by Jasmine Walt
“Tell me about it,” I said around a mouthful of cookie as I kneaded dough. It honestly felt weird that we were feeding the very people who were responsible for Iannis’s disappearance, but we didn’t have nearly enough manpower to take them on, so we had to blend in. “If we don’t get out of here soon, we might just find ourselves in uniform.”
Annia snorted. “Do you really think that Rylan will slip up like that?”
“No,” I admitted with a sigh. “He’ll figure out what I’m up to, and since he’s a lapdog for the Resistance he’ll rat us out for sure. And don’t forget the tiger shifter, Daresh. He’ll denounce us in a heartbeat, when that spell wears off.”
My heart ached at the thought of my cousin Rylan – he and I had been so close as cubs, and I hated that we were on opposite ends of this brewing war. He’d tried to get me to join the Resistance, and when that had failed, in an effort to keep me safe he’d warned me several times to keep my nose out of their plans. We still loved each other, but I knew that if the Resistance caught me here Rylan wouldn’t lift a finger in my defense. To him, the cause was more important than family.
“The fact that Rylan would do that only makes me more certain that I don’t want Noria anywhere near the Resistance,” Annia whispered fiercely, the crackle of frying meat covering her vehement words. “When we get home, I’ll knock some sense into that stubborn head of hers, even if it means sending her off to a foreign country.”
“She’d either find her way back here or just join up with whatever passes for the Resistance over there.” I shook my head as a wave of exhaustion that had nothing to do with my lack of sleep washed over me. “I’m starting to think that the only way to keep Noria safe is to help the mages crush the Resistance.”
Annia’s eyebrows shot up. “Never thought I’d hear you say those words.”
My lips twisted in a wry smile. “Must be a sign of the end of times or something.”
A somber mood settled over us. We quietly finished cooking the rest of the meal and laying out the food on the serving counter for the men to help themselves. Soldiers started trickling in, and though they were a little bleary-eyed, their faces were washed and their uniforms were clean. The fact that these men took their duties seriously and had pride in their appearance told me that they were truly dedicated to their cause. I shuddered to think of the kind of force they would become if they had experienced military leaders commanding them.
As before, Annia took control of the serving line, greeting the soldiers with smiles and cheer that had them brightening up and grinning back at her. Even Captain Milios, who gave us both the stink-eye as he walked in, huffed out a reluctant greeting to her as she handed him his morning coffee. I watched him as he surveyed us with those keen eyes of his for a long moment before taking his food and sitting down at his table, which was angled perpendicular to the other tables and centered along the wall so that he could observe everyone at any given moment.
About ten minutes into breakfast, a soldier burst in through the doors and rushed straight to Milios’s table. “Captain, captain!” he shouted. “There’s an airship circling the plains, and it’s passing near us!”
Instantly, soldiers rushed from their tables to peer through the windows set in the back and front walls. They ignored Milios’s shouts, crowding around the few windows that weren’t broken so they could see what was happening. Annia and I had our own window in the kitchen, so we hurried over to see what all the fuss was about.
I spotted the airship instantly – the taut canvas was tinted royal blue, and Canalo’s emblem, stamped on the side in gold, shimmered in the early morning light. My fingers curled at my sides, and I sneered up at the rescue ship. Had the Council heeded my request to join their rescue team, we’d be a lot closer to finding Iannis. Instead, they were circling the plains fruitlessly, while we were stuck down here feeding these misguided soldiers. If the mages at least had a shifter aboard, Fenris and I could have communicated with them via mindspeak and gotten them to rescue their colleagues in that putrid mineshaft. Instead, I watched them sail by overhead with frustration searing my chest.
“ENOUGH!” the captain finally roared, silencing the fervent buzz that had spread throughout the room. “Stop acting like a bunch of hysterical housewives, the lot of you, and sit down!”
The men obeyed, returning to their seats with bowed shoulders, though plenty of them still glanced furtively in the direction of the windows.
