by Natalie Grey
“We’re going to get her,” Samara said grimly. “I’ll go myself if you two won’t.”
They stopped to look at her, and there was pity in their eyes.
“How far do you think you’ll get?” Nyx asked her. “I’m not insulting you, Samara, but Cade is one of the best soldiers I’ve ever seen and they clearly managed to take him down. How far do you think you’d get?”
“She’s one of us,” Samara said. She shook her head. “I have to get her back. I have to try.”
“Nyx is right.” Talon reached out to touch her on the arm, and apparently thought better of it when he saw the look on her face. “We’ll get them to safety when we take the palace, but we can’t put a hitch in the entire plan by trying to get to them now.”
“She might be dead by the time we get in there,” Samara said fiercely. “And when you came back from the palace before—which you pulled off!—you were so cut up about the cost to Cade. About how it would kill him if Aryn died. About the cost she was paying. Well, now’s your chance for that not just to be words. Did you mean it, or didn’t you? Are you going to protect your team, or are you going to leave them behind to fend for themselves?” She stared him down, and when she saw that he was unmoved, she felt the panic rise again—and, thankfully, inspiration as well. “Besides,” she said softly, “if she’s with the Warlord, you have the chance to take him out, then and there. End all of this before you risk your team on an assault.”
He wavered, but she knew she’d struck a note. Talon cared about his people. That was his weakness—if you could call it that. He was willing to risk everyone to take the Warlord down, just like Samara was, but she knew that he was like her in another way, too: if someone gave him a chance to pay the whole price himself, and let the rest stay safe, he’d take the chance in a heartbeat.
“Fine.” He gave a single nod.
Nyx sighed.
“Not a word,” he told her. “She’s right. I got in once, I can do it again. If I can kill him on my own—”
“You looked at that, you didn’t think it was a good bet.” Her voice was fierce. She shot an angry look at Samara.
“If I don’t think it’s a good bet when I get there, I won’t do it.” He bit the words off. “And we’ll proceed with the op as planned. And if something happens to me, you’ll execute on the plan just as well as I would.”
There was a moment of silence, and then Nyx nodded. Talon pulled her into a rough hug.
“We knew this might be the end,” he said quietly.
She nodded again. “It’s been an honor.”
“Let’s keep it that way, shall we?” Talon let her go and raised an eyebrow. “No use mourning until we know we need to. So … I’ll need you to steal a truck and meet me at the back of the palace.”
“There it is.” Nyx gave a groan and a laugh. She tipped her head back. “Fine. I’ll be there. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I won’t,” Talon promised, with an easy smile that suggested one shouldn’t put too much stock in his words. He nodded to Samara, and disappeared back up the tunnel.
“If he dies doing this,” Nyx said, her voice at once pleasant and ice cold, “you and I are going to have a very unpleasant conversation.”
Samara swallowed.
“Now get your team ready.” Nyx nodded down the corridor toward the bunker. “We’ll be back when we can be.”
18
Everything hurt. Cade tried to open his eyes and gave a hiss of pain. Either one of his eyes was covered with a bandage, or it was swollen shut—and from how much light hurt in the other eye, it seemed almost a mercy. He couldn’t seem to move his arms, but he did as much of a check as he could. A faint distortion of his torso to either side revealed the half-itch of healing skin as well as a stab of pain, and twisting one shoulder up and then the other revealed bruises, but not the particular, needle-like hurt of broken ribs. He’d been patched up by someone.
Cracked lips opened and he tried to croak out Talon’s name.
“Hello, Mr. Williams.”
Cade froze.
“I wouldn’t try to move if I were you.” Ellian’s voice was almost amused. “Your side doesn’t seem to be quite healed yet, although Colin tells me that the ribs healed well. Your liver will take a few days to get back to normal, as I understand it. It’s truly marvelous what modern medicine can do, is it not? You had very little time left when we found you.”
