resistance. My dreams of a peaceful revolution suddenly seemed foolish and naïve. Those in power wouldn’t give it up easily, and the fight for reform would be long and likely bloody.
My ears perked up when Jonas stood and gave a report on his efforts to find the Resistance. Since the tracking spell had been destroyed, Jae’s concealment spell was once again working properly.
Jonas’s face reddened as he admitted the Peacekeepers had been unsuccessful in their planned attack on the Resistance’s location despite repeated attempts over the past few weeks. I took grim satisfaction in knowing that, as much as Jonas underestimated his son, Jae was beating him at this game.
The Minister of Justice reported that he had instead refocused the Peacekeepers’ efforts on tracking down individual Resistance members. I made careful note of the four names he mentioned as their next targets; I’d have to tell Christine to get them somewhere safe immediately.
I waited anxiously for her name to be mentioned, but it never was. How much did they know about her besides her name? Anything?
By the time the council meeting wrapped up, my mind was spinning. I still wasn’t exactly sure who had been in charge of ordering the hit on Akio, or who had managed all the tracking charms in that room on the fifth floor. I got the sense Jonas just handled the enforcement aspect, not the intelligence gathering, but I didn’t dare come straight out and ask. It would draw too much suspicion, and I was on thin ice already.
Theron stood from the table, and everyone else rose too, bowing their heads slightly as he departed. Nicholas and Victor slunk off together, heads bent in quiet conversation as they each threw poisonous glances my way. Jonas didn’t even bother looking at me as he left. That seemed to be his favorite method of dealing with irritants.
I moved slowly, lingering by my chair until the room was mostly cleared out. As Olene pushed through the heavy doors with Simon a few steps behind her, I made a move toward Rain, who was gathering a stack of papers from the table.
The door shut with a thunk and the room was silent for a moment.
“Do you need something, Miss Lockwood?” Rain asked, without looking up.
“Yeah, I just… I wanted to thank you. For having my back. If you hadn’t said something, I’m not sure I would’ve made it out of here alive, much less been allowed to join the council meeting.”
He looked up, his thin lips pursed, a strange expression in his brown eyes. “My pleasure.”
I turned to leave, but then hesitated.
Those eyes. The bags under them. The brown hair swept back from his face. There were streaks of gray in it now, but I was positive—it had been Rain in my dream.
He stood, walking toward the door, but before he could leave, I called out, “You said you knew my family. Did you… know me? As a kid?”
Rain paused with his hand on the door. His back tensed for a second, and then he looked at me over his shoulder.
“How much did your grandmother tell you?”
Chapter 19
My heart seemed to hang suspended in my chest.
He had known me. That dream—memory?—hadn’t been wrong. The recurring nightmare of my father giving me the ring was a jumbled mix of words and images that sorted themselves into a different configuration every night, but I knew there was something in it that mattered.
And the last time I’d had that dream, my grandmother had been in it.
So had Rain.
I swallowed as the lanky man turned to face me fully. Then I said, “Nothing. I never really got the chance to ask her about my parents.”
“Never had the nerve” would’ve been more accurate. I’d put it off, certain I had more time and unable to gather the courage to find out about the life and family I could’ve had. With Beatrice’s death, I had thought the last connection to my past was gone. But maybe I’d been wrong.
Rain’s thick brows furrowed, and he took a few steps closer to me. “And she never mentioned me?”
I shook my head, wracking my memory. “Not that I can remember, no. Maybe in passing, but….”
He tapped one hand absently against the stack of papers he held. “We shouldn’t be having this conversation here. Meet me in the gardens in ten minutes.”
“Why?” I was immediately wary, even as curiosity flooded me.
“It’s more private, away from prying eyes and ears. There are those among the Representatives who were no friend to your grandmother, and they will be no friend to you either.”
My forehead scrunched. He seemed to be implying that he was a friend, but I’d need some solid proof before I believed that. Everything he’d done up until now had demonstrated the opposite. But I couldn’t walk away from the chance to learn what he knew.
“All right. Ten minutes.”
