The Complete Chosen Trilogy (The Chosen #0)

by N. M. Santoski

  “Will you wait for us before mounting the final offense? I would like to be there to back you up.”

  “I still think that killing the Warringtons will turn me into the monster they are calling me.”

  “We will work on a solution to that, Nolan,” Gia said. She paused. “Nolan?”

  “Hmm?”

  “How are we going to get up there? I assume Pyrrhus took the car.”

  “…damn.”

  “You can take a combination of trains and buses up to Newport… not sure how you’ll go from there,” Idella suggested. “I can take you to Penn Station before I head to JFK.”

  “We’ll figure something out. Good idea, thanks.”

  “In the meantime…” Idella grabbed her coat. “I’m leaving for an hour, which should be plenty of time.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Any where that’s not here—not really keen on observing the consummation, thanks.”

  Snickering at Gia’s red face and Nolan’s gob smacked expression, she slipped down the stairs and out of sight.

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  The entire numen community was in shock. The bodies of the three dead professors had been whisked away, and no one knew where. With only a month left until the Rite of Passage, History and Biology classes were cancelled, but Sensei’s classes were less expendable.

  Keeping himself in the public eye, Manas Warrington himself took over her classes.

  The internal struggles between Lords and Ladies and their Courts were growing more pronounced as shock wore off and fear took its place. Most managed to keep their people calm enough to remain, and their Youngers were instrumental in stemming the tide of panic.

  Lady Aqua, of course, was facing a different problem.

  “You defy me?”

  Leiani drew herself upright, stiffening her spine. She’d left Alan back in their rooms for this. She didn’t need her mother and former husband striking sparks off of each other.

  “Mother, say what you will, but Alan was my husband, and will be again. We will mourn the death of our daughter together… a death that you had a hand in, I might add.”

  “How dare you!”

  “No, how dare you. I have lost my child; I will not lose my husband, too! Wear your black, weep your crocodile tears—I will be doing something to avenge her and bring this cold war to an end.”

  “Leiani K’Oliu, I am not so old that I cannot replace you.”

  “Go ahead. Have a baby by Azar. You run the risk of a stunted child, as many Ignis-Aqua breeds are, but I suppose even a stunted numen is better to you than a daughter who chooses her own path.”

  Her mother gaped at her. “The duty I have raised you to honor means nothing to you? The trust of your people?”

  “It means nothing to you, so why should it matter to me?” Leiani shrugged. “I will do my duty as I perceive it to be. At this moment, my duty is to stand by my future husband and my brother-in-law.”

  “Get out of here this instant. I cannot bring myself to look at you for another moment.”

  Leiani bowed at the waist. “My Lady Aqua,” she said. She backed from the room, leaving her mother to shrink back into her chair and truly weep.

  “How did it go?” Alan asked as she rounded the corner.

  “Oh, you know. Threatened to disown me, wailed about undutiful daughters. Told me to get out of her sight.” She was pretending to be indifferent, but it was a veneer over a very real hurt.

  Alan slid his arm across her shoulders and hugged her. “It will be fine. You’ll see.”

  The sound of racing feet made them pause. They turned as one to see Noel Dix barreling down the hall, face set.

  “Noel? What is it?”

  “It’s Pyrrhus! He’s come back!”

  She kept running toward the Artifex rooms, leaving them to stare after her. Leiani felt Alan’s fingers constrict across her shoulder, and she winced.

  “You don’t think he’s abandoned him, do you?”

  “I will find out… go back to our rooms,” Alan said, already moving to follow Noel.

  She snarled at his presumption, but turned to obey. She would take it out of his scales later.

  ***

  “Well, well. Bring them forward,” Manas said with a snap of his fingers. Isabella sat at his right, and they looked every inch a modern King and Queen presiding over a Court.

  Pyrrhus and Bentley ignored the hands clutching their elbows and walked forward with as much dignity as they could muster. Their bald heads gleamed in the light, eliciting gasps and murmurs. Not many knew Bentley, but they all knew Pyrrhus, and the sight of him without his trademark hair was shocking, to say the least.

