by Peach, Hanna
As he stood there gazing at Ana, he could tell that Vix was staring at him.
“Just say it,” Lukas said finally.
Vix swallowed and cleared her throat. “Say what?”
“Whatever it is you’ve been thinking for the last two minutes as you stare mournfully at me.”
“You noticed, huh? Sorry.”
“It’s fine.” He sighed. “Even I feel sorry for myself.”
“It’ll work out, Lukas. You two are perfect for each other. You love each other so much. This is just a blip in the road.”
A blip in the road. Lukas snorted. “Vix, she’s in love with someone else.”
“Someone who she got over once, remember? She got over him once and fell in love with you. She’ll do it again.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“I believe that everything happens for a reason. And I believe that history repeats itself only because some things are inevitable. You and Ana are inevitable. She may have loved Yael once, but he wasn’t her true love. If he was then she would have never gotten over him. She would have fought harder to be with him twelve years ago.”
“This time…” He shook his head. “This time things are different.”
“How different could they be?”
“I killed him, Vix.”
Vix’s shoulders tensed up. “Killed…who?”
Lukas closed his eyes and in his mind he went back to the moment when he truly lost the woman he loved. The moment when he killed any chance that she could ever learn to love him again. When his sword pierced Yael’s heart. Don’t do anything stupid, Jordan had said to him. But that’s exactly what he had done.
“I killed Yael.”
“Oh.” There was a pause. “Shit.” It slipped out, a single word that encompassed his situation.
Shit indeed. It was an impossible situation. If it didn’t break his heart every time to be reminded of it, he would have laughed at the absurdity of it.
Lukas stared back at Ana. When she woke she would be Siana again and she would remember why she hated him. Until then, he would stand guard over her and keep her safe and imagine that she was still his Ana.
Chapter Thirty
“Where do we go now?” Jordan heard someone cry out. The crowd of FreeThinker survivors had mostly gotten over their shock at being attacked − again − and their relief at staying alive; now they were starting to get restless. They needed a plan − and a good − one to reign them all in, otherwise there would be chaos among them.
Belle and Aaban looked to Tobias. Even though the three of them ruled as one, Tobias was the unofficial leader. Other Seraphim followed suit and hundreds of pairs of eyes peered at Tobias, waiting for his word. Jordan didn’t wish to be Tobias in that moment; how heavy that burden must be on his shoulders now.
To his credit, Tobias was holding his chin high and still held the air of confidence that he always exuded so naturally and that made people instinctively want to follow his lead.
“Well,” Tobias started slowly, “it’s clear what needs to be done. We need to find a new community, but for the meantime some temporary emergency accommodation will do.”
“That’s obvious, isn’t it?” someone yelled out. “So where do we go?”
“None of the other communities will have us. Twice attacked. We’re cursed,” called another voice.
“It’s that Guardian and her mortal half-breed,” someone spat out. Instinctively Jordan searched around the crowd for Alyx and he spotted her at the back edge of the crowd. He began to slip towards her. A grumble spread through the crowd and Jordan could smell dissent coming. He had seen this before. He feared this might turn violent. His hand went to his sword. He didn’t want to use it but he would if he had to.
“I have an idea,” called out a feminine yet authoritative voice. The crowd hushed as everyone became distracted trying to figure out who had spoken. “Let me through.” The crowd started moving as someone began to walk towards the front of the crowd.
Jordan felt his heart skip a beat. He knew that voice. He knew it so well he would know it if she spoke to him in his sleep. But…the seriousness and authority with which she spoke…it was so unlike her. It couldn’t be Cleo, could it? Jordan craned his neck trying to confirm who it was. When the crowd parted enough that he could make out her dark bob, he knew it for sure. It was Cleo. What the hell was she doing? Cleo stopped when she reached the front and stood near Tobias, turning to face the crowd.
“Who is she?”
“She’s mortal!”
“She’s that mortal…”
“Why is she living with us?”
