Liam addressed only Baird. “So let me get this straight, we have the Light who can end all the Vemreaux disappearances and deaths, but she can’t do it because she’s gotta work in a bar? Who is this guy?” He reached for his phone, but recalled the missing battery unhappily.
Sam sighed, the early morning hour creeping up on him. “This Joe guy doesn’t know she’s the Light, Liam. He just thinks he bought himself a pretty little waitress.” He leaned back into his chair and puffed, examining Blue through the translucent wisps of smoke.
“Americans,” Liam murmured with a bad taste in his mouth. “Don’t you know what you’re doing to your economy in the long run by buying slaves instead of freeing them? He doesn’t have to pay you two as much as he’d have to pay a Vemreaux or a freed Wayward. I’m sure there are plenty of Vemreaux who’d like a steady job at a diner.”
“Are you one of those people?” Baird asked snidely, leaning forward to look at the man more directly. “Do you want to work in a bar, Prince Liam? It’s a great job. Only fourteen-hour days six days a week for tips and A-blood minimum wage.”
Liam looked uncomfortable as his eyes darted to the girl who so looked like his sister. She ate without reacting to their political conversation, and he wondered if she also was required to work such excruciating hours. Julia never worked a fourteen-hour week when she was alive.
It was Brody who got them back on track. “So she literally can’t fly to old world Australia because her owner doesn’t know she’s the Light, yeah?”
Baird nodded once. Blue was losing her steam with the food, her fork resting on the plate while she eyed the rest of the noodles, debating if she should stay in the storm cellar and finish her Geometry book instead of going for a jog.
“Well, this is stupid. Just go on the run. Buy a plane ticket and fly to the island.” Liam shrugged like it was no big deal.
“We’re not free, we’re owned. If an owned Wayward runs from his master, you know what’ll happen. Face splashed everywhere, and if we’re found, it’ll be either death or prison, if they’re feeling generous. We’d never make it to the island. We wouldn’t make it past airport security.”
It was Blue who spoke up before the others could interject their pointless arguments. “We?” she inquired, sitting back from her food to stare at him.
“You heard me.”
“You’re not going with me, Baird.” It was the first time he’d said anything about going out on the death mission together. The very thought surprised and scared her.
“That’s not your decision.”
“How’m I supposed to kill anything if I’m worrying about it ripping you apart first? No, Baird. I won’t watch you die.” She pushed her spaghetti away obstinately.
“The prophecy doesn’t say –”
“The prophecy says that I’ll be the one dying. What chance do you think you’ll have against it if it gets me?” She looked up at him with regretful eyes. “If you try to follow me, I’ll run. Police’ll find you before you catch up to me and they’ll kill you. Is that what you want? You don’t exactly have a face that stirs up mercy in people. No, Baird. You have to stay here and watch over Elle and Grettel. That’s the deal. I get to die, and you get to babysit. No trading.”
In that little exchange, the men at the table witnessed a short power shift where Blue was briefly in charge of making the rules. No one spoke for a moment while the two ironed things out.
“This isn’t over, Blue. It’s not up to you. The prophecy was written without considering that you’d have help with you. You might not die if you have me there.” His voice took on a pleading tone instead of argumentative.
Blue glared up at him as if it was the cruelest thing he could’ve said to her. “Don’t you put that in my head! Don’t make me hope things could be different. You’re staying here, and that’s that. It doesn’t matter, because I can’t leave the diner anyway. People can just keep on getting slaughtered out there while we sit here and argue about whether or not you’ll be stupid enough to die with me.”
“Don’t be a child about this.”
Her eyes flashed dangerously, but she held her tongue. Blue stood, pushing her chair backward into Alec. “Excuse me.” She turned to walk from the table. When the intimidating Alec moved to block her path, her anger shifted its focus to him. “Move!” Blue tried to sneer menacingly, but knew that she still looked like an unimposing girl. All the submissiveness was starting to grate on her. The ‘yes, sirs’ and ‘right away, sirs’ were far from what she wanted to say. She’d wrestled with her control for too long and under too many eyes. Blue could feel her discipline begin to wear thin.
