by S. J. West
“I had to go. There weren’t a lot of options left open to us,” I say with a sigh, snuggling back up to Mason and laying my head against his chest while he rests his chin on my head. “I know we need to, but I really don’t want to get out of this bed.”
“I’m content to stay right here with you for the rest of the day,” Mason tells me, holding me even tighter.
“I wish we could,” I reply, closing my eyes and imagining what Mason and I could do with a whole day to ourselves. “Maybe we could even make baby number three.”
“We need to come up with a name for our second son,” Mason says. “Calling him ‘baby number three’ just isn’t very dignified.”
“Hmm,” I say, thinking of some names. “What about Drew?”
“It’s nice,” Mason says, not sounding convinced. “What about Wyatt? Or Ivan?”
“I kind of like Wyatt,” I say. “Let’s put a pin in that one. What do you think about Sean or Kash?”
“Hmm, maybe,” Mason says. “I have a feeling we’ll end up picking a few and only settling on one after we see him, just like we did with Max and Brynlee.”
We fall silent after our small brainstorm for baby names, and I know I’m just putting off the inevitable.
“We should go check on Leah,” I say, pulling away from Mason’s warmth. I know if I don’t do it now, I’ll never get out of bed.
“Ok,” Mason says, putting his hand underneath my chin and tilting my head up slightly. He kisses me chastely on the lips, knowing as well as I do that we don’t have time to delve into pursuits that are even more pleasurable.
After we put our shoes back on, we leave the safe confines of our room and walk down the hallway to Leah’s bedroom. When we get there, we find the door wide open and the interior unoccupied. The bed has been neatly made, and the lights are off.
“Where do you think they went?” I ask, knowing that Gabe and JoJo wouldn’t have left before Leah woke up.
“I don’t know,” Mason says, taking my hand. “Let’s go look for them.”
We walk down to the first floor and find Leah, Gabe, and JoJo in the kitchen with Malcolm, Mia, and Ava. Leah is sitting at the dining table with Mia and Ava. I realize all three of them lost loved ones on the same day. Leah and Mia sit beside one another, speaking in low voices, while Ava sits at the head of the table, silently starring off into space. Her eyes look puffy from crying, and her spirit seems broken. She doesn’t even react when Mason and I enter the room. Everyone else glances in our direction.
Gabe is cutting up some tomatoes for what looks like a salad, considering the already-cut-up lettuce in the large glass bowl in front of his cutting board on the island. JoJo is helping Malcolm cook some chicken tenders. She is flouring them in a shallow dish, and Malcolm fries them in a skillet on the stove.
When Leah sees me enter, she immediately excuses herself from Mia and walks directly into my open arms.
“How are you doing, sweetie?” I ask her, holding her tight.
“I’m ok,” Leah answers as she lays her head on my shoulder. “I feel numb.”
“That’s perfectly natural,” I tell her, stroking her long hair against her back, doing what little I can to bring her comfort. “You just need to give yourself some time to cope with everything. Grieving takes a while. There’s no rush.”
I say these words to console Leah, but, in the back of my mind, I know there are multitudes of people out there who need our help to end their pain. In particular, a temple full of Taoist monks who are anxiously awaiting our return. I just can’t bring myself to ask Leah to do such a thing yet. I know she needs a period of grieving, but we also have a duty to those seeking relief.
“Oh, good, you’re all here,” I hear Brand say as he walks into the kitchen behind us, with an unexpected visitor by his side: Noel Cross, Xavier’s personal assistant.
Leah and I pull away from each other to give our full attention to the new arrivals.
“Noel just brought me some good news,” Brand says to us, a rare smile on his face. “I’ll give her the honor of telling you what it is.”
All eyes turn to Noel as we anticipate what she has to say.
“Xavier has been invited into Lucian’s inner circle,” Noel tells us, with a faint smile that says she isn’t exactly happy about the news.
