They took off to bring up the rear, both men itching to run faster than the quick jog of the resistance fighters. They did not push, and they did not yell. Both of them knew they could not spur these people to go any faster. Half of them had come off a long shift only a few hours ago, and they were exhausted. They were filled with adrenaline, but they needed all of their strength to get over the walls and into the Warlord’s inner sanctum.
And they were going, likely, to their deaths. They all knew it. What surprised Cade, most of all, was the peace with which they faced it. They had been waiting all their lives for this chance—for someone to lead them and make the final strike. They had honed their bravery with little acts of rebellion every day so that now they faced this mission with steadfast courage. A few of them had carved names onto the concrete walls of the bunker, whether their own or the names of their spouses and children, Cade did not know.
He had watched their goodbyes in silence, standing with Nyx and Talon, the three of them locked in silent misery. They were no strangers to dangerous missions. They had their own superstitions and rituals. They had grown used to settling old scores and saying last words before they headed out. But when they went, it was knowing that the best of the best had their back. They had lost only two soldiers in Cade’s years with the Corps, and each death was a shock.
Now they faced the fact, with guilt, that they were likeliest to survive what happened next. They were the ones that needed to be preserved to strike into the heart of the palace because they were the only ones who were well trained enough to take out the Warlord’s bodyguards. And these men and women, miners with everything ahead of them, were fighting for a future they would never see themselves. It filled Cade with an unexpected pride. He had not wanted to come back here. But if he were to fight once more, he could not have chosen a finer cause or braver companions.
“Say something,” Cade said to Talon now.
The man looked over at him curiously.
“Take my mind off…” Aryn. And all of this.
Talon understood. “There are two sets of tunnels leading out of the Warlord’s study. If you’re done before the fighting’s over, come find us there. He’ll at least be close, even if he doesn’t believe Ellian can take him out in an infantry battle.”
“What do you mean, if I’m done before the fighting’s over?”
“Williams, I’ve known you for five years. The second we get over those walls, and you know the way to the Warlord’s study is clear, I know you’re going to go find her.”
Cade said nothing. There was nothing to say. He knew where his duty lay in this fight, and yet…
“She was right, you know.” Talon’s voice was unexpectedly gentle. “Someone needs to take command of Pallas’s troops before they get any farther. If the Warlord sends his out, too, we’ve got the people crushed between them. If she takes him out…”
“You like her,” Cade said, a mock accusation.
“I told you at the start that I admired her,” Talon said, a half-smile tugging at his lips. “And, you know, I think she might actually have a shot.”
“At what?”
“Killing Pallas.”
“Don’t say that,” Cade said instantly.
“At this point, I think your odds of getting there first are slim.”
“I don’t need to get there first. I just need to get there before she does anything rash.”
“For Christ’s sake, Williams, she’s not a delicate flower.”
Cade looked over, and Talon raised his eyebrows.
“You tried to keep her from confronting Ellian, buying the weapons, joining the resistance—and now you want to make sure she doesn’t go get revenge. Has it occurred to you yet that every time, she’s done exactly what you would have done in her place?”
“It’s different!” Cade stopped running, rounding on him. “I was trained by you. I was selected for the Dragon Corps. She—”
“Watched her family and friends die from weapons Ellian gave the Warlord,” Talon said. “So listen up, Williams. I’m here for revenge. So is Nyx. We could call it something pretty, but it isn’t. I want that bastard to pray for death before he gets it. These people, though? They’re here because they want a new Ymir, even if they don’t live to see it. Aryn is one of them. You don’t get to tell her what’s right. You don’t get to tell her not to go just because she isn’t the best one for the job.”
“Then why aren’t you ordering me not to go after her?” Cade asked, an eyebrow raised.
“First of all, because you’d just tell me to fuck off. I know you, Williams. But more to the point…” Talon sighed and gestured up the hall. As they started jogging again, he considered his words carefully. “Because she’s trying to do the same thing for you that you’re trying to do for her.”
Cade looked over. “What does that mean?”
“Exactly what she told you in the bunker: that Ellian has it out for you. I warned you about him. Anyone gets in his way—anyone takes what’s his—he makes sure the whole world knows they didn’t get away with it. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad you did what you did. But she knows he’ll make an example of you…and that he’ll underestimate her.”
“So, what, then? You’ll let me go save her?”
“I’ll let you go help her,” Talon corrected. “Because you’re right, she isn’t exactly assassin material. And because you might just keep the two of you alive, and it turns out…” He gave a wondering half laugh. “It turns out I’m not as much of a cold-hearted bastard as I thought I was. She’ll have your back for the rest of your life if you let her. She’ll fight for you as hard as she’s fighting for this. And Williams?”
“What?”
“Go now. She’s bargaining that he’ll want to tell her the whole story, just like he told you. And she’s right. You’ve got time. But go. I’ll bring up the rear, you take out the guard tower with Nyx.”
“I owe you one.”
“Eh, I got you into this. Go.”