Alec had no intention of obeying. He pointed to her chair. “Sit.”
So quick that no one really saw all of it, Blue’s shoe swept behind Alec’s feet and pushed them out from under him as one small hand shoved his chest straight downward with unnatural force. The Vemreaux all gasped in horror and amazement as the immovable Alec fell to the floor with what seemed like barely an effort on her part. With the wind temporarily knocked out of Alec, Blue stepped all of her dainty weight on his chest as she walked over the guard toward the bathroom.
Liam broke the silence. “Whoa! I’ve never seen anyone take you down before.”
Alec did not answer, and the others knew better than to tease him about it.
Sam looked as if he’d like to say something, but thought better of it. He shifted in his chair before picking more appropriate words. “Can she buy her freedom?”
Shaking his head, Baird eyed Blue’s spaghetti. “Waywards can’t just up and free themselves. Their owner has to do it. We don’t know if Joe’d keep her secret. It’s too big of a risk to tell him she’s the Light. How much more money do you think he could make if he advertised that you could get your blood shakes brought to you by the Light? He doesn’t exactly put our health and safety first as it is. Like I said, fourteen hour days, six days a week.”
Brody sat down in the chair next to Baird, turning it around so that he straddled it backward. “Why don’t you just buy her, Liam? Offer more than he paid for her. Pretend you desperately need some reliable American slave to carry around your tiara or something, and you just happened to literally stumble into the bar and find her. Then we can go over to old world Australia on holiday or on assignment after we get back home. Frederick’ll okay it. Killian’s thinking of taking his guards over there to get away for a while anyway. The safer parts, of course. Alec, Sam and I can take her with us, or you can go on official business from the emperor.”
Liam churned over the details of Brody’s plan. “My dad can’t know she’s the Light. He wouldn’t exploit her or anything, but he’d have an obligation to the people to announce it. If I buy her as a servant, she’s got to play the part in front of people. Would she really be able to do that without, you know, throwing us to the ground every chance she got?”
Baird’s spirit lifted as new possibility shone on their formerly unsolvable problem. His mind raced over any hiccups that might thwart the perfect plan. “She’d be fine. You should see the way some of these Vemreaux in the diner order her around. Blue’s strong willed, but she’ll submit if it’s for the greater good.” He considered this further. “Well, maybe not to you.” He indicated Brody, who put on his best mock surprise face. Baird took a deep breath and trudged on to the issue he was less comfortable with. “Alright. Let’s talk money. We’ve been saving every brandish to buy our younger brother when he comes of age. We still have to find the right Vemreaux to make the transaction for us, since technically we’re not citizens. We’re shy on the money, though. We can kick in just under two hundred thousand bills. We also can’t free Blue ourselves because we’re not Vemreaux.”
Liam looked insulted. “I don’t need money. My dad’s the emperor, remember? I just don’t have a servant on principle, but my family employs a few.
Sam threw his head back. “I’m totally telling Josephine you called her a servant.”
“
Don’t you dare, Sam. She’d kill me! Baird, give me your owner’s number and I’ll call him first thing in the morning, yeah?”
“Wait.” Baird held his hands up to slow the quickly progressing conversation. “We need to lay down a few ground rules first. You don’t want any money from us? That seems off.”
“Not a brandish. I think her ending the predator makes us square,” said Liam.
“And you’re buying her only so she can kill the predator. You’re not making money off of her any other way?”
“Are you implying something, A-word?” Brody interrupted.
“Brody, shut it,” Liam insisted, correcting his friend’s inappropriate comment. “We won’t use her for anything other than killing the predator. Same thing you’re using her for. She’ll have to act like a servant, though. If someone in my family tells her to get me a drink or clean my room, she’s got to do it, or she’ll draw attention to herself.”