Captain Milios huffed at the sight of his men. “You all are acting like a flock of hens who’ve had their feathers torn out,” he scolded them. “That dirigible isn’t going to spot us from so high up. We’re too well camouflaged.”
“With all due respect, captain, we’re not worried about the town being discovered so much as the dirigible that Xiver took down,” one of the soldiers, a skinny guy with mousy brown hair and a thin face, spoke up. He pointed toward a broad-shouldered man with inky-black hair and a square face sitting two tables away, who straightened instantly at the sound of his name. “If that airship finds the dirigible, they’ll know the delegates went down near here.”
“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that, Private,” the captain scoffed. “That’s why we’ve sent our resident mage out to take care of it. He should be done waving his magic fingers around by now. There won’t be a single trace of that dirigible left behind.”
“A mage!” Fenris shouted in my head as Annia and I exchanged a look. “There’s a mage helping them?”
“Wipe that look off your face before someone sees it,” I hissed back at him – his eyes were snapping fire, his cheeks turning a brilliant shade of red. “The last thing we need is for the captain to be even more suspicious of us!”
“I don’t think that search party’ll find the dirigible, even if that mage doesn’t do his job,” Xiver drawled, a lazy grin on his face as his barrel chest puffed out. “I did a pretty damn good job hiding it away when I landed it in the mountains. And they’re never gonna find the Chief Mage, not after what I did to him –”
“Thank you, Sergeant Xiver,” the captain barked, cutting him off before Xiver could say anything more. “Now if you’re done bragging about your piloting skills, let’s finish breakfast so we can get started with our day.”
“Yes sir.” Xiver saluted the captain, but it was almost a lazy gesture, and the smirk didn’t quite disappear from his face. The captain narrowed his eyes until Xiver finally turned back to his food, and the normal level of conversation resumed.
“I wonder who the mage is that’s helping them?” Annia muttered as she brought some dirty dishes over to me. “Seems kind of strange that any mage would join up with the Resistance.”
“Maybe they’re getting offered some kind of deal,” I suggested as I dunked my hands into the soapy water, fishing for the sponge I’d dropped. “Or they’ve got a bone to pick with the establishment.”
“I guess, but I can’t see the Resistance honoring any deal they make with a mage,” Annia said dubiously. “Ultimately their goal is to remove the mages from power, so they couldn’t have one amongst their ranks.”
She went back to her station, and I mulled over her words for a few moments as I scrubbed dishes. Annia was right – the Resistance might be temporarily allying themselves with a mage, but there was no way that relationship was going to last.
“Sunaya.” Fenris grabbed my attention again, his voice calm now, though ire still simmered beneath the surface. “I’ve been listening to the captain and the sergeant talking. They’re debating whether or not to execute the delegates.”
I stiffened. “What are they saying, exactly?” I turned my head to look toward the front table. Captain Milios and Sergeant Brun had their heads close together, and they seemed to be arguing fiercely. I cursed myself for not being close enough to hear them – the noise in the mess hall combined with the fact that I was all the way in the kitchen rendered my super-hearing useless. Thankfully Fenris was only one table away, and though he k
ept his head down and appeared to be focused solely on his food, he clearly had an ear cocked toward the conversation.
“The sergeant is arguing that the delegates are draining camp resources, specifically the food, drugs, and manpower required to keep an eye on them. He and a number of the other men think the delegates should just be killed since they have no value and are enemies of the Resistance. But the captain is saying they need to wait on orders from the Benefactor first.”
“The Benefactor!” The long stirring spoon I was holding slipped from my hands and clanged against the lip of the sink before disappearing beneath the soapy water. I fished it out and finished scrubbing it, then stuck it on the rapidly-filling drying rack. “I didn’t think that general members of the Resistance knew about the Benefactor.”
“Why wouldn’t they?”
“Because Rylan didn’t know, and he’s the same rank as Captain Milios.”
“Do you think it’s possible that Rylan might not have been telling the truth?” Fenris asked cautiously.
