by Sadie Moss
“He’s talking about you, you know!” I wanted to grab every person at this table and shake them, force them to see how their own prejudices were feeding right into Rain’s hands. “Once he performs another magic pull, you’ll be fucking Blighted. And whatever magic users are left will grind you into the dirt like you’re less than nothing.” I pointed a shaky finger at Rain. “He’ll make sure of that.”
“What evidence do you have, Miss Lockwood?” Olene asked. Her striking double-hued blue eyes were narrowed, making the dark rims around her irises look almost black. But my heart leapt at her words. If she was asking, that must mean she hadn’t decided outright that I was lying.
“I have nothing with me. But he told me himself. And I know where his compound is. He built some kind of a machine powered by magic—it’s in the mountains, where he kept me locked up for the past ten days.”
“Lies.” Rain’s raspy voice was louder now, a little less controlled than when we’d walked in. Was he getting nervous? His magic pulsed from him like a heartbeat, feeling stronger than I remembered. “Lies told by a woman who, whatever magic she may possess, will always be Blighted at heart.”
“At least I have a fucking heart, you asshole!”
“Minister of Justice, remove her.” Theron’s voice was hard, his wrinkles deepened by the scowl on his face. “And arrest the Resistance member. Arrest all of them.”
I straightened, taking two steps back to stand protectively in front of my four. Pivoting, I faced Olene. She was my only hope now. “Why don’t you just look? I can take you there. I can show you.”
“Where is it?” Olene rose slowly, her gaze fixed on me.
“In the Rocky Mountains, ten miles south of—”
“Jonas!” Rain bellowed, sweeping his arm toward me. Jae’s father leapt to his feet, his magic flaring.
Damn it. We were out of time.
Chapter 8
Jae stepped quickly to my side, throwing his hands out. A shimmering veil of white burst from his fingertips, settling into a wide barrier between the Representatives and us. It spanned the entire room, floor to ceiling and wall to wall. Nicholas and Victor had joined Jonas as he approached, but they paused at the sight of the barrier, scowling.
“What…?” I glanced at him.
“Shield. It’s strong, but it won’t hold them for long. And it won’t stop—”
Before he could finish speaking, the doors behind us burst open, and a dozen Touched guards in white-and-blue uniforms streamed in. Jonas must’ve summoned them. Light flared around two of the men. They shifted into panthers, dropping low onto their haunches as they prepared to pounce.
A warlock at the front of the group pulled the stopper on a small vial and flung the contents toward us. The droplets turned to mist as they neared me, and as the mist enveloped me, my body seemed to slow. It felt like I was moving underwater, or on a two-second time delay. I raised my hands to throw a fireball at the warlock and watched in dismay as my arms moved sluggishly upward.
He wasn’t hampered by the time slow-down like I was, and his movements seemed incredibly fast as he hurled another potion at me. Someone yanked me out of the way, and my brain felt like it hovered in empty space outside my body for several beats. Fen’s arms wrapped around me from behind, his breath hot on my ear. “You okay, killer?”
“Y…esss….” The word stretched out of my mouth like taffy, and before I was even finished speaking, he’d whirled us around. Blue fireballs flew past my head as Jae traded blows with a water elementalist. The white barrier he’d erected in the middle of the room was losing strength, becoming more and more translucent as the Representatives and guards battered it with spells.
Akio looked like he’d been hit by the same potion as me. Corin had an arm around his waist and was hauling him toward the door. It opened, revealing more guards on the other side. My heart thudded heavily in my chest, the beat too slow for the panic coursing through my veins.
“C…orin…!” I drew my hand up, fighting against the sluggish feeling of the spell so hard my muscles ached.
His head whipped around, and he delivered a punishing kick to the midsection of the first guard, a demon with blue skin. The first guard flew backward into the one behind him, and they both toppled over.