“Agreed.” Baird’s wary stare flickered between Alec and Sam. “And you all keep your hands off my sister. If she doesn’t want to show people her eyes, you respect that.” Alec didn’t nod, but he did not argue either. Baird figured that was as good a response as any from the quiet Vemreaux. “You grab her face, it’ll be on you when she rips your hand off. Don’t think she can’t do it. If she’s the Light who can kill the predator, you won’t stand a chance. And you,” he turned his attention to Sam, who’d been uncharacteristically quiet.
Before Baird could get out the threat Sam knew was coming, the Vemreaux stood from his chair and strolled casually to the bathroom. “I’ll go check on the warrior.”
Not willing to let Sam off without a warning, Baird called after him, “I catch your arms around my sister again, and I’ll break them myself. Her blood’s the same as mine, and I can do it, Vemreaux!”
Liam and Brody both snapped their heads to gawk at Sam, who kept a steady pace toward the restroom hallway.
“She’s nineteen, perv!” Baird shouted.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The Truth
Sam cringed as he stood outside of the ladies’ restroom for the second time that day. He could hear her feet shuffling around inside and hoped that her brother’s voice had not carried this far.
As he stared at the bathroom door, he questioned his motives. Why was he waiting for her? The faint hope of another quiet moment alone with the girl was marred by the fact that his friends and her brother sat just a few meters away in the dining area. Who was she to him? Aside from being the Light, she was just a Wayward. A pretty Wayward who’d thrown him up against the wall, besting his strength in a way that both confused and excited him. Beneath the feigned submission to her brother was a fistful of moxie that drew him in. He’d never met anyone who held his attention the way she did.
He’d never followed a Femreaux to the bathroom to make sure she was okay. He was usually the one they went to the restroom to cry in private over after he’d cast them aside when he’d lost interest. He leaned against the concrete wall and shoved his hand in his pockets as he waited for the beautiful stranger. He sucked on the end of his cigarette, hoping the familiar action would bring him back to normal.
The bathroom door flew open to reveal Blue’s carefully composed face, which fell into surprise when she saw that he was waiting for her again. Her hand rose to her chest to indicate that he’d startled her.
“You okay?” Sam asked, immediately berating himself for not coming up with something smoother.
Blue nodded in response.
“They’re coming up with a pretty good plan out there. One that involves your brother staying here and you going to the O-blood island without a parade of police behind you.” He placed his free hand behind him at the base of his spine and pressed it between his backside and the wall to keep from fidgeting. “Do you want to go back out there? Throw in your brandish before it’s decided?”
“Okay,” she replied lamely, her blue eyes meeting his black ones without the usual curtain of hair between them.
Something about her noncommittal response caused him to stiffen, the subtle muscles in his face tightening. “You don’t have to, you know. I asked you if you want to.” He blew a mouthful of smoke away from her.
Blue’s face scrunched, not understanding the distinction.
Sam shook his head. “Never mind. Come on.”
Without thinking, he pushed himself off of the wall and took a step toward her like he wanted to hold her hand on the short stroll back to the table. Before his fingers could act out their desired insanity, he shoved them into his pocket to keep them from causing further damage. All the while, his hand itched to be free of the expensive black material and touch her, having acquired the addiction in that very hallway from the restraint that turned into a tender hold.
“I’m sorry about earlier.” He caught himself and rolled his eyes. “And for waiting for you outside the bathroom like a stalker twice now.” His full lips tightened with embarrassment.
She walked next to him with less distance than she would normally put between herself and another, though she was careful not to brush against him. When she inhaled his subtle cologne, she tripped over her own two feet, stumbling before righting herself with chagrin.
“You alright?” he asked, his hand touching her back kindly.
“Yeah. Just clumsy tonight.” When they were visible to the others, she tilted her head down to avoid eye contact with her brother, certain that her near fall and her desire to walk closer to the Vemreaux was somehow visible on her face.
