Standing in the background until that moment, Damen stepped forward, pulling the sleeves of his suit back into crispness after Triaten’s assault. “Believe me, they have the means, and you need to stop them before they succeed.”
Triaten eyed him, brows cut in suspicion. “Why do you even care? Why are you here?”
“I care because of the girl. You have your time-shifting half-breed. They have another half-breed. One that can control magma, control lava, the very earth. My brothers took her from her mother when she was a week old.”
“I repeat. Why do you care?”
“She is my daughter. I want her back. Alive.”
“That’s what she is—a half-breed? She was the one controlling the lava when we attacked the Folotto compound, wasn’t she?” Triaten’s hand tightened around his dagger’s hilt. “She killed a hundred of my men.”
“Yes. That was unfortunate.” There wasn’t the slightest hint in Damen’s face that he actually thought the massacre unfortunate. “I imagine that was merely a test for her, dreamed up by my brothers. Her power is now potent enough to send a land mass into the ocean. Especially one with a convenient fault line.”
“When?” Horace asked.
“The comet that approaches will align with the moon to put the tides in their favor. One day from now,” Evan said.
“Can she really do it?” Triaten asked.
“Yes.” Both Damen and Evan answered in unison without hesitation.
Damen reached in his pocket and dropped a piece of paper on the table. Horace picked it up and unfolded it.
“Coordinates. I will be there as well,” Damen said. “It is tenuous, but I have been invited back into the Folotto fold. After proof of the offspring I can produce, my brothers are anxious to have me back in the clan. I will abuse that offer. This is my way in. I plan on getting my daughter back alive. Or remove her from this earth, whichever is necessary.”
Evan’s eyes narrowed, pinpointed at Triaten. “You flinch at that?”
“Yes,” Triaten said. “The callousness of your kind never fails to surprise me.”
“Do you think you are the only ones that understand the need for balance of power?” Evan looked across the table at Horace. “Tell me your son does not have such a limited view, Horace.”
“He understands it,” Horace said. “He just chooses to not always agree with the necessary methods to achieve the balance. He will mature in that area soon enough.”
“If we are done with actual business here,” Triaten said, “I would like to speak to Damen in private.”
All eyes swung to Triaten, assessing his motives, and his anger.
Triaten rolled his eyes. “It is fine. I’m not going to kill him. Not yet.” He flipped the dagger, caught the blade, and offered the hilt to Horace.
Evan stood. “I leave it up to Damen whether he wants to speak with you. But remember, my time is limited.”
Damen gave a curt nod. “It is fine. I will be out momentarily.”
Horace grabbed his gloves, stood, and joined Evan in exiting the hut.
Triaten waited until the heavy wood door latched closed, then turned to Damen. “Let’s get one thing straight. The only reason you’re not dead right now is because you didn’t hurt Charlotte.”
Damen didn’t try to hide a smirk. “So she told you, did she? I can see it’s hard for you, not able to understand how a Malefic was able to control himself and not injure your female to get what he wanted. You don’t know what to do with that information. It would be so much easier for you if I had forced myself on her.”
Triaten locked down the seething brutality he wanted to unleash on Damen. It wasn’t going to get him what he wanted. “You are right. But I didn’t ask to talk to you for answers. The past is nothing to me.”
“No?”
“No. I want to talk about the future. I want your guarantee that you will not touch Charlotte again. Ever. You will forget you ever knew her.”
Damen crossed an arm across his chest and stroked his clean-shaven chin. “Interesting. She is extremely valuable, this Charlotte of yours.” He tilted his head as he pondered Triaten. “What would possess me to agree to this guarantee you wish? To give up all the possibilities Charlotte can offer? The offspring she could produce?”
Triaten’s jaw went hard, and only the years of learning to master his self-control kept his fists at his sides, and not in Damen’s face. And god forgive him for what he was about to say. “I will give you another Panthenite womb. Just as powerful, with equal lineage to Charlotte’s.”
