“I’m glad you asked.” Sarah Madison smiled. “A dear friend of ours has helped acquire three additional pairs.”
Aidan and the others turned at the sound of boots pounding against concrete. Six new soldiers jogged in a line to join the Chief Justice.
This is not good. Sarah was right: the Syntrophos gravitated toward each other. They had their own family dynamics. This new group would, too, and they would not be loyal to Aidan. They would have their own sense of loyalty to each other. But as the new Syntrophos pairs settled into formation, Aidan did a double take. They were just kids. The youngest hadn’t even experienced an Awakening yet.
“Rowan and Spencer, please step forward,” Charles ordered. “Rowan is the field commander of her group. She will be in charge of discipline, and she will report to the Chief Justice office regularly. Her Syntrophos, Spencer, will be assisting Rowan in her duties.”
Rowan and Spencer were both young women in their early twenties. Rowan was beautiful with dark wavy hair, shot with blue highlights. Spencer was petite with silvery blond hair down to her waist with blood red highlights, yet her countenance was disturbing. She stared with vacant eyes at Aidan and his team.
“The girls are joined by Gemma and Ruthie, and Lola and Ace,” Sarah said. “I think you will all find Ruthie, Lola and Ace have not allowed their young ages to hold them back in the slightest. I have no doubt you will all learn a great deal from Rowan and her team.”
“I would like to discuss all disciplinary action before anything new is implemented,” Cleo said in a desperate attempt to regain her authority.
“It is simple,” Rowan said, pacing in front of Aidan and his team members like a new drill sergeant. “There are rules you will obey. If you break my rules or fail to produce results, you will be disciplined. Period.” She stopped in front of Aidan, her brow raised in surprise—the only outward reaction to accessing his power. He was stronger and more powerful than she was, and it bothered her. Aidan was in for a struggle for dominance with this one and he didn’t intend to lose. If she expected to come in and scare everyone into submission, she was mistaken.
“And what kind of discipline do you intend to enact on my students?” Pilar asked.
“They are soldiers. And you will find out soon enough,” Rowan said, dismissing Pilar.
Aidan had no illusions that they would all find out exactly what Rowan meant all too soon.
“We are not monsters,” Sarah said. “We have sufficient reason to expect faster results than we originally planned. We do not expect more than these soldiers are capable of, but we have assignments for our Special Forces team. Dire assignments that need their attention soon.”
“Anything you can share with us, Madame?” Cleo asked, her eyes glued to Ace and Lola, her gaze filled with pity. They couldn’t be more than fourteen and Aidan couldn’t fathom how they’d even bonded so young.
“When your training is complete, you all will leave Milan for a very special assignment that only you can accomplish. You will be going where only those Unproven are welcome. Soma. You will enroll as students and once inside, you will take over in the Senate’s name. By your hands, the tyranny of Soma will end, and it will become a government institution for all young children to come and train without fear. There will be no more Immortal trafficking in the name of Soma. Not while we are your Chief Justice.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Allie
Kelleys Island, March
“No! You are not letting her out of her cage.” Allie slammed her fist against the stone wall of the crypt.
“Livia has proven she’s not going to run,” Gregg insisted. “She will stay in the underground, but we no longer feel it’s necessary to confine her power.”
“It’s not your decision to make, Greggory McBrien. You don’t get to decide these things for my family.” Allie’s hands shook with fury and probably fear as well. The idea of Livia roaming free terrified her.
“Aye, it is not my decision. It’s the queen’s. And we will abide by her wishes.”
“Allie, dear,” Alísun said. “I did not expect you to react this way.”
“I don’t have ice in my veins the way some people in this family do,” Allie snapped and immediately regretted it. She didn’t always see eye to eye with her grandmother, but she loved and respected both of her grandparents, and right now the look on Alexander’s face shamed her.
