Consort of Rebels

by Sadie Moss

  The word immediately conjured visions of Rain’s lair in the mountains, and I wished I’d chosen a different term. This wasn’t a bunker, where a power-hungry madman spent his days plotting the downfall of civilization.

  This was a haven.

  “It was necessary, Lana.” Jae’s voice was soft. He held his palms out toward the door, and the wards parted to grant us entry. “The Representatives know you’re harboring Blighted families here. They haven’t let word of it get out yet, probably because it creates bad optics for them—one of their own being a Blighted sympathizer. But they could send Peacekeepers any time.”

  We entered the high-ceilinged foyer. Though this floor of the house was quiet, noises filtered down from upstairs.

  Without asking this time, Fen swooped me up, one arm under my knees and the other under my shoulders. I wrapped my arms around his neck and rested my head on his chest, too worn out to protest. He carried me up to my room, and Akio opened the door for us before I was deposited on the king-sized bed.

  Jae sat on the soft mattress beside me. Corin helped lift me up, and the two of them gently peeled off the single-sleeved shirt I’d taken from Kate. The remaining sleeve chafed against the bite wound on my shoulder, and I sucked in a sharp breath, pushing down the wave of nausea that passed through me.

  At the sight of my injury, Jae’s green eyes flashed, his normally calm expression hardening with anger. “You should’ve told me, Lana. I could’ve healed you on the mountain.”

  “There was no time.” I shook my head, falling back against the pillows tiredly. “We made it back, didn’t we?”

  “We would have made it anyway! Godsdamn it, I knew you were hurt, but—”

  He cut off and stood abruptly, pacing to the other side of the room, his back to me. I gazed after him in shock. I’d known he would be upset I didn’t tell him about all my injuries, but I hadn’t expected this strong of a reaction.

  After a moment, Jae turned around. His face was composed again, but the green of his eyes still churned with agitation. He walked slowly to the bed and sat down, closer to me this time. He rested his strong, long-fingered hands on my bare stomach, and I clenched the muscles involuntarily as a shiver raced through me.

  When he’d taught me to heal Corin, he told me to hover my hands over the injury, reaching out with my magic instead of with physical touch. Having Jae’s hands on me, skin-to-skin as the bright glow of magic flowed from him into me, felt strangely intimate. His gaze traveled over me as he worked, roaming my body with a possessiveness and entitlement that made my heart beat faster.

  The rest of my four stood sentry as he worked on me, but I couldn’t tear my gaze away from Jae. The expression on his face was fierce, a mixture of anger and pain and… something else. Something that made heat flare low in my belly, made my nipples harden and my skin ache for more of his touch.

  His hand on my stomach moved up slightly, grazing the bottoms of my breasts, and my back nearly bowed off the bed. The combination of the healing magic pouring through my body and the feelings his touch elicited made me giddy. This was more than the absence of pain. This was ecstasy.

  I closed my eyes and bit my lip, drawing in deep breaths through my nose as I got lost in the sensations coursing through me.

  Sooner than I would’ve liked, Jae pulled his magic back and removed his hands, leaving my body free of pain but somehow still bereft. I blinked my eyes open to see him leaning over me, his face hovering above mine.

  Time seemed to pause as I took in his elegant features. His long nose, high cheekbones, and slightly pointed chin, those clear green eyes that had always captivated me. He was gazing back at me with an equal intensity, and when he dipped his head toward mine, my heart fluttered.

  But at the last moment, he changed course, pressing a kiss to my cheek instead of my lips. He lingered there for a second before drawing back, leaving only his ragged breaths echoing in my ears.

  The other three men were gathered at the foot of the bed, watching us intently. Worry reflected in Corin’s and Fen’s eyes, but Akio looked at Jae with something like jealousy.

  My brow furrowed. I didn’t know what he had to be jealous about. Jae hadn’t even kissed me on the lips. And if anyone had a right to get possessive, it was Corin or Fen. They’d made their feelings for me clear, while the incubus seemed to make a point of keeping me constantly guessing whether he actually liked me or not.