That got Damen’s full attention. “You will trade another for her? I did not expect this from you.”
“As long as you assure me you will not harm the female I give you. Charlotte did concede that you live by a ‘somewhat’ honorable code.”
“And if I refuse your offer?”
“Honestly? Then I will go to the ends of the earth to kill you.”
“You’re willing to risk saving millions of lives for her?”
“Without question.”
A sardonic smile curled the corner of Damen’s mouth. “Then, I guess, I agree to your offer. As long as the lineage goes back as strongly as Charlotte’s, you have a deal. I will not touch Charlotte again.”
The way Damen said it, Triaten questioned what sort of deal with the devil he had just made. “And I should trust you?”
“You shouldn’t. I could be lying right now. But what choice do you have?”
Triaten didn’t answer him.
With a quick nod, Damen exited the building.
Triaten heaved a steadying breath against the hole in his gut at what he had just done. But what choice did he have? None.
Not if he was going to protect Charlotte and the baby. His baby.
What did Charlotte say to him long ago? He'd never been open to love. Well this was why. It didn't take a genius to figure it out. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to protect her. Even risk the world.
With a shake of his head, Triaten opened the door of the hut. Horace stood alongside the entrance, waiting for him. Evan and Damen were already gone from view.
Triaten stopped, standing next to Horace, unable to look at him. He fixated on the rolling hills surrounding the hut. “Why, Horace? Why would you do it—to me, to Charlotte?”
Horace clasped his gloved hands behind his back. “I did it for the natural balance between the two species. That, you should understand—if there is one thing I know I’ve taught you over the past century, it is that for all to survive, the balance must be maintained. That is why Evan is valuable to us. He is of the same mind on that point. The half-breeds, the accidents of birth—there are already too many half-breeds that exist, and they are off-setting to the balance of the species. If we are not careful, they will destroy us all.”
“So you want to create more? How is that a help? How does that create peace?”
“Peace? With Malefics?” Horace choked out a sarcastic laugh. “Hardly. I want balance. Peace will never be in our nature. But balance is paramount. It is what we do. It is why we exist and why this world lives as it does. We make sure evil does not gain the upper hand. And I sent Charlotte to create a half-breed for the balance of powers. Half-breeds that we have from birth, that we can control, they are the future. They will stabilize the war.”
“And morality? How does morality fit into your balance?”
“Morality is subjective,” Horace said. “You know that.”
“Do I? When did you start deciding where the lines are drawn? I caution, you, father. You are only steps away from acting like a god yourself.”
“I do not shy away from what I have to do. And deciding Charlotte’s fate was part of that. She is one of our strongest breeders.”
“We have others. You had a choice—we have slews of breeders you could have sent to that Malefic.” Triaten turned fully to Horace, words clipped. “You chose Charlotte. Why?”
At the challenge, Horace waved his hand. “Triaten, you have
become too attached to Charlotte.”
“Attached? I thought the elders were happy about our pairing.”
“They are.” Horace said casually. “I am not.”
“What the hell, Horace? When did you get to decide my love life? And why do you even care?”
“Great leaders are willing to give up anything, Triaten. Anything. And you are destined to be a great leader. You were born with it. You have the natural ability to make people want to follow you. They want to do what you ask of them. You can’t create that. You can’t learn that. You are given it in the womb. And she is holding you back.”
“Then I will never be a great leader. I will not give Charlotte up.”
Horace shook his gloved fist. “And that is exactly why I sent her to the Malefic. You need to commit yourself fully to our work, and Charlotte is a distraction from that. You need to move past her if you are to be a great leader of the Panthenites.”
“That is too far, father. Too far.” Triaten stepped in at Horace and wrapped his hands along the sides of Horace’s head. “Hear me now, father, for I will not repeat this to you, nor will I change course from it.” Triaten leaned in, voice, vehement. “I do not lay my soul down on the throne you offer. My soul lies with Charlotte. Never question that loyalty. And do not ever—ever—dare to threaten our bond again.”
