“Brett?” Jacinta gasps, wide-eyed.
“Yes,” Rylan says. “Unfortunately, he didn’t make it.”
“Oh, no,” she cries as Trey pulls her into his arms.
I look up at Rylan, “It was Marcus,” I tell him.
He gives me a nod. “I know, I saw it,” he says then continues at my questioning expression. “We haven’t found him yet, but he will be dealt with once we do,” he says. I’m not happy with it, but for now, that’s going to have to do. Marcus deserves to pay for what he did and I know Rylan will come through on that. After all, he was his father and despite their rocky relationship that fact cannot be overlooked.
Rylan gives my wrist another look before getting up and rifling through his cupboards. He finds a ruler and a bandage and kneels down on one knee before me then begins using the ruler as a splint to stabilize my wrist. He gently begins to wrap it and I hold in my curses. I don’t want him to feel worse than he already does. “How are you doing?” I ask quietly, knowing the battle must have taken a massive toll on him, especially as he shot his sister in the thigh to save me.
He lets out a breath as he looks up at me with sad eyes. “I don’t know,” he says truthfully. “Ask me in a few days and I might have an answer for you.”
I give him a nod, knowing exactly how he’s feeling. “Kaylee?” I ask making Jacinta gasp again.
“Kaylee was there?”
I look to Rylan who gives me a quick nod, letting me know it’s okay to discuss it. “Yeah, she was there, tried to use me as bait to get back in the feys’ good book. She nearly had me, that is until...” I say, nervously glancing down at Rylan with a cringe. He gives me another nod and I go on. “Until Rylan shot her.”
The room all look to Rylan in shock and then back to me. “Is she dead?” Trey asks cautiously.
Rylan shakes his head. “No, I don’t believe so. I shot her in the thigh, but her body was not found during the sweep.”
This time it’s my turn to give Rylan a supportive smile. I reach over with my good hand and pull him back up to the couch. He squishes in beside me and puts his arm up for me to snuggle into him. “Did you find Miss Layton?” I ask.
“No,” he murmurs. “Why?”
I explain how I found her, fumbling around drunk before she took off like a bat out of hell, but I’m assuming that since no body was found, she has somehow managed to survive the battle. When I finish my story, Jacinta turns to Trey and Daniel. “Did you guys get the chance to finish off Brax?” she asks.
“No,” Rylan says, cutting in and giving me a proud smile, “But Bianca did.”
Daniel sits up taller as he looks at me with inquisitive eyes. “Huh? What do you mean? What happened?”
“Well instead of going after the fey, he tried to go after Rylan,” I explain. “I threw my dagger and got him just under the ribs. I didn’t think I could live with myself if I completely took him out,” I shrug. “Not sure what happened to him after that.”
“Are you shitting me? You stabbed him? Under the ribs?” Daniel asks, then stands up and lifts his shirt to show off his own scar. “Like right here?”
“Yeah,” I grin. “Exactly there. What can I say? An eye for an eye.”
“God, I love you,” Daniel grins, making each and every eye in the room turn his way in shock. No. I thought he was over this. Nora’s heart looks like it’s seconds from breaking and Rylan looks like he’s about to tear Daniel in half.
Daniel notices the attention on him and quickly realizes what it is he said. “You’re all idiots,” he scoffs. “I meant as a friend.”
Oh. Thank God.
The tension in the room disappears as quickly as it came.
“So, if the hotel is gone, what are they planning on doing with us all?” I ask, making all eyes turn towards Rylan this time.
“There will be a meeting about it tomorrow, but a team will be put together to finalize the assignments and we will get you all out of here. The community needs to be rebuilt from scratch, so I doubt anyone will be staying here,” he says, then turns to me. “We can find a new place together,” he says, filling my heart with little flutters.
Rylan gets up from the couch. “I’m going to have a quick shower then I need to help with the clean-up,” he explains. “I won’t be back for a while.”
“Okay,” I say. “I’ll be alright, I just needed to check you were okay first.”