So the knife had gotten his liver. Well, that explained why he felt like death warmed over. There were ways to get the toxins out of your system. Very effective, he recalled with a certain humor. Very high survival rate. It only occurred to him now how big a gap there was between survival and actual wellness. He pulled at his hands and felt his arms jerk tight.
“I just said not to try to move,” Ellian said. “Was that somehow difficult for you to follow?”
Cade craned his head slightly, opening his one good eye to see the ropes securing his hands to the top of the bed. So that was why they wouldn’t move. Lifting his head, he saw that someone had paid the same attention to his feet.
This was not, he felt, a good sign.
“Why—”
“We’ll get to that presently. You know where Aryn is, I expect.”
“She’s not here?” Cade’s blood ran cold. He jerked up, the bedframe rocking as he strained at the ropes. They did not shift, and there was no help forthcoming from Ellian’s disembodied voice. “Goddammit, if she’s still with the Warlord, we need to get there now. Get me up. I need adrenaline.”
“No.” Ellian sounded bored. He sighed. “Are you quite done, Mr. Williams?”
“We need to get to her,” Cade said, through gritted teeth. “If he has her—”
“Mr. Williams, all in good time. You and I have matters to discuss.”
“What matters?” Cade demanded. “There’s nothing—”
Something heavy and blunt slammed into his side, and he heard a scream burst from his throat. Stars clouded his vision, and when they cleared, he looked up into Colin’s eyes.
“Matters,” Ellian said coldly, “such as your plan to run away with my wife.”
The nightstick came down again and Cade’s breath was driven from his lungs. He gasped for air.
“What—” he managed. “What are you—”
“I’m not particularly interested in your denials.” Ellian paused, and Cade saw Colin nod in response to an unspoken command. He flinched, but there was no getting away from the blow.
He was going to die here. The thought came to him in a flash and he wrenched at his hands, pulling one free with a scrape of raw skin. Retribution was immediate: the violent blows of the nightstick came raining down on his torso and his head until the world went black.
When he came to, his hands were tied once more and there was the feel of cold metal pressed against the side of his head.
“Shall we begin again?” Ellian asked, his voice deathly soft.
Cade said nothing. He could taste blood in his mouth and feel the new bruises aching on his body.
“Very well. Would you be surprised, Mr. Williams, to hear me say that I knew all about your little flirtation from the start?”
A pause. At last, Cade shook his head slowly.
“Ah, at last we’re getting somewhere. Thank you for admitting it.”
“We didn’t—”
“You will speak when I ask a question.” A burst of pain exploded across Cade’s side. “Now. You must have known that I am aware of everything that goes on in my house. I am not a fool.”
Cade shook his head.
“What are you shaking your head to, Mr. Williams? Do you think I am, in fact, a fool?”
Cade shook his head.
“Then do not interrupt. What fascinates me is … well, I confess there are two things. First, that it took so long. It took a great deal of prodding. You didn’t break when I had you in her rooms. That was impressive. Not even when I sent assassins to the airport, either.”
“That was you?”
“I believe I said not to interrupt.” At least there was no blow this time, for which Cade was eminently grateful. “I would even be willing to bet that you didn’t have her on the ship, did you?”
“No.”
“So there it is. The famed self-control of the Dragons. But you let it go much farther than you should have, didn’t you?” When Cade said nothing, Ellian’s tone sharpened, “Answer me.”
“I—”
“I can’t hear you.”
“I loved her.” The words burst out of him.
“And you think this makes you special somehow? James loved her, too.”
“James…” Was it blood or anger he could taste? “Sold her to the Warlord.”
There was a pause, and Cade imagined Ellian’s eyebrows up in surprise, but he was surprised when the man said simply, “Yes, I know. I knew someone would.”
“You’re not…” Cade winced. “Angry?”
“Surely one merchant can appreciate the work of another in this world. It served my purpose, so I let it happen. And at any rate, Mr. Williams, you should consider that James made a far better bargain than you. I’ve no doubt that Aryn herself was part of his price.”