Triaten pushed off from his father. “I’ll find my own way home.”
Before Horace could speak, Triaten headed off over the sienna hills.
{ Chapter 22 }
“I can’t go.”
“You can’t, or you won’t?” Triaten leaned back on the mahogany desk in the ranch’s study. He knew this wasn’t going to be an easy sell the second Aiden cleared his throat when Triaten asked to speak to him privately. Aiden had known where Triaten disappeared to with Horace, and Horace’s demands on both of their time had been steadily increasing since the fire. And deals be-damned, Aiden was starting to buck under Horace’s demands.
Not that Triaten liked Horace’s monopoly on so much of his time, either, but this was beyond Horace. What the Folottos had planned was world-changing. World-destroying. That, Triaten could see. Now he just had to make Aiden see it as well.
Aiden crossed his arms across his chest, stance wide and immobile. “I can’t leave Skye again. Not now. Not when she has such a tenuous hold on sanity. She’s still just coming back.”
“What have you been telling me for weeks, Aiden? She’s fine. She has it under control. Your words. Were you lying that whole time?”
“No.” Aiden immediately bristled. “She does have under control.”
“Then you can leave her. She will be fine.”
“Will she? I was wrong before on that account, and Charlotte almost died. This control is still new. If she slips, I need to be here to bring her back.”
Triaten bit his tongue and looked down at his hand, watching his thumb nail dig into the wood on the edge of the desk, biding for time. There was no way around it, he was going to have to ask it, and he hoped he wasn’t going to get clocked for it. He looked at Aiden. “Are you just using her as an excuse?”
Aiden took a threatening step toward Triaten, then veered, and instead, walked past the desk to the picture window out the front of the ranch. He stood, watching the budding trees blow back and forth in waves of wind.
He didn’t turn back to Triaten when he spoke. “Don’t ask me to do this, Triaten. You know I gave this war up long ago. Mustique, the refugee camp, even the raid on the Folotto compound—those were about keeping Skye safe, or about Charlotte. Do not make my participation in them out to more than that.”
“Aiden, I say this to you with the utmost respect. You lost your spine. You haven’t stood for anything in a long time.”
Aiden’s head whipped back and he gave Triaten a sharp look. “Not true, and don’t make me kick your ass. Have I not always been there for you, for Charlotte? Do not question my loyalty to you two.”
“No need to pull out the fists—yes, personally, you have been more than a friend could ask for,” Triaten conceded. “But beyond your immediate, beyond Skye, Char, and myself, you have not stood for anything, good, bad, right, wrong, for a long time, Aiden.”
Silent, Aiden moved back across the room and sat on one of the leather chairs. He leaned forward on his knees, hands clasped in front of his face, eyes trained on the wide-plank floor.
“Aiden, I’m asking for you to stand with me now. These are millions of lives. This is society as we know it ceasing to exist. This is Malefics making themselves into gods. Into gods, Aiden. If ever I was going to ask this of you, it is now. What little is left of our warrior force has been scrambled to Europe. So it is down to us. We can stop them. And we can stop them for the right reasons. This is evil, pure and simple. But I need your help.”
Minutes passed as Aiden contemplated, and Triaten let his words hang in the air. It took restraint Triaten didn’t know he possessed, but he resisted the urge to push his friend.
Eyes pained, hands falling away from his face, Aiden looked at his Triaten. “I don’t know, Tri. I’ve moved so far past what I used to be. I don’t know if I can go back.”
Triaten sighed. “I’ll be at the airfield in two hours. If you decide you can, be there.”
Triaten slid open the door of the study and walked out. He had to talk to Charlotte.
~~~
After searching the barns and the main parts of the house, Triaten finally found Charlotte in the least likely spot, taking a nap. He paused at the entrance to their room, hand on the door, and watched her sleep. The heavy silk curtains were drawn, though little slivers of daylight breached the edges of the fabric, slicing through the dark room.