“Yeah, me too,” he replies before taking off down the hallway.
Trey follows after a few minutes and has a quick shower once Rylan is done. Not long after, the three boys are leaving together to go and start rebuilding our community.
Chapter 29
I spend the night tossing and turning with my wrist in incredible pain. Rylan comes home in the middle of the night with some pretty strong pain killers and forces them down my throat before climbing in bed beside me. He’s absolutely exhausted and the second he pulls me into his arms, we each fall into a deep sleep.
I wake a few hours later after finally getting a little bit of well-needed sleep to find Rylan already gone and a note on his pillow saying he went to go help with the clean-up again and then a second note telling me to take more pain killers. He isn’t even here and he’s still bossing me around.
I do as I’m told, cringing as the tablets awkwardly make their way down my throat and go in search of something to wear to the memorial service.
Half-an-hour later, I come out of my room in the only black piece of clothing I have, apart from my uniform. It’s a little black dress, one that I would have usually worn out to a club, but thankfully it’s not too short and I dress it up with a nice coat and jewelry.
I finish off my hair and makeup and wait in the kitchen with a dry piece of toast as buttering it is way too hard. Jacinta and Nora come out a few minutes later with the boys following behind. “Are you ready to go?” I ask them.
They all give me grunts, nods, and yeses in their still tired states and we head out. We walk all the way down to the hills at the back of the community about an hour before sunrise. As we get to the gravesite, I find 126 holes have been dug, each with a body beside it, ready to be buried.
I see Rylan as soon as we get close enough to see in the dark and I can tell he has been one of the people helping to dig the holes which makes my heart break all over again. He’s such an amazing man and I know he feels each death right down in his soul.
He looks up when he senses my eyes on him and gives me a sad smile before getting back to work. I stay with Jacinta and Nora as Trey and Daniel head over to Rylan, asking if there are any last-minute things they can help with.
People begin crowding around, all with the same pained expressions on their faces, and there’s no doubt about it, today is going to be hard.
The sun begins to rise and Rylan gets started gathering everyone around. He gives a speech that leaves every last person in tears. He talks about the courage each of our fallen had, how he regrets their short lives and wishes things could have been different. He sends his love and support to the direct families of our dead and then wraps it up, giving the families some time to say goodbye before each body is laid to rest.
Tears stream down my face as members of the Front Line step forward, volunteering to help bury the bodies, but the majority of the families decline their help, wanting to do this last thing for their loved ones.
I swallow a lump in my throat as Daniel comes and wraps an arm around me and gives me a gentle squeeze. “They’re in a better place now,” he tells me, helping me to gain control of myself before leaving and scooping Nora up into a needed hug.
An hour later, we walk back up to the Great Hall where the service is held. I sit down beside Jacinta and wait as everyone else finds their seats. A shadow falls upon me and I look up to find Jackson Lewis hovering above me with red-rimmed eyes. He gives me an encouraging smile. “It’s traditional for you to join Rylan during the service,” he explains, holding out his arm so he can accompany me to the front of
the room.
“Of course,” I say with a nod, getting to my feet and allowing him to lead me down the aisle and up to Rylan's side.
Rylan gets to his feet when he sees me approaching and quickly wraps me up in a warm embrace. “Are you okay?” he asks.
I nod my head against his chest. “You?”
“Yeah, this part is going to be worse,” he says. “How’s your wrist?”
“Sore,” I admit. “I’m going to go see Dr. Mandoza after this.”
Rylan nods as the room is called to silence. We take our seats and the service gets started. Our anthem is played and Jackson Lewis gets up to read a few passages from the bible.
Soon enough, Rylan is getting to his feet, and he was right, this part is definitely worse. He stands there with pride and reads out every single name of our fallen soldiers, thanking them for their commitment to The Guard, their sacrifice during battle, and wishing they can now rest in peace.
My heart aches during the whole service and I can’t wait for it to be over, to escape the room which holds hundreds of people grieving. I need to get out, get some fresh air. Rylan finishes off the service with a final send-off and I get to my feet and head out into the cool morning.