  It took several heartbeats for me to shake off the almost trance-like state Jae had put me in, and I sat up slowly, letting my long red hair fall down over my shoulders. The ugly purple wound where the wolf had bit me was now little more than a light pink scar, although the blood and dirt smeared on my skin still remained. I touched my face tentatively but could feel nothing. No pain, no lump. It was completely healed.

  I grinned at Jae, brushing past what had just transpired between us. “You’re good.”

  His lips lifted in the calm smile I loved so much. “I’ve had a lot of practice.”

  My body was still a little weak—nothing but rest, food, and water would fix that—but I felt a million times better as I scooted toward the foot of the bed and stood up.

  “I’m going to shower. I need to get the smell of that psychopath’s dungeon off me. Then we need to talk.”

  “Yes.” Jae’s voice was grim, making me wonder what I’d missed in the days I’d been locked up. “We do.”

  The first time I’d stepped into the large stone-walled shower in my en suite bathroom at Beatrice’s house, I’d thought it was the most luxurious feeling in the world.

  I was wrong.

  The most luxurious feeling in the world was stepping under the gentle spray of hot water after spending ten days locked in a dingy, cold, magic-suppressing cell.

  Not that I ever planned on doing that again.

  But the water cascading down my body, rinsing away all the dirt, grime, and blood, made me feel clean and new, possibly even up to all the challenges facing us. I let it pour over my face for a while longer once I was clean, emptying my mind for a few moments and just feeling.

  As I pushed open the steamy glass door and stepped out, the weight of the world came crashing back down on me again. But the shower had revitalized me enough that my legs didn’t buckle under the pressure.

  My room was empty when I returned to it, the door to the hall shut. I threw on a soft, worn T-shirt and a pair of jeans and padded lightly down the stairs.

  I poked my head into the darkened living room as I passed, but the television was off. Ivy was nowhere to be seen. Huh. Had she gone back to my old apartment in the Outskirts? Maybe she’d gotten bored here with me gone. Although I didn’t see how that could be possible, as long as the TV still worked.

  Voices drew me down the hall, and I smiled as I headed toward the kitchen, my four’s usual meeting spot. Some things never changed.

  I pushed the door open… and blinked.

  Okay, maybe they changed a little.

  My four were gathered around the large kitchen island, deep in conversation with Retta and Darcy. Retta’s son William sat on the floor in the corner with his friend Sophie, playing cards quietly. And Ivy was perched on one of the counters, her wide brown eyes watching them all raptly.

  Everyone looked up when I entered. William and Sophie gawped at me, and Retta and Darcy pushed away from the island to fuss over me.

  “Oh, Miss Lana! We were so worried about you.” Retta’s soft voice was more high-pitched than normal, and her eyes glistened behind her thick glasses.

  “We’ve all been going near out of our minds trying to help your men find you,” Darcy added, surprising me by pulling me into her large bosom for a hug. “They just told us it was Rain. I can’t pretend to be surprised. I’ve heard awful things about that man. His Blighted house staff never last long.”

  I pulled back, eyebrows shooting up to my hairline. “You… you know?” I shot a glance at the men. “You told them?”

  Retta and Darcy had gleane
d a little bit of my history, but not much. And I certainly hadn’t told them I was working against the government from the inside.

  “They know everything, Lana,” Corin informed me, his blue eyes warm and reassuring. “They took a blood oath; they’ll keep our secrets.”

  My eyes bugged even wider. “They what?” I whipped my head back to the two women. “You did?”

  “We wanted to, Miss Lana. We wanted to help, and we knew there was more going on than you’d told us. Jae explained there was no danger in the spell as long as we didn’t intend on breaking our word. And we don’t.”

  My mouth dropped open. Hearing Darcy talk so casually about having magic performed on her, and a powerful spell like a blood oath at that, was akin to hearing her mention offhandedly that Jae had dipped her hand in a vat of acid.

  I scanned the room again, meeting the amused gazes of my four before looking back at Retta and Darcy. “How long was I gone?”