Fenris dragged me toward Corin and Akio, and Jae followed close behind us. My body still felt like it was filled with sand, but I reached inside for my magic, summoning wind this time. Not even lifting my hands to guide it, I just let it swirl around us, faster and faster, creating a small tornado with the five of us at the center.
The shield Jae had put up broke, and lightning flashed toward us from Nicholas’s fingertips. It got caught in the whirling wind around us, electrifying the air and making my hair stand on end.
“Tr…ansport spell!” I screamed, reaching for the one I had tucked away. My movements were too fucking slow, but Fen dug his hand roughly into my pocket, grabbing the small glass cylinder.
“Everyone hold on!” he shouted.
I felt a hand clamp onto my shoulder as he dropped the vial at our feet. Before it could roll away, he brought his booted foot down hard, shattering it.
Purple smoke rose up around us. Through the haze, I caught a glimpse of Jonas’s angry face and Rain’s triumphant one. Then my vision was obscured completely.
When the smoke cleared, bright sunshine poured down on us. We were in a field of tall grass, interrupted by a few tall cottonwoods. In the far distance, a line of dilapidated houses crouched like beasts on the horizon.
Fen released me, and I staggered forward, pitching from side to side as the world seemed to tilt underneath me. My limbs still weren’t functioning quite right. I turned around, scanning our group to make sure we had everyone—and that we hadn’t brought along any unwanted guests.
Akio swayed on his feet much like I did. Corin kept a hand on him to stop him from tipping over. Fen had a cut over his eye and was panting like a hot wolf. Jae looked calm, as usual, but even he was out of breath.
“Is everyone… all right?” I forced the words out, willing my mouth to cooperate.
“Yeah, we’ll live.” Fen wiped a sleeve across his forehead, clearing the blood. It was a small enough cut that blood didn’t keep pouring from the wound.
“Gr…eat. Where… are we?” I squinted at our surroundings again.
“The Outskirts,” Jae answered. “Near one of the portals to the Resistance base. But not too near. I didn’t want to risk leading the guards directly there if any of them managed to slip into our transport spell.”
He reached for Fen’s forehead, but the shifter batted his hand away, muttering something about not needing every little cut healed like Akio did. Akio overheard him and tried to fix an affronted look on his face, but his muscles wouldn’t cooperate.
This weird time-delay spell was starting to make me nauseated. It was like my entire body was an echo.
“Let’s go then.” I spoke clearly and slowly, and was pleased that the words came out a little easier this time.
Jae led us all through the field, toward one of the abandoned houses on the horizon. Fen hovered close by, but let me forge ahead on my own. My movements grew progressively less jerky, and by the time we reached the house, I was able to put one foot smoothly in front of the other again. Thank fuck for that. I still felt a little queasy, but now that I could walk in a straight line, the nausea was easier to ignore.
“We should’ve come here first.” As my brain and body synced up again, bitter regret lanced through me. “What a fucking waste of time that was. I should’ve known those assholes wouldn’t believe me. Not even to save their own skins.”
“It wasn’t a total waste.” Jae pushed open the door, which sagged on its hinges, and ushered us inside. “Olene believed you.”
I batted at a cobweb as we passed through the dark living room then wiped my hand off on the dusty couch. “No, she didn’t. She wanted to. Or she was at least willing to consider it, if I’d had hard eviden
ce to give her. But what was I supposed to do? Bring that massive fucking ball of magic down the mountain with me? Take Kate hostage? And why would they take her word if they wouldn’t believe mine?”
“They wouldn’t,” Corin said grimly. We walked single-file up a set of rickety stairs and into a bedroom on the second floor.
“It’s exactly like Beatrice said,” I muttered. “My presence—your presence—challenges everything they want to believe. And so does suggesting the Great Death was caused by one man, and a Gifted man at that. If it’s true, then they don’t have a reason to punish and subjugate the Blighted anymore. They’d have to admit they did it with no cause in the first place. Are they really so desperate to cling to the way things are now that they’ll ignore the truth?”
“Yes.” Jae’s voice was soft but blunt.