It was a great pity that James was already dead, because Cade felt the urge to kill him again. He tried to calm himself.
“The Warlord would never—”
“Heavens, he has no interest in her. His tastes run younger.” Even Ellian, playing the role of the jaded businessman, could not keep the faint distaste from his tone.
She’s not his type, Talon had said, and Cade remembered the look on his face. He sank his head back, trying to think. He needed to persuade Ellian to let him out of here. Perhaps if he were to promise that Ellian could kill him after Aryn was free…
And it all fell into place: it served my purpose. Cade opened his eyes.
“You planned this. You planned for her to get taken.” He didn’t understand it yet, not all of it, but he was sure of that much, at least.
Ellian laughed, at last.
“Finally. I wondered how long it would take.”
“She’s not to blame—”
“I beg to differ.” The humor was gone in a flash. “She betrayed me for you.”
“You threw us together! You had me sleep in her room! You—fuck it, you’re supplying the Warlord with weapons, did you never once think—”
This time, the nightstick came down on his face, and he felt his lip split. Wincing, gasping, he rolled his head.
“Mr. Williams, do not take me for a fool.” Ellian moved into view at last, his face as still as if it had been carved from stone. “Are you now about to inform me about my wife’s political leanings? Do you think for a moment that I was unaware of that?”
“Then why….” Cade broke off, wincing.
“Because the Warlord, up until now, has tolerated that rebellion. Until now, no one thought it would come to anything.”
He closed his eyes. Was he here to be questioned about the weapons? He would say nothing about them. Giving Talon a fighting chance was a good enough way to go. And Talon would get Aryn out—more, apparently, than Cade could say for Ellian.
“So you didn’t care that she was a rebel,” Cade said softly. “But why throw her at me?”
“You can’t see it yet?” Ellian settled into a chair nearby, crossing his legs and staring into the middle distance. “I began to grow attached to her.”
Cade stayed silent, head twisted to watch Ellian. His senses screamed for him to watch Colin, at his other side with the nightstick, but it was Ellian who was controlling things here. Ellian was the one to be watched.
“Do you know how unsettling it is to fall in love, Mr. Williams?” Ellian met his eyes and smiled mirthlessly. “I suppose you do. Have you always loved her? No, don’t answer, it doesn’t matter. For me, Aryn was a pretty diversion. Oh, don’t misunderstand. I was captivated by her. What I told you when I hired you—it was true. Sentimentality. She was lovely, and I did not want to know she would be broken in the mines. I needed a wife. The pieces fit.” He looked down at his steepled fingers. “And it worked. She became a little pet. Docile, beautiful. And then one day she was … more. You know, I even remember the moment it happened. We were in the dining room having dinner, and she asked me how my day was. A little courtesy, nothing more. And I told her the truth.”
Cade could think of nothing to say to this. It would have been funny if it were not so terrifyingly clear that Ellian was serious.
“Do you see now, Mr. Williams? I struggled against it. I held her at arm’s length. But there was no denying what I felt. I could not keep myself from confiding in her any longer. And so I needed to know that no matter what she thought, what she wanted … Aryn would be loyal to me.” Ellian’s voice was dry. “So I gave her you.”
“What?”
“Do you not see the perfection of it?” Ellian was trying to appear pleased, but his mouth twisted bitterly. “Mr. Rift gave me exactly what I asked for—the most honorable man he knew. I could see at a glance that you were the perfect test for her. Did you truly not see how well matched the two of you were? I knew that if she could keep her mouth shut around you, I would be safe.”
“…What?”
“You thought I was worried about those kisses? Nothing so pedestrian. She could have had you if that was all it was. I might have killed you, of course, but it would hardly have disturbed me. No, it was the secrets that concerned me. And Aryn … failed. Which of course made her the perfect bargaining tool with the Warlord. He’s under the impression that I will exert considerable effort to get her back. And he is wrong. He will not guess my purpose until it is far, far too late for him.”