He nodded curtly then swept out of the room. I followed a moment later, stopping a guard to ask for directions to the gardens like I was a godsdamned tourist and not the newest member of the Representatives.
On the way downstairs, I pressed the stone of my communication charm to activate it, looking down and letting my hair fall like a curtain to hide my face.
“Guys?” I muttered.
“We’re here, kitten. Did you dominate the Representatives with your fiery wit?”
I almost laughed, even though Akio’s joke was clearly at my expense. Then I scowled, remembering the meeting.
“No. I got my ass handed to me by those fuckers. They don’t know who planted the bomb, but they’re unwilling to even consider the possibility it wasn’t one of the Blighted. Hell, I think some of them even hope it was. An attack like that by one of the Blighted is just the excuse they need to level harsher punishments on all nonmagical people, no matter what their crimes.”
“I can’t say I’m surprised,” he drawled. “The Representatives aren’t known for their willingness to listen to reason, and while I find it hard to deny you anything, they are unlikely to be swayed.”
“If only I’d bonded to them, huh?” I asked bitterly. A sound that was almost a growl echoed in my ear. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding! I’d kill myself if I bonded to any of the Representatives.” Akio made another growling sound, and I decided to cut off this line of conversation before I dug the hole any deeper. “Anyway, I did find out some useful stuff.”
I reported what I’d learned at the meeting, lowering my voice to a whisper as I listed off the names of the four Resistance members who were going to be targeted next and when the attacks were going to happen.
“We’ll tell Christine. She’ll get them to safety,” Jae said smoothly.
“Good. Tell her to get them somewhere secure as soon as she can. The Representatives are out for blood, looking for people to make an example of. They want to keep the Blighted running scared.”
“It’s working.” Corin’s voice was hard. “Tarik came back with that kid, William, a little while ago. He said the Outskirts are a mess. Mages, witches, and elementalists have been torching houses and apartment buildings. The government isn’t even sending anyone to put out the fires. It’s like they want the whole place to burn.”
I stopped, lifting my head for a moment as I tried to get my emotions under control. A couple palace staff members—witches, I was pretty sure—walked by, smiling pleasantly. I wanted to knock their teeth out. It was easy to be pleasant when yo
u were surrounded by the pristine, peaceful beauty of an elaborate palace. Much harder when your home was burning, taking all your possessions and maybe even your loved ones with it.
“We have to stop this, now,” I choked out, once the witches had passed.
“We’re working on it, killer,” Fen said soothingly. “Christine’s got people out looking for Rat as we speak.”
I resumed my slow walk down the corridor toward the back of the palace. “Good. I’m meeting with Rain in a few minutes, and then I’ll try to talk to Gerald.”
“Rain?” Jae said. “Why?”
“I think he knew Beatrice better than she let on. I’m not sure why she never mentioned it, but he knew my whole family. Do you know much about him?”
“No.” The mage’s voice was thoughtful. “I’ve seen him at Gifted functions, but I’ve barely spoken to him. My father doesn’t like him; I know that.”
I grinned. “Suddenly, I like him a bit more.”
“Don’t trust him too much, kitten,” Akio cut in. “Don’t trust anyone more than they give you reason to.”
“Never have, never will.”
The large hallway I was in led to a set of doors smaller than those at the front of the palace, but still massively imposing. One of the guards stationed at the end of the hall opened the door for me, and I stepped lightly down the back stairs toward the sprawling gardens below. A long rectangular pool sparkled in the sunlight, surrounded by curated paths lined with topiaries. Music floated from a cluster of large trees to one side of the garden, as if the limbs themselves were an orchestra and the wind was the conductor.
I’d dawdled long enough on the way down that Rain had beaten me here. He lingered by the near end of the pond and stood straighter when he saw me, adjusting his dark blue tie.
“Gotta go, guys.”
Switching off the communication charm, I strode toward Rain. When I reached him, he turned smoothly to join me, and I slowed my pace a bit as we walked side by side along the length of the pond. He was quiet for several long beats, staring into the clear water at the brightly colored fish darting through the depths.