“That’s great,” I say, realizing how well things have been going for us lately. The news should make me feel more confident that we have a chance to win this war. Instead, I begin to feel apprehensive that something bad is about to happen to even out the good. I silently berate myself for maintaining the ‘glass half-empty’ mentality, and wish I could be more of a ‘glass half-full’ kind of gal. “What made Lucian decide to do that?”
“He suddenly had an opening,” Ava says from her seat at the table, still staring at nothing, but obviously aware of what is transpiring around her.
Noel’s eyes shift in Ava’s direction, and she simply nods to the rest of us, silently letting us know that Ava is correct. With Ava’s husband, Micah, executed for helping us during the rescue mission, Xavier was now exactly where we wanted him to be. It’s not the way any of us wanted it to happen, but we can’t deny that it places us a step ahead in the game Lucian is playing.
Noel walks over to the table and takes a seat, opposite Mia and closest to Ava. I watch as she reaches for something inside the right front pocket of the black leather jacket she’s wearing. I see a glint of gold as she places a ring in front of Ava on the table.
“I found it in his ashes,” Noel tells Ava. “I thought you might want it.”
Mia begins to cry as she stares at the band of gold on the table. Leah leaves my side to give her new friend what comfort she can.
Ava’s eyes seem to come back into focus as she looks down at the ring in front of her. Slowly, she reaches out to pick it up.
“I know the two of you had your differences,” Noel tells Ava, “but, in the end, he proved that he truly did love you.”
“Then why did he do it?” Ava asks. “Why did he set me up to take the fall?”
Noel sighs. “Micah had his suspicions about you, and told Lucian, but I believe he thought he was just being paranoid and wanted to prove to himself that you weren’t a spy.”
“He never thought I could betray him,” Ava says in a dead voice. “And I proved him wrong.”
Noel stretches her arm across the table and rests a comforting hand on Ava’s wrist.
“At least you know that he truly did love you, Ava,” Noel says, hoping her words bring her friend some solace. “He sacrificed himself so you could live. I witnessed firsthand how the princes’ torture of you tore him up inside. When he saw an opportunity to save you, he took it.”
“If I hadn’t betrayed him in the first place, he’d still be alive,” Ava says as twin tears spill from her eyes and slide down her cheeks. She slips Micah’s ring onto the index finger of her right hand, and stares at it as she continues to cry. “I didn’t even get a chance to tell him I loved him one last time.”
“I’m sure he knew you did,” Noel says comfortingly.
Ava turns her head and looks at Noel. “He only knew I betrayed him. Don’t you dare sit there and act like you know what he was thinking.”
Noel removes her hand from Ava’s arm, and sits back in her chair.
“You’re right,” Noel admits, “I have no clue what he was thinking in his last moments. But I don’t think he would have sacrificed himself if he didn’t believe you still loved him. People don’t generally martyr themselves for someone they believe hates them. You’ll only lessen what he did for you by believing he thought you hated him. In my opinion, that would be worse than anything you did behind his back while he was still alive.”
Ava averts her eyes from Noel, and stares at Micah’s ring on her finger as she begins to twist it with her fingers.
Noel remains silent, waiting for Ava to say something else. When it’s obvious Ava is through talking, Noel stands from her chair and
walks back over to us.
“Brand said you needed to see Faust,” Noel says to me, turning her attention to things that still need to be done.
“Yes,” I say. “We promised Horace we would get his ring back from Faust after he helped us.”
“I can help you with that,” Noel says. “I can phase you directly to his apartment in New York City. Lucian is throwing a party tomorrow evening, to welcome Xavier into his circle of trust. Faust will be attending, and he always stays in his penthouse when these things happen. I can phase you there while he’s getting ready. He only keeps a few guards around, so you won’t find much resistance. Besides, if you have control over Faust by using King Solomon’s ring, you can just order him to make his men stand down. They’re only humans, anyway. Faust doesn’t like having fallen angels around him, don’t ask me why.”