Cade took off down the corridor, feet pounding on the dirt, passing by the fighters easily. His chest opened and he gave into the call of his body, the call that had brought him to the Dragons: to run faster, hit harder, train until his frame held nothing soft, but only pure instinct and power and speed. He had been one of the best, known his place and his purpose completely, and he could no longer deny that he craved that. Something in him reveled at the simplicity of it. Take out the guard tower. Then on to the next objective.
He sank into a crouch behind Nyx, who lingered in the shadows by the door as she gave instructions to a huddled group of rebels, kneeling to look at a map. At their nods of assent, she shook their hands and stood, leaning close to Cade.
“We’ll be able to take out one strand of the electric fence. I’d go through the window, but it’s best if no one hears the glass break. Ellen, here, is coming with us to man the tower once we’ve taken out the guard.” A young woman bobbed her head nervously at Cade, blonde hair pulled back tightly in a braid. Young as she was, she held her weapon with an easy familiarity.
Cade’s heart squeezed, and his world shifted. For a moment, Ellen was no unknown: she was Aryn, Aryn’s younger sister, Samara. He saw the woman before him as Aryn would, knowing this was another life lost to some maniac the world had let run wild. He nodded to her, and she gave him a lopsided smile.
“Let’s go,” he told Nyx quietly.
Their path to the wall was quick and quiet. They’d chosen a location well, a tower shielded on both sides by tall buildings. Nyx looked around herself carefully before uncoiling a makeshift ladder, a strip of handholds that adhered to brick and stone alike. She lifted her eyebrows at Cade in a silent question.
“You go first. I’ll come behind with Ellen.”
Nyx was gone the next minute, and Cade held out his hand for silence. Ellen would not hear what was coming, but he, with his augmented hearing, could: the slightest gasp and the faint sound of a body being lowered to the floor.
“Yes.” Her voice was a whisper. Now that they were at the palace, fear was making her face pale, but she did not waver. She climbed after him quickly, muscles honed in the mines and her black-stained hands strong on the holds. She tumbled over the wall a scant second before the wires hummed back to life, and they piled into the guard tower on hands and knees while Nyx made a few adjustments to the board of controls.
“Ellen.” Her voice was a command. “This silences alarms. This controls the fences. I need you to listen for the Beta and Gamma groups. When they signal that they’re coming over, switch off their fence section for forty-five seconds, then flicker it a few times. That’ll look like an outage. If the alarms go off, silence them and say it must be raccoons again. Do you have that?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Williams—the quickest path across the gardens is easily watched. The Warlord’s brought in new mercenaries, though, so take this hat and I’ll call in that there was a disturbance and we’re sending someone to check it out. You’ll wind up in the eastern wing. As far as we know, Pallas’s rooms were at the far end of it.”
“Nyx…”
“Go find her.” Nyx’s face softened, and then she gave the same sharp, feral smile that Talon had. “Kill that bastard, and then come find us. We’re going to burn the whole thing down.”
Chapter 40
The door closed behind her with a soft click and Aryn stood on the threshold, watching Ellian work. He took a few moments before he looked up, and whether it was to compose himself or let her sink into her fear, she did not know. She repeated the litany to herself over and over: he doesn’t know where I was. He doesn’t know that I know about Cade.
“Ellian?” she said finally. She made her voice as small as she could.
“Aryn.” At last he looked up, and there was no warmth in his face.
“Are you very angry with me?”
She had meant to spur him to anger, but doing so went against everything she had learned in the past two years. It was not acting when she flinched away from him as he crossed the room in four strides, one hand clamping around her arm, his eyes burning down into hers.
“Am I angry?” he asked, his voice deathly quiet. “Am I angry? Oh, yes, Aryn, I’m very angry.”
“He told me lies,” Aryn whispered. “I’m so sorry, Ellian. He told me terrible things about you and I believed them and I know I shouldn’t have. And then the Warlord took me and I thought I was never going to see you again and I told him—I told him you wouldn’t save me, that you shouldn’t.” She looked down, her lips moving silently. He doesn’t know. “I’m so sorry, Ellian, I should never have…”
“Agreed to leave with Mr. Williams?”
She could not waver now.
“It was wrong of me. You’ve been so kind.” She looked up at him. “And when he was telling me you were trafficking weapons, I shouldn’t ever have believed it. And I know you can’t forgive me for that, but I had to come say I was sorry. I had to.”
“And what did you tell Mr. Williams about where you were going?” His voice was still hard with distrust.
“Ellian…” She looked up, as if uncomprehending. “He’s dead.”
“What?” She saw the leap of joy in his eyes. His fingers tightened on her arm and when she whimpered in pain, they released only fractionally. “When?”
“When the Warlord took me.” She’d decided on this as she paced, waiting for Colin to come retrieve her. It was best if Ellian thought she knew nothing. “They killed him, Ellian.”
For a moment, she thought Ellian would tell her the truth. Then a cold smile flitted across his face. It was replaced almost instantly by bitterness.
“So now that your lover is dead, you thought you would come back to me?”
“Ellian, I—“
“You agreed to run away with him. Minutiae don’t concern me.”
“I know.” Aryn looked down at her hands. “And I’ll go. Whatever you send me, whatever terms…I’ll take them. You needn’t worry I’ll fight you for anything. I just…had to say I was sorry.”