Alexander began, “Allie-girl, we know you and Livia don’t get along—”
“Don’t get along?” Allie’s chest tightened in anger, the rage of her gift swelling inside her. If she had it her way, she’d gladly use it on Livia to strip her of her immortality the way she’d stripped their mother of her life. “She’s the reason my mother is dead. She’s the reason we lost Ming Lao. She can’t be trusted. The only things I know about my mother are the things you and Navid have told me about her, Gregg. That’s the only way I’ll ever know and love the woman who gave me life—through your memories. And you want to let her murderer walk free?”
“Alísun, I told you, Allie isn’t ready for this, and I will not push her,” Navid said. “We’ve all had the luxury of knowing and loving the woman we lost. We’ve each shared a lifetime with Kassandre. Allie and Livia will never know that. If Allie ever chooses to forgive her sister, she will do so on her own terms.”
“Thank you, Navid.” She was surprised to see her father agreed with her.
“I will never choose one daughter over the other,” he replied. “Your mother and I knew there was a chance Livia would develop an ability she would eventually turn on her mother. Kassandre was prepared to make that sacrifice to give Livia a chance at redemption. It was the only path she saw for our eldest child. Your mother refused to abandon either of her children. We saw thousands of versions of your lives but we wouldn’t sacrifice one child to save the other. For hundreds of years we worked to find a path where both of our children had a chance at a happy life. This is the life she chose for her children, Allie. The one where she didn’t get to know either of you.”
“Stop.” Allie didn’t want to hear any more excuses. She didn’t care what drove Livia to make the decisions she had. She made the wrong choices. No one deserved to die the way Kassandre and Ming Lao had. And no one deserved to endure a life without their love the way Navid and Jin Jing were forced to do every single day.
“Enough. You are not a child, Alexis. It’s been long enough,” Navid said firmly. “Your sister didn’t have a choice the night she came for us. She never had a choice. And she only recently learned the woman she killed that night was her own mother. You can’t imagine what using that ability costs her. You have no idea what Marcus has forced her to do with it, or how she is tormented by the souls of those she’s taken. I will never ask you to forgive her. I will only ask that you allow her the chance at redemption your mother sacrificed her life for. We will release your sister soon, but I would rather do it with your blessing.”
“She will not be allowed to leave the underground,” Gregg added.
“Livia will stay of her own free will,” Liam spoke, his eyes pleading with Allie to understand. She knew he was torn. He was falling for Livia. She was his Complement, and only Allie and Gregg shared that knowledge with him. Liam still hated the things Livia had done in her past, but he was convinced she could be a better person.
“I’ll think about it.” Allie nodded with reluctance. “I just don’t trust her not to break her promises. She is manipulative. What happens if you wake up one morning and she’s gone? Gone back to her father?”
“I am her father,” Navid said, his voice weighted with the force of his power.
“She would die before she returned to Marcus,” Liam said. “She loves Navid.”
“And what if she’s just playing you all for fools?” Allie shook her head. “I am so scared she will take someone else I love,” she admitted, reaching for Navid’s hands. “But I—I can do small steps. For you.”
“Small steps? How
?” Liam asked.
Allie took an uncertain breath. “For now, can she keep the magnetic collar on? Livia travels the dreamworld as she pleases and I am used to that now. We fight this war side by side but we are not friends. I do not trust her. Let me get used to seeing her roaming free before I can deal with a Livia with the full use of her power.”
“I think that is a fair compromise,” Alísun said. “You’ve faced a difficult situation and found the diplomatic solution. Well done, my granddaughter.”
“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to forgive her, grandma, but I will try to find a way to be okay with this.”
“Thank you, Allie.” Navid hugged her close to his side.
“Dreamworld, now.” Quinn charged down the steps from the common room above. “We’ve got a location on the prisoners, but we need to move quickly.”
Allie and Navid followed, jogging behind him to the Yard where Livia and Santi already waited.
Brecken and his inner circle had been guarding their prisoners for months, never allowing Quinn and his walkers to get close.
“What changed?” Allie asked. “How do we know it’s not a trap?”