“Probably because he likes being the most powerful man in the room,” Mason says knowingly. “He’s always been rather prideful.”
“That’s true,” Noel agrees.
“When should we be ready to leave?” I ask, wanting to get this part over with as soon as possible so I didn’t owe Horace anything.
“I’ll be back tomorrow at 7pm to get you,” Noel tells me before looking at Brand. “Do you have anything you want me to tell Xavier?”
“Just to be careful,” Brand says, with furrowed brow. “Tell him not to take any unnecessary risks with his life.”
“I’ll let him know,” Noel replies, turning her attention back to me. “I need to get back before I’m missed, but I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“We’ll be ready.”
Noel phases.
“Do the two of you have a spare moment? Josh has something he would like to give to Jess,” Brand says to Mason and me.
I look over at the kitchen table, and see that Leah is still comforting Mia. Ava has already phased, presumably to deal with her grief in her own way.
“Go on, mon cherie,” JoJo says to me. “We have things handled here.”
“Ok; thank you, JoJo.”
“Follow me to Josh’s office,” Brand tells us, phasing there.
Mason touches my arm and phases us to Josh’s room.
Josh’s workspace is like a computer geek’s nirvana. I’m not sure what all his equipment does, but it definitely looks shiny, sleek, new, and highly technical. I can’t imagine that he’s lacking anything this world has to offer, technologically-speaking anyway.
Josh has some hard-pounding rock music playing in the background, but, as soon as he sees us, he claps his hands twice and the music stops.
I begin to laugh. “You have your music on the Clapper?”
Josh smiles, reminding me so much of our Joshua in that moment, and shrugs his shoulders.
“It saves me a little time,” he says, like a confession.
“Do you have Jess’ surprise ready?” Brand asks as we walk up to Josh.
Josh stands up, grabbing something small and black off his glass and steel wall desk.
“Yep,” he says walking straight up to me. “I’ve got it.”
“What exactly is my surprise?” I ask, intrigued.
Josh holds out his right hand to me so I can see something that looks a lot like a small, shiny black button.
“It is a miniature camera,” he tells me as I continue to stare at it. “Brand said you needed something to record Ravan the next time you speak with her. I thought you could wear this inside the snap on your jacket. Whenever you want to turn it on, all you have to do is press it and it will start recording. May I?” Josh asks, pointing to the snap on the lapel of my leather jacket.
“Sure,” I say as I watch him push the camera into the opening where the other part of the snap is supposed to go.
“Cool. Perfect fit,” Josh says with a pleased smile. “Since it’s so small, you’ll only be able to film her for about 10 minutes, so make sure you wait until she starts saying the good stuff.”
“Ok, I’ll try.”
“As soon as it stops recording, it’s programmed to automatically upload to my server for safekeeping.”
“Good,” I say in relief. “I tend to lose things sometimes. At least I won’t have to worry about misplacing something so small.”
Nina phases into the room.
As she walks up to us, she asks, “I heard you were going to go see Faust tomorrow. Do you want me to go with you?”
“I think we have it handled,” Mason tells her. “It doesn’t sound like he has much security, and Jess will be wearing the ring to make Faust cooperate. We should be fine.”
“Sounds good,” Nina says, nodding her head and glancing my way. “Uh, Jess, could I have a moment alone with you to get your opinion about something?”
“Sure,” I say, drawing the word out, because I don’t have a clue what Nina might want to talk about.
We walk over to a far corner in the room so the boys can’t hear our conversation.
“So, I’ve been thinking about what I should do to handle the Rafe situation,” Nina says quietly, “and I wanted to get your opinion on what I’ve come up with.”
“Of course,” I say, instantly intrigued to hear what someone as rough around the edges as Nina would consider a romantic gesture.