Whispers could be heard throughout the crowd. Although Cleo had lived and fought among them for the last few weeks, she had mostly kept to herself as she detoxed from the drugs that she had been addicted to while she had been living and working in Purgatory. Jordan knew because he had been the one to spend the most time with her in her room. Their community was a large one, so many of them may have never seen her before.
“Yes, I am mortal,” Cleo addressed the crowd. “Many of you don’t know me or why I’m here among you. Those of you who do, probably won’t admit it. My name is Cleo and I used to work as one of Lady Bluesette’s girls in Purgatory.”
There was a clipped hush that went through the crowd and a couple of leers, which she ignored.
“Regardless,” she continued, “I owe a debt of gratitude to this community, a few Seraphim in particular, for saving my life and giving me a second chance while I…recovered.” Her eyes found Jordan’s and oddly a lump developed in his throat, which he pained to swallow away. “You’ve let me into your home and have become something of a family to me. So I’d like to let you into mine.”
“What is she talking about?” Jordan heard someone near him whisper.
“I own a large property in the English countryside, not two hours south from here by flight. It’s been sitting mostly empty for a decade or so, but with a bit of elbow grease we can make it something wonderful again. I’d like to invite you all to stay there with me.”
She owned a what?
Tobias turned to Cleo, the surprise evident on his face. “Cleo, this is beyond generous. But are you sure? We’re a large community and we’d take up a lot of space. You’ve seen what can happen to the places that house us. Do you want to take that risk that we may get attacked again?”
She nodded. “I’m sure. Did I say I own a large property? I mean I own an obscenely monstrous mansion on grounds the size of a small country. Trust me, the property will fit you all.”
Tobias blinked several times before he pulled her into a hug. Cleo patted his shoulder awkwardly. “Thank you,” he said when he pulled back. “We are forever in your debt.”
Cleo waved her hand dismissively. “It’s the least I can do. Besides, it’d be nice to create some new memories for me in that house.” Her voice grew quiet. Jordan wasn’t sure that anyone else noticed the sadness that appeared in her dark eyes. But he did.
As Tobias, Belle and Aaban began making preparations, Jordan squeezed out after Cleo and grabbed her hand before he remembered, too late, that she was angry at him. She turned her face towards him. He waited for the onslaught.
Her face showed some relief before that familiar snarky pout was back. “Well. Jordan. Looks like you survived.”
Jordan snorted. “It’s good to see you’re alive too.”
Cleo rolled her eyes. “Great. We’re both alive. Anything else you want to say to me before we go on ignoring each other?”
“Cleo,” Jordan tried to grasp for words to express the confusion, awe, surprise and all of the above that was swirling around in his chest. “I wanted to say…”
“Yes?”
“That is, I realized…but…”
Cleo placed her hands on her hips. “What do you want, Jordan? Spit it out. I have several hundred guests I need to accommodate.”
“I wanted to say…” he lost his nerve. “What the hell?”
“Dear Jordan, as straightforward and clear as ever. Perhaps you can get back to me when you are properly able to explain yourself.”
She turned as if to walk away. He grabbed her and turned her back around. She smiled again but this time it was forced. “Yes?” Impatience clouded that one little word.
“What do you mean you own a large property in England?”
“I don’t.”
Jordan stared at her, confused. “But I thought you said−”
“I said,” she interrupted, “that I own an obscenely monstrous mansion on grounds the size of a small country.”
“Dear Cleo, as secretive and mysterious as ever. I thought you said you had no home on Earth, no family.”
Her face soured. “That place is not a home. And I don’t have any family left. My father died when I was little and my mother,” her face twisted, “thank God, she died long ago while I was remaining ageless and fabulous in Purgatory. I inherited the mansion and the estate. Along with a few other things,” she added.
Jordan blinked at her. “Inherited…mansions…estate…what are you, royalty or something?”
