by Beth Ryan
On quiet feet, I turned toward the small closet where Ivonne had hung my coat. My breath caught when I couldn’t see the thing. I shoved the other coats around, frantic. Then the light color of the material appeared from behind Cooper’s oversized monstrosity.
I pushed the beastly thing out of the way to grab mine, pulling it off the hanger and onto my body in a single flourish. I patted down the pockets, feeling the square shape of my cigarettes, the long coil of black cord, and the two little pills all tucked away where they belonged, and I let out a sigh of relief.
The door creaked open.
Stepping back into the shadows of the room was more instinct than thought. I held very still as someone else entered the room. From size alone, I could tell it wasn’t Rhys, Joshua, or President King. The stranger was too slight, too short, to have been any of them. The list of people it could have been was endless, though, and made even longer by the fact that I didn’t know exactly how many people lived in the Kingsland Mansion.
The figure followed the same path I had, padding over to the closet I had left open. They paused at the open door, then reached in and grabbed something that wasn’t a coat.
The distinct sound of someone checking the chamber of a gun clicked through the air, and I bit back a curse. Cooper Hall with a loaded gun was not someone I wanted to startle.
Without a sound, I stepped forward and grabbed the gun before he could do something stupid with it. At the same time, I wrapped my other hand around his mouth and forced his body to twist so that his back was to me. I leaned forward and hissed in his ear.
“Stay quiet.”
Whether due to the authority in my voice or the recognition of who I was, Cooper relaxed into me. I could feel his lips against the palm of my hand as his jaw clenched beneath my fingers. My lungs hurt from too much clean air.
I stepped back, freeing him from my grasp, and tucked the gun into the pocket of my overcoat as he spun around to face me.
“Nate?” he asked, as though the sound of my voice and the fact that I was also sneaking around in the middle of the night weren’t confirmation enough. “What are you doing here?”
“The same as you, I expect.” I shrugged, the red dot of the camera that watched us still weighing heavy in my mind. “I couldn’t bear to leave my coat behind. Too many good memories to abandon it to a random closet.”
“Seriously?” he hissed. I couldn’t see much of his face, but I already knew him well enough to imagine the furrowed eyebrows and squinting eyes. There was just enough light to make out his frown.
“Needed my cigarettes,” I admitted, pulling them out of my pocket to show them off. Cooper scoffed, but I ignored the sound. It was a better excuse than coming down here for a loaded gun.
“I can’t do this with you,” Cooper said, shaking his head and pulling his massive coat from the closet. Then he left the room without a backward glance. The gun remained in my pocket.
I hurried after him as he made his way back upstairs, and he ignored me when I caught up. He walked with purpose, but as we passed a tapestry that marked an important right turn, I realized he was lost. He was storming through the mansion, fueled by indignation and the desire to get away from me rather than a sense of direction, just as he’d been on the way to our rooms.
“Cooper,” I said, using a tone I hoped would soothe him.
The sound of his name coming from my mouth only seemed to make him angrier. He whirled around to face me, and by the moonlight that was streaming in from a window down the hall, I could see a fury in him that I had not anticipated.
“How dare you!”
We both jolted at the angry words that echoed down the hall. I had been too focused on Cooper to notice the line of light that streamed from beneath a door near the end of the corridor.
Grabbing Cooper’s hand, I pulled him into the shadows of an alcove where another pointless statuette was on display. We sank into the darkest corner, as the door slammed open and two pairs of feet echoed down the hall.
“Eisley, you’ll not be here when we receive the Argentinians.”
Joshua’s voice wasn’t so much distinct as it was deep enough to be memorable. Beside me, Cooper’s whole body was shaking, but when I looked at him, I did not see a trace of fear. What I saw instead was a combination of rage and determination I didn’t understand. The footsteps drew closer.
“You have no right to decide that.” I’d seen Robert Eisley in so many projected executions that I could imagine him standing in the dark hall, staring down Joshua King with his cracked lips pursed in distaste.
Cooper grunted, and I turned to stare at him. He was holding his finger to his lips, eyes wide as he stared back at me. My blood coursed through my veins as I prayed that the two Lemnis hadn’t heard him.
Even as I wondered what had caused his outburst, he lunged toward me. The hand that he had pressed to his mouth reached for my left pocket, where his gun was hidden. His index finger was bleeding.
I stepped back far enough to keep out of his reach, but he kept coming at me until my back was against the wall. I wrapped my fingers around his wrist and stepped around him. Slamming him against the wall he’d backed me into, I held my ground as he struggled against me.
For the second time that night, I had Cooper in a vice grip, but I couldn’t let him go this time. He’d tried to take back his gun and had made friends with my scalpel instead. Then he’d been stupid enough to try again. There was no doubt in my mind that he would use that gun on Joshua King if given the chance.
I wanted to demand he explain exactly what he thought he was doing, but I knew the truth. He didn’t have a plan. All he had was instinct, and a terrible habit of trying to shoot his way through tough situations.
“I will see the Argentinians, or your sister’s traitorous opinions will be revealed.”
“My sister’s opinions on your repeated murders of the young women in your employ?”