  When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Pyrrhus dropped to his knees in the dirt, Bentley following a second later.

  “Lord Younger Artifex. Lady Isabella. We are here, shaved and shriven, to plead for mercy.”

  “Mercy? For whom? Nolan Aeron?”

  “Never! For ourselves—that we aided him. We—I was wrong. Nolan is a traitor and a criminal, and I condemn him utterly.”

  “Do you?” Manas rose to his feet and began to walk down the steps. “Pyrrhus Ignis, you have aided Nolan Aeron at every turn. You stopped me from administering justice during our teach year, and you lied to me on numerous occasions. What under the gods makes you think I would believe you now?”

  “The death toll is too high, Manas.” He raised his head to look his old friend in the eye. “We will destroy ourselves trying to fight this to the death… and it will be to the death. Too many are losing control of their numina, and if we continue in this way, deaths won’t matter—we’ll be destroyed as a race. Nolan Aeron must die for balance to be restored. Your family is in the ascendant, about that I no longer have any doubt.”

  Manas studied him carefully. “I believe you, Pyrrhus.”

  Pyrrhus didn’t allow his posture to droop, but he felt as though a thousand pounds had fallen from his shoulders.

  “Who is your companion?”

  “This is Bentley Sheppard, my partner. He comes to us from the UK.”

  “Welcome, Bentley, beloved of Lord Younger Ignis. You are welcome in my Court.”

  “Thank you, my Lord,” Bentley murmured. He couldn’t think about Aunt Anna dying in this very dirt, or he would shift and eat the smug bastard’s face right off of his head. Instead, he basked in the glow of Pyrrhus acknowledging their relationship to the entire numen contingent, including his father. The thought kept him sane until they were dismissed.

  They left the room together, only to be stopped by two different people at once.

  Alan Aeron and Azar Ignis looked at each other with barely veiled curiosity. “Lord Younger Ignis, I just wanted to welcome you back,” Alan said with a bow. “My wife and I would welcome your company for dinner—and that of Mr. Sheppard, of course.”

  “Thank you for the invitation, Alan—“ Pyrrhus began.

  “My son and his lover will be dining with me tonight,” Azar cut in. “It has been too long since we had a family dinner.”

  Pyrrhus bit his tongue so hard that he tasted blood. “Father, we are honored. Perhaps a nightcap, Alan, afterwards?”

  “We are at your disposal. Let’s say ten o’clock?”

  “We look forward to it.”

  “Walk with me, son. And Mr. Sheppard,” Azar said, motioning for them to precede him. “I think we should eat now—it is almost eight already, and you don’t want to keep Alan and Leiani waiting.”

  Pyrrhus led them to the Ignis formal rooms, where Azar dismissed everyone else once dinner was served.

  “Are you out of your mind?”

  Pyrrhus lifted a forkful of pasta Fra Diavolo and studied it, avoiding his father’s glare. “What do you mean?”

  “Pyrrhus. How often do I have to remind you that I am not stupid?”

  “Father, Bentley and I are here to see this thing through to the end. That is all you need to know.”

  Azar studied the p
air for a few long moments, thinking. Bentley did his best not to squirm under the scrutiny.

  “Gentlemen,” he said finally. “I think that deserves a toast.”

  Pyrrhus lifted his glass, and after a moment, Bentley did the same.

  “To the end of this conflict—and victory to the deserving.”

  “I’ll drink to that.” Pyrrhus clinked his glass against his father’s, then Bentley’s, and drank deeply.

  ***

  “Good evening,” Pyrrhus said as Alan opened the door to their rooms. “Still on for that nightcap?”

  “Of course. Please, come in.”

  As they entered, Pyrrhus spied Leiani on the couch and pulled back, startled. “Surely it’s too early for your… blessed event to have happened?”

  Leiani frowned, but it was Alan who answered. “We lost the baby only recently, due to a grievous attack.”

  “I trust the perpetrator has been dealt with?”