What she really had to do was get to the gun on the table, and how was she going to do that? There was only one option. She bent her head and let herself shake with tears, letting the words out twisted as if she were crying. She mumbled something.
“What did you say?”
“I made a mistake,” Aryn whispered, letting her shoulders shake with a pretended sob. “And I’m so sorry, Ellian, I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t ever have believed him, you were just so distant and I thought…I let him make me think…”
Her head slammed back against the wall as Ellian’s fingers came up to her throat.
“I am an arms trafficker,” he said simply. “I’ve been supplying the Warlord for fifteen years. Everything Mr. Williams said was true. And what do you think of that, Aryn?”
Spots were appearing in front of her eyes. Aryn gasped and choked, fighting every urge she had to go for his eyes, kick him in the groin. She couldn’t start a physical fight; she wouldn’t win it. She had to hold out until she could get the gun.
“Doesn’t—matter—” The words came out garbled. Had she miscalculated? Was he actually going to kill her now, like this?
“What?” His fingers loosened, and Aryn slumped to her knees as Ellian stepped back.
He wanted to possess you. Cade’s voice rang in her head and she spat bile onto the ground. She could not do this. She could not say the words.
She needed to. All that mattered was the gun. All that mattered was calling off the army. She took a moment before looking up.
“It doesn’t matter,” she whispered.
“Why not?” Ellian looked down at her coldly.
“I don’t…I don’t…”
“Why. Not?” He crouched down, his hand casually closed in a fist. “Answer me, Aryn.”
“I love you.” The words came out panicked. They weren’t convincing. But they didn’t have to be. She flinched from the blow when it came. “I love you,” she whispered again. There was blood in her mouth.
“No, you don’t.”
“I love you.”
“Don’t lie to me. Tell me the truth.” He yanked her head up.
“I can’t go back,” Aryn whispered. She let herself remember the horror of the mines and her eyes filled with desperate tears. “Don’t make me go back to the mines. I can’t go back. I don’t have anywhere to go.”
She had not wanted this to work. Deep down, she had wanted Cade to be wrong. She hoped Ellian would melt at this, and tell her what he had always told her: that it did not matter if she loved him or not. That he only hoped. She had wanted him to say that he did not mean to trap her, but to free her. When the smile spread, cold, across his face, she knew she had been wrong to hope.
“That’s right,” he told her. “You don’t have anywhere to go but back to the mines. And I’m afraid you’ll have to go, Aryn. I can’t trust you, you see. You proved that.”
“No! You can!” She crawled toward him, hating herself. She was crawling toward the gun, she told herself fiercely. But even acting this was making her want to cry. “I swear you can. I’ll never betray you again.”
“Why did you betray me the first time?”
“Because I was stupid.” It wasn’t true, wasn’t true, wasn’t true.
“And how do I know you won’t do it again?”
“Because you’ll be dead,” a new voice said.
Ellian whirled, and Aryn’s head jerked up. Cade sat in Ellian’s desk chair, a bloodstained knife in his hand. He held it up.
“You’ll be pleased to know that Colin was more loyal than James. Still is, I’d imagine—he’s not dead, don’t worry.” He smiled coldly at Ellian.
“You’re not wanted here, Williams. Haven’t you heard? She told me she wants to come back.” Ellian smiled. “She knows she has nowhere else to go. She knows you can’t offer her what I can.”<
br />
“And what can you offer her?” Cade asked.
“Ymir.” Ellian smiled as Aryn’s head jerked up. “Oh, did you think I stayed for you? No. You were just a distraction. A convenient way to throw the Warlord off the scent. You should thank me, though. After all, you must know that I’m the only reason the districts aren’t dead now.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“Of course. He wouldn’t be the first to kill his workers and replace them with new ones. Of course, he’d be one of the first to do it on this scale. On purpose. He really has lost his mind, you know.” Ellian smiled. “But that won’t matter for much longer. I won’t allow such waste when I sit in his place. Although I might make an example of Williams, here.”
“Try it,” Cade said, with a smile that chilled Aryn to the bone.
“Mm. I think you’ll find, if you look, that there are traps in place for just this sort of eventuality. I keyed them to you. I, unlike the Warlord, am not fool enough to believe my enemies are weak.”
“You…” Aryn tried to push herself up.
“Stay there.”
She sank back down, looking down to hide the hatred in her eyes.
“You see, Mr. Williams? She obeys. Glorious, is it not? You were a fool to love her. She would never have loved you back.”
It’s a lie, Aryn pleaded silently. Don’t believe him. She looked up to Ellian.
“You can’t defeat the Warlord,” she whispered. “We should go while we have the chance. Go before he figures out I escaped.”
“He’s rather more concerned with the troops at his doorstep,” Ellian said, sounding satisfied. “Don’t worry. They’ll be at the palace soon. His road to the launch pad is cut off. He has nowhere to run. And then, my dear, your plan will come to fruition.”
“My plan?” She was just as lost as she sounded.
Dragon's Honor (The Dragon Corps Series Book 1) Page 23