Alec was sitting in her chair, so she decided it was fitting to take his instead of making him stand back up. She’d knocked the wind out of him pretty easily, and thought he probably needed the extra comfort of a chair while he reassembled his bearings and whatever could be salvaged of his pride. The vacant seat that had been Alec’s was across the table from Baird, to the left of Liam. When she reached it, it magically pulled out for her. She looked up in confusion, thinking perhaps Sam wanted to claim the chair as his, but he motioned for her to sit in it.
“What?” Sam questioned when his friends’ bewilderment mirrored hers. “I’m being nice.”
Brody stared at his friend in astonishment. “It’s literally like watching a baby giraffe take his first steps.”
Blue consented with wide eyes, and Sam slid the chair smoothly under her. Unable to hide her surprise at being treated so sweetly, the dreaded blush crept into her cheeks and trickled down her neck.
“Tell,” Baird grumbled, allowing his expression to dip into grave unhappiness.
When Blue did not say anything, Brody spoke up. “Tell what?”
Baird shook his head. “Nothing. I just caught one of her tells. That’s a new one, Blue. You’ll want to iron that out quickly.”
She offered no biting retort, but shrunk in her seat, wishing the frame would swallow her whole. She was relieved when Baird said nothing more of the embarrassing pink in her cheeks. Liam, Alec and Brody all stared at her to see what he was talking about, but they noticed nothing except for the small bit of color that lingered.
“Dude.” Brody turned to Sam uneasily. “She’s A-blood. She literally reeks like rotten eggs.”
“And you, Brody,” Sam cut him off before he could make it worse, “don’t exactly smell like a summer breeze.” He didn’t know what possessed him to pull Blue’s seat out for her. Never in his life had he done something so chivalrous. Even the promise of a satisfying night with an experienced Femreaux could not evoke such manners from him. Though he did not regret his actions, he did wish they had not been witnessed by those who knew his wanton behavior best. He reclaimed his seat and tried to disappear behind the smoke.
“Okay.” Liam interrupted the quarrel he was sure would erupt. The girl next to him squirmed in her chair, invoking his compassion toward her when he saw her discomfort at being in the spotlight. “Your brother and I figured out a way to get you to old world Australia without too many people being involved.”
Her ears perked, but her head remained downward.
“How would you feel about me buying you from your master? You’d have to pretend to be my servant and come with me on holiday or on assignment to the island, but I could get you there, no problem.” He draped his hand lazily on the back of her chair, causing Blue to stiffen.
She looked up at Baird across the table, ignoring everyone’s study of her every movement. Blue’s eyes moved rapidly back and forth as she processed the new information, trying to bring to light any possible problems with the plan.
“If Joe doesn’t put up much of a fight, we can have the paperwork done early next week. I have to stay for the Peace Day parade, and I’ve got to stop by The Way West to see my Uncle Jack again at some point, but we can leave the day after that if everything’s in place.”
Blue looked up at the prince, breaking out of her silence. “Your Uncle Jack? Is he a professor in The Way West?”
Liam cracked his knuckles. “Yeah. You know him?”
“Yes!” For the first time, Blue allowed her smile to seep through her control. “He was my favorite. Great guy.”
Baird nodded grimly as he stared into the two sets of identical blue eyes across the table. So much about himself and Blue looked similar to Liam. The tanned complexion, rare Original Vemreaux eyes, and about half a dozen other small things finally clicked in Baird’s mind. He watched his sister smile up at Liam, showing off their similarities. It was the last piece that he needed to fall into place to complete the puzzle he’d been doing without consciously thinking about it. His breath quickened, but he fought to suppress the tell before his sister could notice it.
“Well, he’s my favorite uncle, so we have something in common after all. What do you think about the plan?” Liam asked, put off by her prolonged silence at what he thought was a great idea.
“Okay,” she replied simply and went back to staring at the table in front of her.
Sam exhaled like he’d very much like to say something, but shoved a fresh cigarette between his lips to keep himself from talking.
The Way Page 27