Cade felt his eyes drift closed. All this time, wondering how Ellian could not see what was happening….
“Unfortunately, now that we are here, Mr. Williams … I find that I cannot forgive you.” Ellian was shaking, his nostrils flared, his lips compressed in a thin line. “I had intended to send you away, you know. When this was over. Some part of me even wondered if I would let Aryn go with you, if she failed the test. And yet, now that I have seen it with my own eyes, I do not think I can allow that. And so I bid you goodbye.” He stood, taking a moment to look Cade in the eyes before he swept away.
“Did you not want her to love you?” Cade spat out. He could not keep it in any longer. “Didn’t you wonder if you could treat her kindly, and trust her, and see if she would love you?”
“You know, I did once.” Ellian looked at the far wall, his eyes faintly narrowed. “At the beginning of this. It was a foolish notion. I am honest with myself. I hoped that she would choose me. But that was before I had the experience of watching her obey me despite herself. Have you ever had someone kiss you, Mr. Williams, with hatred in their eyes? Have you ever had so much control over another human? It is intoxicating. I find myself wondering if I will keep her once this is all over. It’s almost worth keeping you alive to see it. But not quite.”
And he was gone.
19
There was the faint buzz of a comm from the Warlord’s ear and Aryn looked over before she could stop herself.
He smiled. “Interested, my dear? I knew you could not possibly be so hard of hearing as all that.”
She looked away without a word. She had managed to keep herself quiet for the past while, neither responding to the Warlord’s baiting comments, nor asking any of the questions that swirled in her head. His false politeness grated on her nerves, and a tide of guilt was rising quickly in her chest at every thinly veiled taunt about Ellian.
She had chosen her course: when the Warlord presented her at dinner, she would tell Ellian to hold to his bargain—even if it killed her.
She kept circling around, thinking about it from different angles. If she were honest, she wanted to survive this. But there was only one thing to be done, and she could not see any way around it. She could not allow Ellian to be manipulated into destroying
the rebellion for her sake, which meant that she must say something.
She tried not to look at the soldier’s body, still lying on the carpets. The Warlord killed casually, quickly, when it suited him, and in some ways that scared her more than the stories of torture.
Some logical part of her brain told her that with her dead, Ellian would have no more reason to bend to the Warlord’s will. And Cade…. She turned her head away sharply, squeezing her eyes shut. If she thought of him, bleeding out, now at Ellian’s mercy, she would begin to scream and she would not be able to stop.
“What is it, my dear?” The voice was so close to her that she jumped. “Are you so worried that I will make you go to dinner in that bloody gown?” The Warlord came to smile down at her, reaching out to brush a lock of hair behind her ear.
She was going to kill him. Her muscles twitched with the effort of not striking out, and when he laughed, she knew he saw it. He straightened, looking down at her for a moment before making for the door.
“I’ll send someone to help you fix your hair,” he said over his shoulder. Then the door closed behind him and she was alone.
Aryn curled into a ball on the couch and tried to keep the tears back, but it was no use. She had been paraded around like a little doll, first for Ellian’s purposes and now the Warlord’s, and now she would be used to undo the resistance. How had things gone so wrong? How had she botched it all so completely?
Her head came up slowly. There was nothing she should have changed. For the resistance to have a chance, she needed to get them the weapons. For them to trust the Dragons quickly, she needed to come here with Talon. There was no way around it. Whatever was happening now, Aryn had done all in her power to avoid it.
But Cade had borne the cost.
She had to get out of here. She had to get to him. A message dinged into being on the console and she shot it an impatient glance, disturbed from her thoughts.
What made her look closer, she did not know. The name on the message was unfamiliar, and there was no preview to tell her what might be inside. But the more Aryn looked at the notification, the surer she became that she should look at it.