Rylan finds me outside at the same time Jacinta does. “Wow, that was rough,” Jacinta says.
“I know,” I murmur. “We still have Brett’s to go.”
“Yeah, that’s going to be so much worse,” she says.
“It is,” Rylan agrees, turning to me. “Come on, I’ll accompany you to Dr. Mandoza. I want to know what kind of damage I’ve done.”
“Let’s go,” I say, leaning into Jacinta and giving her a quick hug before taking Rylan’s hand.
He leads me away, just the two of us, and for a moment everything seems right in the world. I forget about the devastation around me and just be in the moment with Rylan, that is until we walk into the infirmary to see it packed with injured people.
I realize that yesterday could have been so much worse and am thankful we got a jump on things as quickly as we had, and we can all rest easy knowing the new Queen is dead and so is their army, they won't be coming after us again.
We have won this war once and for all.
Chapter 30
I stand in the same spot I had been only a few hours ago, singing the anthem as we say goodbye to Brett. Rylan is finishing up his speech and telling the community what an amazing man and leader he was when a voice crying out in rage has the whole service come to a standstill.
“Did it fail to get pointed out that the great Brett Norrington had an illegitimate child?” Phillip Cooper seethes and it’s clear to every member in the room that he is beyond wasted.
Gasps and shocked cries bounce off every wall in the room and I stare at him with my mouth hanging open. I cannot believe he just did that.
Maree Cooper stands up next to him in absolute embarrassment, trying to pull him out of the pew and save what’s left of Brett’s memorial. Phillip doesn’t appreciate it as he shoves her with such force she falls out of the pew and tumbles to the ground. “Get off me,” he growls at her as Jacinta jumps to her feet and runs around to her mother’s aid with Trey following behind, ready to lend a helping hand.
Rylan cuts in before he has a chance to ruin the service any further. “Phillip, I suggest you leave and get yourself cleaned up.”
“Don’t you address me with that tone, boy,” he spits, pointing his finger towards Rylan behind the podium. “That should be me up there. Not you. You’re a nobody, a bastard. You come from sin and should never have been allowed into leadership.”
“How dare you,” Jacinta says in anger. “Rylan is a great man and so was Brett, both of them deserve it a million times more than you ever have.”
Phillip turns on her, slightly unbalanced. “Of course you would think that. You’re nothing but a whore. You could have had it all but instead, you sold your intelligence for a night in the sheets with Trey Carter,” he slurs.
She gasps in outrage as her face starts to turn red with embarrassment and I see the determination in her eyes, she’s going to out him and spill all his indiscretions, but I hope she knows what she’s doing. I see men of the Front Lines start to move towards Phillip, but Rylan raises his hand to stop them and I know what he’s thinking. It may be awful timing, but we could be very close to having Phillip Cooper come clean about his indiscretions.
Jacinta marches towards Phillip and pokes him hard in the chest. “You are a despicable man and the worst possible option for our leader. You would run our community into the ground on day one,” she spits.
“What? Sort of like how your good friend Rylan did?” he smirks.
She ignores his comments as she continues spitting hatred his way. “Not only would you destroy everything we stand for, you would never have gotten voted in. Not one of these people in this room would have ever wanted you as their leader. You’re vile. The only person you have in your life is mom and that’s only because she’s married to you and is probably too scared to leave,” she says as her hands clench into fists at her side.
He slaps her hard across her face and I shoot to my feet. How dare he lay a hand on her?
Trey beats me there and instantly places himself between them, giving Phillip a hard shove away from her.
I manage to get to Jacinta and have to hold her back as she tries to get in her father’s face once again. “You want to know why else you’d never get voted in?” she asks but doesn’t stop for his answer. “Because I would never have allowed it. I would have told every last person that you, squeaky clean, Phillip Cooper are a disgrace. You have an illegitimate son yourself, Daniel Wilson and he’s an amazing friend and brother, but you’re so conceded and full of yourself that instead of seeing how great he is, you see him as a threat. Such a great threat in fact, that you hired Braxton Willis to kill him three months ago, but little did you know, Brax can’t tell the difference between a gun and a knife.”