“Your sister’s opinions on the subjugation of this country, which is our birthright and which gives me every privilege I please,” Eisley hissed out. When he continued, his voice was lower than before, more threatening. “Including the disposal of young women who do not know their place.”
Cooper stilled. I felt a sick shiver accompany the taste of bile in my mouth. The sound of rustling cloth brought to mind the tall, pale department head spinning on his heel to stalk away from the King heir.
He didn’t glance in our direction as he passed. The evidence of his anger was revealed in the quick flash of red face and clenched fists as he hurried away. A frustrated huff came from Joshua’s direction before his steps led away again. The door clicked closed behind him.
We stood in the dark alcove for a while longer, waiting to be certain the coast was clear, my hands still tight around Cooper’s wrists. I scrunched up my nose in frustration as we waited. Clearly, there were things I’d missed between Joshua and Eisley. And between Ivonne and the government she was destined to lead.
“I can’t do this,” Cooper whispered, more to himself than to me.
“Can’t do what?” I asked, pushing past my hesitance to dig deeper. There wasn’t enough time to finesse the situation now. I had to know. “What did he bring you here for?”
“I don’t—” He shook his head, looking away from me again. “I don’t have any answers for you. I don’t even know what I’m doing here.”
“What do you know?”
“It’s my fault. All of this is my fault. If I’d done what she said and followed through on my promises, then we wouldn’t be here, but I didn’t, and now we’re going to die or worse, and she’s going to get caught, and there’s nothing I can do. God, Nate. You’re going to die because of me, and so is she, and so am I. I—oh. Oh god. It’s all my fault.”
Cooper gasped in a breath at the end of his little tirade. Everything about him was dejected, and I still wasn’t quite sure what he was talking about. He stared at me with tired eyes, and my heart twinged in empathy.
&nbs
p; The willful, reckless boy had argued with me, manipulated me, and killed a stranger without remorse. Yet he was in the same situation I was. Lost in the mansion and in life, without any clue how to sort things out.
Despair was in every inch of how he held himself as he whispered those words over and over. In that moment, I could see the kid who had knocked on my door rather than the man who was leading me to my death.
“I don’t know how to fix this,” he said, looking me right in the eye as he spoke. “I am so sorry.”
Those gorgeous brown eyes were void of hope, and I could feel his pulse in his wrist, an uneven rhythm that stuttered out against my thumb. He was caught in the crosshairs of an impossible situation, and I was at a loss, watching him struggle to keep things together. His bottom lip trembled and, as much as I fought it, my heart broke a little at the sight of him.
I only had guesses as to who was blackmailing him and I didn’t know what the job was that he’d been brought here to complete, but I could see he didn’t want to do it. He hadn’t wanted to do anything that had led up to both of us being in that hallway.
I offered him a reassuring smile but refused to bother with meaningless encouragements. I wouldn’t tell him he was forgiven for his crimes or that everything would turn out okay. I couldn’t promise that either of us would survive past tomorrow or that I could do anything to keep him safe, but silently I vowed to myself that I would try.
18
May 20th, 2080
I didn’t understand back then. I didn’t recognize the danger that loomed over us. I was blinded by the threat of death, as though that were the worst thing that could happen to me.
I’d been a fool.
The truth was right before my eyes. I’d seen it, yet I missed everything. I’d been so used to ignoring the important details that I dismissed them by nature. All that got me, in the end, was a lifetime of regret and a deeper understanding of how our government had fooled us all.
19
November 19th, 2079
When I followed Rhys into the dining room the next morning, I rubbed the grit from my eyes and shut the door behind me. That damned ugly coat drew my attention like a beacon, but it was the dark circles under Cooper’s eyes that really highlighted his misery. They reminded me of two despairing targets, bullseyes pointing toward the trouble we’d gotten up to the night before. Cooper looked wretched, but if he’d managed to get any sleep at all, then he’d done better than I had.
The sound of the door clicking shut made him look up from where he was glaring down at his breakfast. The expression of relief that washed over him was so blatant, it caused the man seated at the head of the table to turn toward me as well.
I forced a smile at President King and glanced around for Ivonne, hopeful to start initiating my survival plan as soon as possible. The only other person in the room was a blonde woman who stood beside the president, dressed in a business suit and wearing a look of disapproval. If either of them noticed the lamentable nature of Cooper’s appearance, they did not acknowledge it.
The woman's lips pressed in a thin line, and she leaned in to whisper something to President King as I approached the table. King’s gaze lingered on the lapels of my coat as the woman continued in hushed tones. He didn’t say a word to me. His posture was neither rigid nor relaxed, and if he knew anything about my life before coming here, I could not tell. In all my years of studying body language and all my practice in discerning the truth, I’d never before come across someone who appeared as neutral and unreadable as Elijah King in that moment.
“Sit,” he ordered. “Leanna will bring your breakfast.”
I took my seat.
The woman rushed from the silent dining room, the click of her staccato heels combining with the click of silverware as the president continued to eat and Cooper pushed his food around the plate. It felt like there was a ravine between the two of us, rather than a table, and I wanted nothing more than to tell him the conclusions I’d come to during my sleepless night.