“But if Rain does another magic pull, where will that leave them? If they turn Blighted, their actions now will only have made things worse for themselves.”
We stopped in front a pulsing blue portal inside the empty bedroom closet, and Jae shot me a glance, his green eyes sad.
“True. But I’m sure some would take that risk even if they did believe you. The fewer people who have magic, the more powerful those few will be; some of the Gifted would likely take that gamble, would risk losing everything on the chance of gaining even more.”
I gaped at him. “That’s fucking sick.”
“No argument.”
He walked through the portal, and the rest of us followed quickly after. The musty, dingy passage we stepped into no longer caught me by surprise. This was the network of tunnels underneath the abandoned factory where the Resistance was based. I hadn’t been here for several weeks, but it looked—and smelled—exactly the same.
Jae sent up a ball of light and led the way through the tunnels to the guardroom. Inside the room, two burly men and two women stood sentry by the entrance to the Resistance compound, all heavily armed.
I was used to being greeted with suspicion or open hostility by the Blighted Resistance members, so I was shocked as hell when their gazes fell on me and they dipped their heads in a sign of respect. One of the women peeked up, her wide brown eyes darting from me to the men flanking me.
“We’re here to see Noble. He’s requested a meeting with Lana.” Corin stepped forward, taking the lead as he usually did when dealing with the Blighted.
“The Crow?” One of the men peered around Corin to stare at me again. “I heard you saved a bunch of Blighted folk whose apartment complex got burned down. And you were the one who outed Christine as a traitor!”
I hesitated, taken aback. “Um….”
“Yes,” Akio said smoothly, stepping up to my side. “That was her.”
“I knew it. I recognized that red hair!” The man stepped aside, gesturing to his fellow guards to do the same.
Their gazes burned into me as we passed through the door, and as soon as it thudded closed behind us, I rounded on Akio. “Look, I don’t know what Noble’s plan is, but I don’t like having lies told about me. Did you charm them into believing you?”
“Oh, kitten. If I used charm, you’d know it.” His voice was teasing, but his expression darkened slightly.
Before I could identify the emotion on his face, Corin spoke. “He wasn’t lying, Lana. Those people living at Beatrice’s house? A gifted mob torched their building. You may not have been there when it happened, but you did save them.”
I blinked, unsure how to respond to that. I hadn’t even known. I’d just given them a place to stay, in rooms that weren’t even being used. That didn’t make me a fucking hero.
“Yeah, well, I don’t like ‘embellishing the truth’ any more than I like lying,” I said finally, as we made our way through the large compound. It was packed with people, at least twice as many as there had been last time I was here. “Tell Noble I’m either inspiring enough as I am, or I’m not. He doesn’t get to make shit up about me to fit whatever storyline he’s creating.”
“I dunno. I think you’re plenty inspiring, killer. Anyway, you can tell him yourself.”
Fenris led the way onto the old factory floor. The abandoned machines and conveyor belts glinted in the shafts of light that cut through high, boarded-up windows. Against one wall, a metal staircase led up to an enclosed area on the second floor that had been the foreman’s office.
The walls had once been floor-to-ceiling glass, though all but one panel was broken now. Sheets had been tacked over the other panels last time I was here, but they were down now, leaving the space more open and bright. I wondered if the new leader still called it the “war room” like Christine had.
Several people sat at the large table inside the open room. They all looked up as the metal staircase clanged under our footsteps, and I could guess immediately which one was Noble. I also began to understand how so much had changed in the short time since Christine had abducted me.
The group stood as we entered, and most of the men and women excused themselves, stepping past us on their way out. Only three remained. The man in the middle was about my height, with dark skin and close-cropped hair. He was wiry but well built, and I had no doubt that every one of his lean muscles served a purpose. His high cheekbones and pointed chin contrasted with his broad nose, and his dark eyes gleamed with intelligence.
But more noticeable than any of that was the energy that radiated from him. He was Blighted, so it wasn’t magical power; it was just… him. This was not the kind of man who took things slow or did things by halves. This was a man who built a legend out of a scrappy ex-mercenary in less than two weeks.