  “He is dead.”

  “As it should be.” Pyrrhus closed his eyes and swallowed. “I am sorry for your loss,” he said. “And for my lack of sensitivity.”

  “Thank you,” Alan said.

  Leiani was not so easily placated. “What are you doing here, Pyrrhus?” It was clear from her tone that she was speaking in generalities, not the specifics of the moment.

  “As I told Manas, there has been too much suffering, too much death. It’s time to end this.”

  “You denounce Nolan?”

  “Completely.”

  “You are a liar.”

  Pyrrhus raised an eyebrow. “You have known me long enough, lady, to know I am no liar.”

  Leiani leapt to her feet, her face contorted in fury. “I have known you long enough to know you are not this faithless! Pyrrhus, what’s happened to you?”

  “I grew up,” he said in an undertone. “Have you?”

  With a snarl, Leiani threw herself at Pyrrhus, and it was only her husband’s swift reaction that kept her from reaching him.

  “You disgust me.”

  Pyrrhus nodded to Bentley, who rose. “Thank you for your hospitality,” he said with only a faint trace of sarcasm as they headed for the door.

  “Pyrrhus.”

  When he paused and turned back, Alan was sitting with his arm around Leiani, though it wasn’t clear if he was holding her back or comforting her.

  “Where is my brother?”

  “I don’t know his location.”

  “Where did you leave him, then?”

  “They burnt the house in the Village to the ground. I left him after that. I truly do not know where he is—but knowing him as I do, he will come here. Then this will end in the only way it can.”

  “And is she still with him?”

  Pyrrhus didn’t bother pretending that he didn’t know what Leiani was talking about. “She is.”

  She made a noise in her throat. “At least he’s not alone.”

  “Pyrrhus, understand this. Circumstances have changed. I stand with my brother… we stand with our brother,” he amended as Leiani drove an elbow into his ribs. “You and Bentley may have changed sides, but I think you’ll find you’re going against the current. Rethink your course, before it’s too late.”

  “You are not the first to tell me that. I’ll tell you what I’ve told all the others. I’m backing the right horse—can you say the same?” He bowed to them both and left the room, trusting Bentley to follow.

  He did so, but not before turning to the pair on the couch and saying softly, “We know what we’re doing. If you are truly going to fight for Nolan, you should be prepared.”

  “Prepared for what?” Alan asked as Bentley slid into the darkness.

  “War.”

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  "How about here?"

  Gia pushed her bangs out of her eyes and looked down at the dip in the ground, blanketed by ferns.

  "Looks comfy. As good a spot as any, I think." She dropped her bag with an audible thud.

  "I'm going to make sure we're safe."

  "Are you still powerful enough to do invisible baileys? Not much good if they can see us glowing in the dark like a bug lamp."

  Nolan stuck his tongue out at Gia, who laughed at the unexpected show of playfulness from the often solemn man. "I'm plenty powerful, thank you very much. I can feel the pulse of the Sword from here... not as strongly as I could from the house, but we're close enough, now."

  She nodded, already hard at work padding the bottom of the hollow with additional leaves and brush. "Be careful."

  He kissed the top of her head and swung off through the woods to scout. They were only about five miles north of the borders of Caer Anglia, on the opposite side of the Village, and that was too close for comfort. On the other hand... they were exhausted. They'd been travelling for two days, their guard up, and sleep had been less than easy to come by. Now that they were so close, he wanted just one night of rest before the inevitable confrontation. Being this close to the Sword would let him put up a bailey that would repel anything—including his fears, at least for a night.

  He rounded a large oak and was startled by the leaves of a vine that had climbed the side of the tree, covered with beautiful white flowers with purple throats—Claire's vine of choice.

  In an instant, he missed her with a ferocity that surprised him. Too much had happened in the past days to let them really mourn their friend properly, but he remembered her kindness and her loyalty and the lump in his throat grew too large to be denied. He stumbled into the oak and sat on the floor of the forest with a thump, pulling his legs in against his chest and fighting his own despair.