“I don’t see how. He was standing right in front of me when we had the conversation.” Due to our heightened senses as well as sensitivity to body language, it was extremely difficult to lie to a shifter. Besides, I couldn’t quite stomach the idea that Rylan and I had grown so far apart that he was comfortable lying to my face.
“Perhaps the Benefactor, whoever he is, has become less careful about spreading their name around, now that their plans are coming to fruition,” Fenris suggested, though he didn’t sound completely convinced. “In any case, we need to rescue the delegates sooner rather than later before the Resistance decides to execute them. Do you have any suggestions?”
I nearly shook my head, but remembered just in time that I wasn’t supposed to look like I was having a conversation. “They’re all heavily drugged, so they won’t be able to offer any assistance, and we don’t have the necessary manpower to go up against the whole camp. Not to mention that mage could be back soon, and we have no idea how powerful he is. For all we know, he could be as strong as Iannis.”
“Then our best option is to find Iannis fast, and bring him back here before it’s too late,” Fenris concluded. “Unfortunately, the only lead we have is that obnoxious pilot.”
Finished with the dishes, I turned around to look at Xiver, who was joking around with the soldiers at his table, a shit-eating grin on his face. That grin widened as he caught me looking at him, and a lascivious glint entered his eyes that sent a shiver running down my spine.
“We’ll take him tonight,” I told Fenris as I turned my back on the pilot. “Squeeze him for information and hope he gives us something useful.” He’d done something to Iannis, and when I got my hands on him I would make sure that grin was wiped from his face. Maybe even permanently.
14
Fenris might not have been much of a talker, but his keen eye and stellar observation skills were a huge help. During dinner service, he told me that he already knew which cabin Sergeant Xiver was staying in. The three of us hashed out a plan over dinner, one that I wasn’t entirely happy with, but was fairly confident would work.
After our kitchen duties were done for the day, Annia and I headed back to our cabin. The shadow of the mountains loomed over the camp, but behind them the sky was streaked with brilliant shades of gold, purple, and orange as the sun bade us farewell. Annia received lots of catcalls and whistles as we walked past the men, but though she smiled and waved at them, she didn’t stop to engage them in conversation. We had an agenda tonight, and the extra attention wouldn’t help us with our mission.
“Alright you,” Annia said, digging through her pack as I sat down on my cot. “Let’s get you all prettied up for your starring role tonight.”
“I can’t believe you packed makeup,” I groused as I watched her open a miniature makeup case and place it on her thigh.
“A lady has to be prepared for any situation,” Annia said primly, arching her eyebrows and pursing her lips. I snickered, then yelped as she reached out and pinched my cheek. “Now, now, young lady. A lady never snickers.”
“Yeah, yeah.” I batted her hand away from my cheek. “Just get on with it already. I seriously doubt Xiver expects me to be a lady.”
“Not in his bed, anyway,” Annia agreed as she kneeled in front of me. She dipped a tiny brush into an equally tiny circle of bronze eyeshadow and instructed me to close my eyes. “Xiver looks like the kind of guy who’d fuck a woman and then slap her if she complained that she didn’t get off.”
“I bet he hasn’t had the chance to do that in a long time,” I mused as Annia brushed powder over my lids. “With the way he was looking at me today, I’m half surprised he didn’t approach me himself.”
“All the more reason that this’ll work.”
Annia finished making me up, and I changed out of the long-sleeved shirt I was wearing into a tank top I’d packed for hotter weather. The cotton garment showed off my toned arms, and more importantly my cleavage. Annia inspected me for a moment with pursed lips, then reached out and tugged my neckline a little lower.
“Perfect. He won’t know what hit him.”
We waited until darkness had fully settled over the village before I quietly slipped from our cabin. Following Fenris’s directions, I headed for the cabin two rows behind us and one to the left. It had two stories, and I chewed my lip for a moment as I wondered which floor my target lived on. It would be easier if I could avoid his roommate.