The other two Resistance members, a man and woman, stepped back silently as Noble came around the table toward us. Every movement he made seemed spring-loaded.
“You must be The Crow.” He smiled at me.
“Yeah, that’s what they tell me,” I shot back sardonically as he shook my hand.
“Lana, this is Noble Richmond,” Jae said. “He’s been with the Resistance for years and has stepped in to fill the gap left by Christine’s… absence.”
The name made me pause, and I scrunched up my brow, pulling an old line of text from the recesses of my mind. “‘But, tell me, where is princely Richmond now?’”
Noble cocked his head. “Excuse me?”
Akio chuckled behind me. “Shakespeare. Richard III. Nice pull, kitten.”
I blushed, feeling a bit like a pretentious ass. If Akio was complimenting me, that probably meant I was being one.
“He’s a character from Richard III,” I explained to Noble. “Called Richmond. Your name made me think of him.”
“Oh yeah?” The wiry man considered that for a moment, still gripping my hand tightly. “What does he do?”
A smile flitted across my face. “Well, he wins in the end.”
Noble’s answering grin was fierce. “Then I’ll take it.”
Chapter 9
I plucked my hand out of Noble’s grasp, not quite ready to be so chummy with him yet.
“So painting me on the sides of buildings—is that part of your strategy for winning then?” I asked pointedly.
He chuckled, broad dimples forming in his cheeks. “Your men warned me you might not like that. But there wasn’t time to ask for your permission. And of course, we weren’t even sure at that point whether you’d return to us alive.”
Fen growled at those words, the sound so like a wolf that I actually glanced over to make sure he hadn’t shifted.
Noble’s gaze shot to him, his look assessing. Then he lifted his hands and backed away from me, walking around the table again to resume his seat. He gestured for us to join him, and we pulled out chairs on the opposite side of the table.
“I understand if you don’t like my methods, Lana.” He leaned forward, already seeming antsy in his seat. I wondered why he’d bothered sitting at all. “And I understand if you’re not happy about being thrust in the spotlight. But if I can be perfectly blunt, you were standing center stag
e already. I just turned the light on.”
My brow furrowed. “I don’t—”
“Did you think your name wasn’t being whispered in Blighted households all through the Outskirts? Or being spoken of in hushed voices by Gifted and Touched in the Capital? You are of both worlds, and both sides want to claim you. There has never been another person like you.”
I squirmed uncomfortably under his intense gaze. “Yeah, so?”
“Whether we like to admit it or not, if this rebellion is going to have any hope of succeeding, we need magic on our side. And we need more Blighted to join our fight. I believe you can help us achieve both of those goals. You can unite people.”
His words made sense, and despite myself, I couldn’t help liking Noble. With Christine, I’d always felt a bit of a disconnect—we were on the same side, but something about her had always grated on me. But the man before me, who moved animatedly in his seat as he talked in an impassioned voice, drew me in. When he spoke, I wanted to believe him.
Don’t trust anyone more than they give you reason to.
My gaze flicked to Akio, and I was surprised to find him watching me instead of Noble. I lifted an eyebrow and tilted my head slightly toward the new Resistance leader in a silent question, and Akio nodded.
So the incubus was willing to give him a chance. Maybe I should too.
I turned back to Noble, resting my elbows on the table and leaning toward him. “You’ve got a point. But if uniting sympathetic Gifted with the Blighted is your aim, there’s something much more likely to do that than ‘The Crow.’ Like the fact that it was a Gifted man who caused the Great Death.”
Noble froze. But while his body remained motionless, his internal tempo picked up speed. I swore I could actually see him vibrating. Finally, he sat back, scrubbing a hand over his face. “You have proof of this?”
“No, not exactly. I mean, Rain came out and admitted it to me when he had me captured, but all that does is make it my word against his. I don’t have any physical evidence that he was behind it.”