  She'd taken up his cause, fighting for him when he wasn't there to do it. She and Dr. Graves and Sensei... dead. Uncle Robert, dead. Gone forever.

  He was to blame.

  He allowed himself five minutes to cry, to grieve, to plead with the gods in the privacy of his mind that these deaths be for a purpose. Then he wiped his eyes with the palms of his hands like a child, got to his feet, and continued his rounds.

  Gia very tactfully ignored his red eyes and the tracks of tears on his cheeks. "I've got us mostly set up."

  "Come here—wanna help me do the bailey?"

  "How can I help?"

  "You can push all the bugs out of my range—I don't really want to trap them in with us."

  "Help me weigh down the stuff, then."

  She pushed the backpack under the sheets and threw herself down as if she were making a snow angel. Nolan mimicked her, using his long limbs to his advantage.

  "Ready?"

  He held his hands up. "Ready."

  She took a deep breath and began to push her hands up and out, almost as if swimming into the sky. Nolan felt the air begin to stir.

  "Better make it a quick burst—don't want things to have a chance to come back through. Three, two, one, NOW!"

  Gia threw her hands apart, sending air (and anything floating in it) flying out in a circle around them. At the same moment, Nolan clapped his hands together, summoning a sphere of plasma almost fifteen feet in diameter. It snapped into place with a shimmer of blue light before slowly fading before their eyes.

  Nolan huffed out a satisfied breath and rolled onto his shoulder to give Gia a grin. "Well done. No bugs in here!"

  "Well, there may be ants and crawlies that were burrowed in the dirt, but..."

  Nolan kissed her, if only to stop her from worrying.

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Nolan woke up slowly the next morning and slowly untangled himself from Gia's still sleeping form, feeling the most refreshed he'd felt in weeks. His skin was thrumming with the energy of the Sword again. He turned to stretch and froze in mid-motion.

  There was a lion sitting outside of the bailey.

  The tawny lioness was crouched about a foot from the edge of the bailey, eyes narrowed.

  "Gia, wake up," Nolan hissed. She grumbled and rolled over a bit.

  "Gia! We have a problem. Open your eyes v
ery slowly and don't scream."

  Her eyes popped open. "Holy—" She clapped a hand over her own mouth, silencing herself immediately.

  The lion took that as her cue. She began to pace around the perimeter of the circle, watching them.

  "Nolan, we need to get out of here."

  "I know, I know!"

  "Lions hunt in prides. We need to get through her and get out now, before the others arrive. Can you hit her with a bolt and hold the bailey at the same time?"

  "No."

  Gia growled with frustration, turning in a small circle to keep the lioness in her line of sight. "Can you open up a hole in it?" she hissed under her breath.

  "Why would we want her in here?"

  "We don't. If you can open up a hole large enough for me to blast her with wind, you can drop the bailey and finish her off. Ready?"

  Nolan dropped to a crouch in front of her, under her outstretched arms. "Ready."

  With a flick of his fingers, the bailey became visible again. A small rip appeared in front of them, and the lioness raced around to tear at it with her claws and teeth.

  Gia pulled her hands in to her chest and thrust them forward with a vicious twist, grunting with the effort. The gale of wind blasted the lioness ears over tail and into a large pine tree with a crash.

  Nolan slapped his hands together as he dropped the bailey and pulled as much plasma as he could without pulling too much from his reserves. He approached the downed lioness, stunned and panting at the base of the broken tree.

  "Morph back, please," Nolan said, his face ghoulish in the blue light. His words were polite, but his tone was hard.

  She tried to lift her head and failed, wincing from the pain.

  "I won't ask again."

  As Nolan lifted his hands over her, a tan blur burst from the underbrush on the other side and barreled Gia over, pinning her to the forest floor with its weight. She screamed and began to struggle.

  "Gia!" Nolan pivoted on his heel and brought the large ball of plasma to bear on the new threat. He was afraid of hitting Gia, and the wrestling pair left him with no room for error.