Leanna returned with a plate of food, which she placed before me. There were eggs, and real slices of bacon, and something green that I’d never seen before. A plant, fresh and untouched by the threat of chemical poisoning.
I grimaced. This was nothing like the breakfast I was accustomed to. Staring down at my plate, I nudged my fork against the bits of egg. Last meal or not, I found my appetite lacking. I’d have taken a nutrition bar washed down with whiskey over this any day.
The sound of distant conversation filled the space between Cooper's weary sigh and President King’s water glass returning to the table. They drew nearer, and I turned to stare at the door when I recognized the voices behind it.
“If you think—” Ivonne burst through the door, her hands waving as she spoke, but stopped short as she took notice of everyone sitting at the dining table. She looked like she’d forgotten we existed until that moment.
Joshua stood beside her, a stack of papers in his arms, surly and suspicious as ever. Or maybe that was just my impression of him, now that I knew he was my opposition, the only one who had any means, motive, or moxie to blackmail Cooper Hall.
A layer of tension lay in the air between Cooper and Joshua. Between Cooper and I. Between Ivonne and the rest of the world. President King seemed to sense none of it. He turned to his children with a smile on his face, the first one I could remember seeing.
“Daddy!” Ivonne exclaimed, striding toward him after her moment of surprise had passed.
She stood at his side, arms held behind her back, looking like a paragon of innocence. Every word and action was tailored to fool him into seeing his little girl, his darling princess, rather than the rebellious revolutionary I now understood her to be. From the amused tilt of his smile, I had to wonder how much of her act he actually believed.
“Sweetheart,” he greeted, standing to pull her in for a tight hug. “I hope you’re ready to make your choice today. There are some rules even you cannot bend.”
“I would never.” She pulled away and turned to me with a gleam in her eye. “I plan on spending the whole day getting to know everything I can about these two.”
“Like you got to know Bianca Castle?” Joshua snipped from where he still stood by the door.
I was beginning to notice he always stood in doorways. One foot in the room and the other in the direction of escape. If that weren’t enough to distrust him, then the dark looks from Ivonne and Cooper at his comment were.
“Oh, yes. Bianca. Such a nice, innocent girl. Shame about the CAPS addiction.”
I saw the change like it happened in slow motion. One moment, Cooper was holding himself stiffly, tightly contained. Then, with Ivonne’s comment about CAPS pills, his expression transcended into a sanctimonious scowl.
I didn’t have time to wonder what it was about the CAPs that set him off every time they were brought up, or if Ivonne even knew the danger of the tirade she was in for. All I had time to do was react. I pushed my foot out, connecting with Cooper’s beneath the table.
He jumped at the sudden kick, and then glared at me. The madness was gone from his eyes, though, so I breathed easier for it.
“Indeed,” Joshua replied, not realizing the importance of what I’d done by rescuing his sister. He strode across the room to set his stack of papers in front of his father. Turning back to the door, he paused long enough to say, “Enjoy your breakfast, Ivy. That bacon is imported, you know.”
Then he was disappearing out the door and the sound of papers being sorted replaced the silverware clattering against glass.
I stood, pulling out Ivonne’s chair and guiding her toward it. She settled in beside me with a quiet “thank you”. Her plate was brought in on silent feet, the servant appearing and disappearing without a sound. Compared to Rhys, whose hair seemed redder and whose shoulders grew broader by the minute, the other servants were nearly invisible.
Determined to stay on Ivonne’s good side, I didn't let myself look at Cooper or Presid
ent King as I sat down again. Instead I focused wholly on her.
“You look incredible,” I murmured, brushing a strand of hair from her cheek, keeping my voice low enough that only she would hear.
It was true, too. She wore a deep red dress made from some kind of material that floated around her as she moved. Her hair glistened in the light streaming in through the windows, and her look of surprise was a prize all its own.
I’d thought a lot about this the night before, about Ivonne King and how she fit into my plan to survive. It wasn’t hard to imagine us together. Rebellious and pretty was my type, and she fit the bill just right. I’d fallen for girls and guys exactly like her over the years, though none of them were Lemniscate, and none of them had held my interest long enough to push me into settling down.
Now I would have to wrap my mind around the idea of committing to this woman, who was beautiful and clearly had a strong moral compass, but who was still the enemy. An enemy I had to keep happy until I was chosen as her husband and Cooper was long gone from this place. I ran my hand along her shoulder where the cloth was sheer enough to see skin and leaned in closer.
“A perfect color for a perfect woman,” I said, delighting in the oh of her lips and the blush that darkened her cheeks.
I wondered if anyone had ever bothered flirting with her before, when it was clear she was destined to marry someone chosen for her. Then I wondered at the shame of going through life knowing you were doomed to spend it with a stranger.
Cooper stabbed his eggs in silence.
“Damn junkies,” King grumbled, flipping over a stack of papers and shoving them away. He glared down at the next set of documents, oblivious to everyone else at the table.
“Sir?” Cooper asked, setting down his fork. “Is there anything I can help you with?”