Cleo sighed and pouted. “If you must know, my father was Duke Ellington of York. I guess that makes me a Duchess.” She made a face as if the title tasted sour in her mouth. “Or something.”
Jordan’s brain felt like it short-circuited for a second. “A Duchess?!”
“Shh.” Cleo glanced around them with furrowed brows. “Keep it down. I don’t need everyone knowing.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What are you talking about? I just did.”
Jordan made an exasperated sound. “I mean, why didn’t you tell me earlier? Are there any other bombshells that I should know about?”
Cleo screwed up her face. “Firstly, it’s not something I’m particularly fond of telling people. Trust me, it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Secondly, you don’t have any rights to know any secrets of mine.”
She whirled around and stormed off before Jordan could react.
He stood there feeling like an idiot. What did he say to upset her? Was she really that sensitive about being a Duchess?
Jordan pressed his lips together. He didn’t have time to think about this. He turned to find Tobias so that he could help with the relocation efforts.
Damned women. Would he ever figure them out?
* * *
Alyx was helping to organize the FreeThinkers into small groups so they could travel more discreetly to Cleo’s mansion. As she moved through the crowd, she spotted a willowy seraphelle holding Mini in her arms.
“Dianne?” Alyx said, moving towards her in surprise. Dianne had been so opposed initially to letting the half-demon, half-mortal girl stay in their community. To see her now in Dianne’s arms…everything seemed upside down. Alyx pushed towards them until she stood face to face with Dianne and a sleeping Mini.
“She’s fine,” Dianne said. “Just sleeping.”
Mini looked so peaceful, it didn’t seem possible that she had just been evacuated and her home destroyed. If only Alyx could be so lucky to sleep through everything as the fate of the world was being decided. If only she could just close her eyes and dream until it was all over. No deaths to hang around her neck. No cursed Guardianship. No bleak destiny that they were all hurtling towards at a hundred miles an hour.
“Alyx,” Dianne said, shaking Alyx out of her thoughts. “Are you okay?”
Alyx shook herself. She had to keep it together. Just hold on. “I’m fine. Thank you for getting Mini out of the castle. I was so worried that she had been forgotten.”
Something flashed across Dianne’s face. She opened her mouth, then closed it, and creases appeared between her brows. “I know I may have seemed like I didn’t want her around. But it was never about her. I just wanted to protect my home, my family. Do you understand? I would never want her to come to harm. She’s…a sweet girl.” A smile came across Dianne’s face as she watched the sleeping child.
Alyx nodded and attempted a smile. “Thanks, Dianne.” Mini’s life was just one more responsibility. One more person to worry about. Alyx reached out her arms to take the girl. “I can take her now.”
Dianne shook her head. “No, it’s alright. I’ve got her. You have enough on your plate.”
“I…” Alyx paused, stunned as Israel’s voice echoed again in her mind. You don’t have to do this alone.
* * *
Symon collapsed on his bed in a pod in Michaelea. He closed his eyes and tried to relax. It had been a bad training session. He was distracted and his flock could tell. He had even accidentally yelled “Alyx” at someone. His flock had grown silent after that.
Alyx.
Damn Alyx.
That damned bracelet that Alyx had left him, now hidden under a mirage among his things, was burning a hole in his consciousness. That strange bracelet of twisted metal. He remembered what Alyx had said to him when they last saw each other.
“Michael has a secret chamber in the woods near the top of the far side of the mountain. That’s where he was hiding Mayrekk’s prisoner’s apex. He’s keeping more secrets there. When you get to the tomb-like boulder, use this pick to help get through the shield. When you get inside, you’ll know I’m telling the truth. Don’t let Michael see that you have it.”
She was lying.
If she’s lying, you won’t find anything in the woods. No harm in looking. You can prove to yourself her words were rubbish and cease these infernal questions.
But looking would mean that he was questioning and even to question his Elders was a sin. His gaze flicked over to where the pick was hidden. He shouldn’t even be thinking about it.