Flat on her back, Charlotte’s chest rode her even breathing in soft waves. She wasn’t showing yet, but her hand splayed across her lower belly, gently protecting. Her other hand was tucked under the pillow, hand on her blade as usual. Triaten had guessed she would have given keeping a dagger in bed up by now, but he was finding that the century-old habit of Charlotte’s was dying a slow death.
Even with the impending fight he knew they were going to have, Triaten couldn’t help but smile. He had never seen her take a willing nap.
Sure, she had passed out countless times after the strains of healing. Fallen asleep in the middle of the afternoon after being up for days straight. But an old fashioned nap? Consciously choosing to walk upstairs and lie down in bed, then fall asleep? He was surprised Charlotte even knew that such a thing existed.
Triaten afforded himself an extra moment of watching her as his heart tightened. A purely selfish, for him and him alone, moment.
Her body twitched, coming out of sleep, and Triaten’s head dropped to the floor as he moved into the dark room. He sat heavy on the edge of the bed, and that woke Charlotte completely up. A radiant smile was his reward for disturbing the nap.
Charlotte rolled to her side and slipped her hand onto his thigh. “You caught me.”
“I did.”
“This is crazy good.” Her eyes were aglow in wonderment. “I never knew how delicious napping could be.”
“Baby wearing you down?”
“No, it’s all good. More like the baby is expanding my horizons. Have you ever done it?”
Triaten chuckled. “No, actually. Not that I can recall. You’re apparently not the only one with a profound lack of ability to slow down.”
“You have that one right.”
“I have Stewart making that quinoa salad you love for dinner.”
“Hmmm, did you get him to slip in some bacon? I think he thinks I’ve been eating too much of it and now he’s killing me with all this completely un-sinful food.”
“I’ll make sure to put your request in, but I wouldn’t count on it. You’ll just have to sneak it after he goes to bed.”
Charlotte stretched. “This is one of the best afternoons ever. You should try this napping business.” She pulled on his leg. “Right now. I bet it’s even better
curled into you.”
“I would love to.” Triaten tucked a wayward blond lock behind her ear. “But the world has decided to fall apart again.”
Charlotte bolted upright. “What has happened?”
“It’s not what has happened, it’s what is about to happen.”
She was already swinging her legs up and past Triaten’s head and putting her bare feet on the floor. Triaten stopped her motion with a hand on her lap, clamping her to the bed. “No. Stop. You’re sitting this one out.”
“What? Please.” She waved off his statement with a shrug. “You know I’ll be sitting nothing out, Tri.”
“You will be sitting this one out. Do you remember the Malefic that can control lava?”
Charlotte nodded. “The one that wiped out our elite?”
“Yes. Turns out the meeting I went to with Horace in the Badlands was to talk to Evan.” Triaten consciously left out the part about Damen. Now was not the time to complicate things.
“Skye’s dad again? What the hell?”
“Yes, well, Evan was there to warn us about the latest Folotto plan. The lava Malefic—it’s a she, and she is a half-breed, a Panthenite-Malefic. The Folotto’s have control of her, and plan on using her to destroy California.”
“No...Holy shit. Can she really do that?”
“Evan’s convinced of it.”
Charlotte pushed his hand off her lap and stood. “So when are we leaving?”
Triaten looked at her. “Don’t try to gloss this over, Char. You, the baby. You’re not coming.”
Charlotte froze, and her hand went to her belly. She slowly sank back down onto the bed. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking. You need to go and I need to stay.”
It was the quickest turnaround he’d ever seen Charlotte do. Too easy. But Triaten didn’t care, he would take it. Charlotte and the baby, here and safe, he would take it. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her into him, and kissed her forehead. “Thank you for not fighting it.”
Charlotte nodded against his chest, but was silent.
~~~
Flux Flame (A Flame Moon Novel Page 22