“We don’t,” Navid said. “But we have to try.”
“Hurry,” Santi said. “Sasha is on her way to come assist. We will monitor your time as usual, but if there is a chance…”
“We need to push our limits today, guys.” Quinn sat in his usual spot under the shade of the trees in the Yard. “This is the closest we’ve come to liberating these walkers in a year. We need to get in there, hit them hard, and get out. We will meet the rest of the team at the keep and set out. You three are coming with me to do the liberating.”
“Is that wise?” Navid asked. “They will have guards in place.”
“Raina has been popping in and out for the last few hours, and they only have a few guards standing watch. Brecken has called his walkers in for strategizing. He’s planning something big, but we need to move while we have a chance. We’ll go in, but they won’t expect us to send Allie and Livia.”
“Sounds like a trap to me,” Allie said. “But I’m game. It’s not like they haven’t tried to trap me in the dreamworld before. It never works, so you two just keep yourselves safe. I don’t want to trade either of you for a bunch of crazies.” Over the last year, Allie and Livia had participated in many battles with Quinn and his walkers. Quinn was stronger and he was going to win this war. Brecken often targeted Allie and Livia, even captured them a couple of times, but he couldn’t touch them. Darius always called her back to the waking world, nullifying anything Brecken might have planned for them.
“Yes, please be careful, Dad. Quinn. You two are vital to the success of this war,” Livia said, pretending not to notice how Allie always refused to acknowledge her in the waking world.
“If we play our cards right, there’s a chance we can end this war soon,” Quinn said eagerly.
“Then let’s do it,” Allie said, taking her seat to Navid’s right. “Just give me the usual two minutes to puke, and I’ll be ready to march.”
“No marching today. You’re going to have to travel like a walker and suck it up,” Quinn said. “Brigs will be waiting for you near the towers.”
“Great. Glad I had that big lunch ‘cause we’re all about to revisit it.” Allie closed her eyes, settling her hands on the top of her knees. She breathed deeply and exhaled, searching her mind for serenity. True to form, Allie stumbled, landing on her rear in the dreamworld. With a moan, she scrambled to her feet to retch behind the crumbling walls of the gates to the keep. Still aware of her physical body in the waking world, it always took Allie a moment to wrap her mind around the feeling of being in two places at once. For her, the dreamworld was every bit as real as the waking world.
“Every time.” Raina’s laughter still sounded crazy, but she was making great strides in her recovery. “Everyone’s ready and waiting on the two wakers here.”
“Allie, brace yourself.” Quinn warned. “We’re going now.”
As they moved in together, Livia grabbed Allie’s hand and gave a gentle squeeze of reassurance.
Allie wanted to snatch her hand back, but there was no time.
“Oh God,” Allie groaned, as she landed on her butt again a moment later. The world whirled around her in a nauseating spin of colors and shapes. Clutching her stomach, she heaved again. Allie’s pulse pounded in her ears, and she fell face forward into her own vomit. “Ugh, that’s disgusting,” she muttered, rolling onto her side. She just wanted to lie there for a minute. Just one minute before she would have to shake it off and go fight a war.
“Up.” Quinn pulled her to her feet. “Carry her until she snaps out of it.”
“I’m okay,” Allie murmured, trying to clear the haze from her mind.
“Easy there, beautiful,” Brigs said, reaching down to scoop her up. “I’ve got you.”
“Hey.” Allie managed a grimace of a smile as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Hey yourself.” He winked.
Brigs was stupid hot. She generally lost the ability to speak whenever he was around, but he seemed to think she was hilarious.
“Drink.” Brigs nodded toward the canteen at his belt. “It’ll help you feel better.”
“Thank you.” Icy water passed her lips, refreshing her body, and clearing her mind. It tasted like ambrosia and sunshine. She could live on that water and nothing else for the rest of her life.
“That’s better, I think you can put me down now.”
“Nah.” He kept walking. “Not while I have you held hostage.”