Damn it. Symon flew up from his bed towards the pick.
Symon’s ears prickled as he made his way through a section of forest. The bracelet that Alyx had given him was pressed in his palm. He had been berating himself for even coming out here. What would he say if he was caught by someone? How would he even explain himself?
His thoughts cut off when he spotted a boulder shaped like a tomb, just as Alyx had said. Don’t go jumping to conclusions just yet. I’m sure that many boulders around these mountain woods could look tomb-like.
He scanned the area, his ears pricked for any sounds. When he was sure that he was still alone out here, he veered towards the boulder. His skin rippled with the presence of magic as he neared. There’s a shield here. An entrance. An entrance to what? As he neared, goosebumps raised on his arms.
Chapter Thirty-One
Cleo’s mansion was so familiar… Cleo’s memory of this place, her childhood home, invaded a DreamScape that she had once entered with Alyx. It just went to show how much a person’s perception of things clouded their memory of it. In Cleo’s DreamScape the mansion loomed taller and seemed more sinister and darker. But in real life the mansion was indeed large, monstrously so, but clean and pleasant and light with large windows everywhere. Under the cover of dusk Alyx landed on the huge manicured lawn of Cleo’s mansion along with the other Seraphim.
“This place is humongous,” Sparrow said from her side.
“Humongous, huh?” Vix said, Xiang at her side.
Sparrow grinned. “That’s the technical term.”
Alyx was thankful that Vix and Xiang were keeping Sparrow entertained. Her mind was on Israel. Her whole body was drained. She felt helpless, sick with worry about where Israel was now. She hadn’t been able to reach him through their bond yet.
An eager Sparrow tugged Vix and Xiang towards the front doors that had been thrown open. Cleo was standing on one side welcoming people through. Alyx followed wordlessly behind them like a ghost.
“Cleo, this place is something,” Vix said.
“I thought you said that no one had lived here since your mother passed away?” said Xiang. “It looks so fresh and well kept.”
“That’s one of the benefits of being ridiculously wealthy,” Cleo said without even a hint of showing off. �
��You can pay people to do things for you. I may not have been living here, but I had people looking after this place for me. I’ve sent them all away, of course, so your supernatural abilities won’t be exposed. The fact that I haven’t aged in the last several decades wouldn’t be lost on the ones who knew me back then.” Cleo grabbed Alyx’s arm as she walked through. “Alyx, are you okay?”
“Yes. No. Just…worried about him.”
Cleo nodded. “Find a room. Lie down. You’ll feel better after you rest.”
“Rest.” All her body wanted was to lie down and sleep forever. She felt the weariness right down into her bones. But how could she rest when Israel was… God, he could be anywhere now in any horrid state.
“I hate to say this,” said Vix, “but Michael needs Israel alive. He won’t have hurt him. After you’ve had some sleep you’ll be able to think clearer. You’ll figure out a way to rescue him.”
She hoped so. Everything depended on it.
* * *
After bypassing the entrance, Symon moved slowly down the dark tunnel. His heart thudding in his ears. His head, good Lord, his head was spinning. If this indeed was Michael’s chamber as Alyx had claimed it was, then it would contain proof…proof of what? He didn’t know.
Symon stayed against the wall as he descended, relying mainly on the feeling of the wall as he moved lower into the ground. He kept his ears pricked for any noise and his skin was hyper aware of any movement of air not created by him. Soon the passage became lighter up ahead. It appeared the tunnel opened into something, a chamber that was currently brightly lit. He drew slowly toward the opening, pausing when he heard someone speaking.
“I call it my Tree of Knowledge.” The voice belonged to Michael.
“What does it do?” Was that Elder Bezebel?
“How about I show you? Just sit inside, here. That’s it.”
Symon dared to stick his head out further. His eyes widened when he saw the giant tree-like monstrosity in the center of the room. Huge pod-like things hung off the ends of the branches.