Maree Cooper gasps from beside Jacinta and looks at him in absolute horror. “Is that true?” she asks Phillip who has gone ghostly white.
“No,” he roars over the shocked crowd. “That’s absurd. I would never.”
“Actually,” a familiar voice says, from the corner of the room, revealing himself as he steps forward into the light. “It’s true. My name is Braxton Willis and I was hired on two occasions by Phillip Cooper.”
Phillip's eyes widen in panic, realizing he’s been backed into a corner. Trey subtly moves around him and gets in a position where he can easily take him down. “Two occasions?” Rylan asks as he indicates for men to surround Brax.
“Yes, two occasions,” he confirms. “Once three months ago to kill Daniel, which obviously, I didn’t succeed as he’s still here, glaring at me,” he says. “And once again, last night when he paid me a lot of money to kill you,” he says looking at Rylan. “If Bianca hadn’t stopped me, I would have succeeded too.”
At least that answers that question, why Brax was trying to kill Rylan during the battle, thinking he could get away with it while everything was going crazy, he would have snuck away, none the wiser.
“I’ve heard enough,” Rylan says. “Take them away.”
With that solid order, men rush in from everywhere and swiftly escort both Brax and Phillip from the room.
“Are you okay?” I ask Jacinta who falls to the ground and begins sobbing in her hands. I hover over her give her as much support as possible, but with only one hand, I can’t hold her the way she needs right now. I turn to Trey. “Would you get in here, you big moron?” I demand.
He jumps forward immediately and scoops Jacinta up into his arms and carries her out of the room with Maree following behind.
Rylan lets out an ear-shattering whistle, calling for the attention of the room. “Please take your seats,” he says and I quickly rush back around to my spot and drop into my chair, looking over my shoulder to find Daniel whose eyebrows pull down, deep in thought. He doesn’t see me
but Nora does. ‘He okay?’ I mouth.
She gives me a smile followed by a little shrug. ‘He will be,’ she replies.
I give her a nod and turn back to Rylan whose brilliant, gold speckled eyes are trained on me in curiosity.
I give him a nod, letting him know we’re all good and he gets back on with the service.
“I sincerely apologize,” he says to the community. “Time and place, right?” he adds, getting a chuckle out of the crowd. “Let's consider that a gift from above,” he says. “Brett Norrington finally sticking it to Phillip Cooper in the best way possible.”
With that, he easily pulls the service back together, he’s just that captivating.
The moment the service is over I rush out the doors and back to Rylan’s place to find Maree Cooper just leaving. She gives me a tight, awkward smile before continuing on her way. I barge through the door a little too hard and bump my wrist in the process, lucky that Dr. Mandoza has me on some pretty strong pain killers or else I’d be on the ground in tears right about now.
“What happened?” I ask the moment I see Jacinta.
The tears are gone and for the first time in a while, she looks as though a massive weight has been lifted off her shoulder. “I told her to get lost,” Jacinta grins.
“Huh?” I ask.
“She hasn’t been a part of my life since the moment she found out about Daniel, maybe she was scared of dad or maybe she’s just a coward, either way, I’m her daughter and her actions showed me just how important I am to her,” she explains. “I have you, Daniel, and Trey who loves me. I have everything I need right here with you guys. You’re my world and I don’t want that to change.”
A smile spreads across my face. “Are you sure?” I ask as I pull her into my arms.
“Yeah, for now, I am,” she nods.
“Good,” I smile before I fill them both in on the ending of the service.
Daniel and Nora soon come through the door and Jacinta checks in with him. His only response is a loving smile telling me these two really are brother and sister and are going to have the most amazing bond, one that I’m slightly jealous of as I’ve always considered myself a sibling to Jacinta.
Queen and War: Slayer Academy (Book 3) Page 22