  Fenris laughed out loud at that, and Darcy smiled indulgently before her expression sobered. “Long enough. Things have been moving fast.”

  “So I gather,” I muttered, letting them usher me over to the island. “So, you know about the…?”

  “Resistance?” Retta nodded, her wild mass of red-brown hair shifting with the movement. “Oh, yes. We’ve even met the new leader. We didn’t know Christine, but this man… well, I for one believe in his vision.”

  Damn. Things really had moved fast. It made sense though. The Resistance was a large enough movement that it couldn’t function without a leader for long. And with the escalation of violence against the Blighted and the Representatives’ return to public executions, a strong rebel organization was needed more than ever.

  “Who is he? What’s he—?” I started to ask, but then cut myself off. “Wait. I need to hear about what’s been going on, but first, I have to tell you what I learned. It changes everything.”

  Darcy settled me on the stool she’d vacated then went to the oven, pulling out a large dish that smelled like meat, cheese, and potatoes.

  She served us all while I began to talk. I ate as fast as I could, speaking with my mouth full as I caught the guys up on what happened after Christine used the transport spell to pull me away. I knew I’d lose my appetite as soon as I got to the next part, and I needed the nourishment.

  When I explained how Rain had manipulated Christine into working for him, Retta gasped, her eyes darting to William. My heart twinged. Using love to make people do awful things was just about the best definition of evil I could think of.

  I went on to tell them how Kate had killed Christine, and that I’d then attempted to kill Rain. When I reached the part where he admitted he was responsible for the Great Death, my lips kept moving, my voice reporting the facts clearly and evenly. But my mind rebelled as it always did when I tried to fully comprehend what Rain had done.

  There wasn’t a punishment to fit that crime. There were barely adequate words to describe it.

  By the time I finished talking, everyone’s forks were down, food left half-eaten on their plates. Shit. I should’ve warned them this wasn’t a good dinnertime conversation.

  Silence hung heavy in the air, but I didn’t try to break it. I’d had days to process this revelation, and I still felt nauseated just thinking about it.

  Finally, Corin spoke, his voice harsh and halting. “He let everyone think… we had done it.”

  His nostrils flared, and a muscle in his jaw flexed rhythmically. I reached across the island and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly. I knew he was thinking about his family. Rain had caused two great tragedies in his reckless pursuit of power, and everyone in this room had been affected by them somehow.

  Well, except maybe Ivy.

  But when I glanced over at the ghost, her translucent brown eyes glistened with tears, and her delicate chin quivered.

  I guess even the dead can see how fucked up this is.

  “We have to tell the Representatives,” Jae said. “It won’t undo what’s done. But they have to know.”

  “Will they listen?” Akio raised an eyebrow. His voice was smooth, but his complexion was slightly paler than usual.

  “We’ll make them.” Jae pushed his plate away. “They’ll have to—”

  He was interrupted as the kitchen door swung open. A middle-aged man with a shiny scalp and tufts of brown hair on the sides of his head walked in, followed by two young teens. The boy froze midstride, and the girl let out a squeak as her gaze fell on me. The older man hesitated too, looking at me with an almost awed expression. Then he turned and hustled the kids out of the kitchen.

  I frowned. “What was that about? They’re not scared of me because I’m Gifted, are they? Didn’t you tell them I don’t care about that?”

  Darcy nodded, not meeting my eyes as she busied herself with clearing away plates. “Oh, yes, we told them.”

  Twisting my still-damp hair around my fist, I looked back toward the door. “Then what—?”

  “They probably just can’t believe it’s you,” Ivy interjected, her voice returning to its usual brightness as she wiped away the tears on her cheeks. “It’s one thing to see you on a building or on TV. It’s another thing to see The Crow in person.”

  I shook my head in confusion. “The… what?”

  “That’s one of the things we have to tell you about,” Fen muttered, poking at invisible crumbs on the kitchen island. Now nobody seemed willing to meet my eyes.

  “What? Tell me about what?”