I took a deep breath, then sauntered up to the door and knocked. A moment later, a tall, lanky soldier with dirty blond hair opened the door. His uniform discarded, he was dressed in a white t-shirt and underwear. Realization that I was a woman widened his eyes, and a blush sprouted from his hairline and spread all the way down to his collarbone before he shoved the door partially closed.
“C-can I help you, miss? I mean, recruit?” the soldier asked, his voice steadying now that he was partially shielded from sight. His pale blue eyes skittered over me, round as saucers. Judging by some of the looks we’d gotten, I was sure that if I hadn’t been a shifter, more than a few of these men would have tried to sneak into our beds in the middle of the night.
“Sure.” I leaned my shoulder against one of the rickety posts holding up the awning, careful not to put too much weight on the beam lest it collapse, and gave him my best coy smile. “I’m looking for Sergeant Xiver. Is he in?”
“Whatcha need him for?”
“I have a…message, that I need to deliver. Specifically for him.”
“I see.” The soldier looked disappointed. “Gimme a sec.” He closed the door in my face, and I heard him hollering for Xiver.
“What is it?” the pilot snapped from the upper floor, and I groaned a little. It was going to be harder to take him if he was on the upper floor, though not impossible.
“One of the women is here to see you.”
“Is that right?” The growl smoothly transitioned into an amused drawl, and I sucked my tongue between my teeth, annoyed. I could practically hear his ego swelling at the idea that he was the first man to be paid a visit by the new hussies in town. He was going to be in for an ugly surprise when he found out I wasn’t here to suck his cock, but meanwhile….
The door swung open and Xiver’s tall form filled the doorway. Unlike his roommate, he still had his uniform pants on, but he’d taken off the top and only a white cotton tank separated my gaze from his muscular torso. The patches of sweat on his tank top and the sheen on his tanned skin told me that he’d probably been doing push-ups or something – with the sun gone from the horizon, the temperature had cooled off considerably.
“What is it, woman?” He raked my form with his dark eyes. The glint in his pupils was identical to the one I’d seen in the cafeteria, and another small shiver worked its way down my spine. “Don’t you know it’s getting close to lights out?”
“Oh I know.” I gave him a slow smile as I drew my gaze down his own body. “It gets cold here at night, thou
gh, and I was looking around the mess hall today for someone who could help keep me warm.” I dropped my gaze meaningfully to his groin, then brought it back up to his face. “I was thinking maybe you were up to the job, but if not, I’ve got a few back-up options available.”
Xiver snorted. “Those limp dicks wouldn’t know what to do if you showed up on their doorstep.” Another cold shiver crawled down my spine as he clamped a large hand around my wrist. “Come in and let me show you what a real man can do.”
I let him pull me into the darkness of the cabin, prepared to follow him up the stairs, but as soon as he closed the door he pushed me up against the wall and crushed his body against mine. His chapped lips pressed roughly against my own, and I fought against the urge to gag as a combination of sour and smoky filled my senses.
A strangled noise in the background drew my attention to the fact that Xiver’s roommate was still here. I seized on the excuse as I flattened my palms against the pilot’s broad chest, pushing him away.
“I like a bit more privacy,” I purred up at him as Xiver scowled, rubbing my hands up and down his chest to soften the insult.
Xiver glanced over his shoulder at his gaping roommate, who was sitting on his cot, eyes wide as he watched us. “What, you mean Wilton?” He laughed. “I planned on giving him a show. The way he blushes every time he sees you two in the mess hall, I figure he needs a crash course on how to handle a woman.”
I arched a brow. “Before we do that, I need to make sure you can handle me.” I pressed my tongue between my teeth as I grinned up at him. “I wouldn’t want to embarrass you in front of your friend if I prove to be too much for you.”
Xiver’s upper lip curled. “I’ve never met a woman I couldn’t handle, but if you insist.” His hands were around my waist, and I turned my yelp of outrage into a girly squeal as he hauled me over his shoulder and carried me up the creaky stairs to his room. “Hang tight, Wilton!” he called down the stairs to his roommate. “As soon as I’m done with the shifter, you can have her next.”