“I want to show him why I am the way I am,” she says, looking slightly uncomfortable confiding such a thing to me. “So I thought I would give him a tour of my life. I plan to take him to the places where something important happened to me and helped form who I am today.”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” I tell her sincerely. “It’s thoughtful. It’ll show Rafe that you want him to know the real you, and it’s something you thought of all by yourself. I say go for it, Nina. I don’t think you’ll regret it.”
Nina smiles shyly, which is a new look for her. I like it.
“Now all I need to do is pull him away from his patients for an evening,” she says, sounding like this might be more of a task than it should be. “I’ve never seen someone so obsessed with helping people. It’s great that he’s like that, but…it makes finding time to be alone with him more difficult.”
“I’m sure if you ask him nicely, he’ll take a night off. Have you given any thought to what you will say if he says the big ‘L’ word again?”
“I’ll tell him the truth. I’ll tell him that I love him, too, and I might not even wait for him to say it first.”
This brings a smile to my face. “That sounds like a better idea to me. It might even make up for the ‘respect you’ debacle.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Nina says, trying to play it off.
“Yeah, it kind of was, but what you have planned will more than make up for it, especially if you end it with an ‘I love you’.”
“But what if I’ve missed my chance?” Nina asks, wearing an expression that I’ve never seen on her face before: insecurity. “He might say no to going out with me.”
“He won’t say no,” I try to reassure her.
“You don’t know that. He’s been distant the last few days. He might not be interested in giving me a second chance.”
“Listen, this is Rafe we’re talking about. He isn’t going to say no.”
“Would you go with me?” Nina says, sounding a bit desperate for some back-up.
“You don’t expect me to ask him out on a date for you, do you?”
“No, I’ll do that. I just need some moral support in case he says no.”
“I’ll go, but I feel positive he won’t turn you down. Where is Rafe now?”
“He’s in the living room, talking with Zack and Chandler while he has a snack. I practically had to drag him out of the tent hospital in Rio. He’d been there since this morning. He wants me to take him to another hospital he heard about in Mexico after he eats.”
“He needs more than just a break, Nina,” I say, worried about how much Rafe is working. “He has to take some real time off, and I think this date night idea of yours is just the incentive he needs to want to do th
at.”
“If he takes it…” Nina says, her gaze sliding to the floor in self-doubt.
“I think he’ll jump at the chance.” I touch Nina’s arm to draw her attention. “Trust me. He will.”
Nina smiles, but I can still see how nervous she is.
“Give me a minute,” I tell her before making my way back to Mason’s side.
“I need to go downstairs with Nina for a little while,” I tell him and the others.
“Do you need my help with anything?” Mason asks.
“No. I’ve got this handled.”
“Ok. I’ll go back to the kitchen to see if I can help with supper while you’re busy.”
“I’m going to be in Beijing for the rest of the night,” Brand tells us. Involuntarily, I raise a questioning eyebrow. “It’s early morning there,” Brand goes on to explain. “I told Jai Lin I would help her with the video she’s planning to run after you get the footage of Ravan.”
“Well, thanks to my nifty James Bond gadget, I guess I’m ready to capture that video for the resistance. Josh, you’re my own personal Q.”
“Q?” Josh asks, a confused look on his face. “Is that supposed to be someone’s name? And who is James Bond?”
“Don’t tell me Ian Fleming didn’t live in his reality,” I beg.
“Sorry, never heard of him,” Josh says with a slight shrug.
“Well, trust me, James Bond wouldn’t have been such a super spy without Q giving him all his gadgets.”
“Man, I wish you had brought some of those movies with you,” Josh says. “I would have loved to watch a badass super spy.”
“Well, I guess you’ll just have to settle for me,” I say. I turn my attention back to Mason. “I’ll come to the kitchen when Nina and I are through.”
I turn to Nina and hold my hand out to her. She looks at it for a moment because she senses my true intent with the gesture. I don’t just need her to phase me down with her. I want her to know that I’m there to provide whatever encouragement she might need.