  “Oh, I’ll show you!” Ivy hopped off the counter, gesturing for me to follow before walking through the kitchen door.

  Dear gods. What now?

  Chapter 6

  My stomach felt like a lump of cement as I strode down the hall behind Ivy.

  I was seriously regretting having eaten at all, especially so fast. Darcy’s delicious food was sure to taste much worse on the way back up, and that was exactly where it wanted to go.

  The men trailed after me, and when I entered the living room and stood behind the couch, they gathered close by. They might not think I was going to be happy about whatever Ivy was going to show me, but they were still here to support me. I reached out and grabbed two hands, feeling two others fall on my shoulders.

  Ivy settled onto the couch then reached for the remote on the coffee table, a look of extreme concentration on her face. She slowly brought her finger down, and the TV flickered on, sound blazing. She brought it down again, and the volume muted.

  Her head whipped toward me, pride shining on her face. I would’ve teasingly congratulated her for pressing the buttons herself, but the image that popped up on the screen arrested that thought.

  It was me.

  But… not.

  It was a stenciled image of me, looking up and slightly away from the viewer. The image was created in blocks of color, but my features were unmistakable. Above my head, there was a stencil of a crow in flight, wings spread wide.

  “Fuck,” I whispered. It was the only word I could think of at the moment.

  The camera panned out, and I realized it had been zoomed in tight on the side of a tall building in the Capital. I’d been near there once before in pursuit of a mark. The building was downtown, and it was usually covered in pictures of Secretary General Theron Stearns.

  As the camera continued to pull away, my breath caught. Posters of my face with the crow above it were pasted over and over again along the facade of the building. And in the middle, a twenty-foot tall mural was painted in full color.

  Me again.

  In a flowing blue dress the color of the ocean.

  And flanking me were each of my four, their formation creating a V with me at the tip.

  “What is this?” My words were soft but had a panicked edge to them, and I squeezed Fenris’s and Jae’s hands so hard their bones grated. “What the hell is this?”

  “This was Noble’s idea,” Jae answered softly, not attempting to extract his hand from my bruising grip.
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br />   “Who the fuck is Noble?” I spun wildly around to face the men. “What’s going on?”

  “He’s the new leader of the Resistance. He stepped in to take Christine’s place,” Corin said. “He’s a good man, Lana.”

  “‘Good?’ Isn’t that what you said about Christine?” I shot back, then immediately regretted it. Christine’s betrayal had rocked them too, and she’d hurt us all with her actions. It wasn’t fair of me to blame them for her treachery. Or to blame this Noble guy, whoever he was.

  Corin’s gaze lowered. “It is. And we were wrong. But we have to trust someone, Lana. Or the Resistance will fall apart.”

  “When we told everyone Christine betrayed us, infighting immediately broke out.” Fen ran a hand through his dark hair. “Some people believed us, and some didn’t. It was getting ugly. But Noble stepped up. He helped us convince the doubters and brought everyone back together. He’s young, but he’s bold. Wait ’til you meet him to judge him.”

  I slumped against the back of the couch. “Okay. Fine. But that doesn’t explain this.” I gestured to the screen behind me. “What am I doing on the side of a building?”

  “It’s a good likeness of you, isn’t it?” Ivy turned around on the sofa to join our conversation. Her nose wrinkled as she peered at me. “Although I’ve only ever seen you wear a dress once. They should’ve painted you in black.”

  “Why did they paint me at all?”

  “Noble wants to move faster. Christine was cautious, limiting our activities to disrupting shipping lines and bringing what aid we could to Blighted people, but Noble thinks—and I agree with him—that the time to hold back is over.” Corin lifted his gaze to mine again, determination blazing in his blue irises. “We’re looking at a return to the worst period after the Great Death, when no Blighted person was safe. People in the Outskirts know it. They’re afraid, and they’re angry.”

  “They need a symbol.” Akio’s voice was smooth. “That’s you, kitten.”

  I blinked. “A symbol of what?”

  “Of hope.” His dark eyes glittered, their depths drawing me in like a magnetic force. “Of what the world could be.”