“Hostage?” You know I could Kung Fu my way out of your arms, right?”
“Sweetheart, you could lay me out on the ground with those killer blades of yours. I’m no match for you. I’m just banking on the idea that you kinda like where you are at the moment.”
I do love the dreamworld.” Her flirty smile felt silly on her stupid face. She was never this uncertain of herself with Vince or Aidan. But Brigs was a little older … and stupid hot. She liked their casual relationship because she knew it was going absolutely nowhere and that was just fine with her.
“How about dinner after we go kick some ass? Come over later and we’ll grill some steaks. I say we, but I mean me. You’re not going near my grill again after last time.”
“Oh it wasn’t that bad.” Allie rolled her eyes. “You still ate a bunch of those ribs.”
“Yeah but you destroyed my grill—”
“Not the time, Brigs. Put her down,” Livia said.
“Where are we?” Allie asked when she was back on her feet.
“Deep in the redwood forest,” Raina said. “The oldest part of the dreamworld outside the keep.”
“We suspect Brecken has set up his own version of the keep in this area, attempting to pass it off as the original,” Quinn said. “Like he can manufacture the dreamworld’s recognition of him as its master.”
“Some of the idiots that follow him actually believe it,” Brigs said. “I don’t know how they can resist the pull to Quinn.”
“Brecken has to be masking it,” Navid said. “The commander’s lure is too strong now for them not to notice.”
“Where are the rest of your walkers?” Livia asked.
“They’re coming in toward the south of the prison world now, They’ll wait until we strike the northwest corner before they launch their attack to confuse Brecken’s walkers and split their forces.”
“Raina, tell Danica we’re moving in now. Give us a head start and launch your attack at the first sign of Brecken’s walkers,” Quinn commanded.
“Got it, boss.” She winked out in an instant, gone to deliver her messages.
“Follow me.” Quinn motioned them to move quickly. They kept low as they crept through the ancient forest of towering redwoods.
“This is where we need your help.” Quinn turned to face Livia and Allie. “We can’t go in there.” He pointed to the lone black tower standing amon
g the trees. “It’s a horrifying prison world, but now that we know Brecken’s towers don’t affect you, we’re going to distract the guards, so you can get inside.”
For nearly a year they’d operated with the idea that Allie and Livia could become trapped in Brecken’s prison towers just like the walkers, but a few months ago, during a particularly nasty battle, Livia got too close to a tower and its gravitational pull dragged her inside. Allie tried to save her. She’d held on to Livia’s hand as long as she could but Livia let go, shoving Allie away from the tower. Liam couldn’t wake her and they thought they’d lost her, but a few hours later Livia walked out of the prison world looking rattled, but otherwise unharmed. Briggs escorted her back to the keep and she woke up in the Yard, refusing to talk about the experience other than to say it took her a long time to find the exit.
“We’ll take care of the guards while you two go inside the tower and lead the prisoners out as quickly as you can. Raina will take them to the keep and then we’ll figure out how to get them back to the waking world as best we can.”
Allie and Livia watched as Quinn and Navid crept closer to the northwest corner of the tower, where Danica and her walkers would arrive any minute.
“Let’s do this,” Quinn gave the signal and the forest erupted into flames that didn’t burn, a trick of Navid’s. The guards would think it a threat and retaliate with water that wouldn’t dampen the flames.
“Let’s go, Brigs.” Quinn crept forward with Navid to his left.
“Later, beautiful.” Brigs winked and took off with Quinn.
“Wait, not yet,” Livia whispered, holding Allie back. “Wait for the attack.”
“Don’t touch me.” Allie pulled away. “We need to get closer.”
“No, look.” Livia pointed. Only one guard remained to inspect the fire. The other paced the perimeter nervously. “He’ll run when Brigs makes his presence known.”
“You’re right.” Allie ducked down beside Livia to wait.
“You don’t ignore me in the dreamworld. Why is that?”
Emerge- The Betrayal Page 22