Throne of Silver (Silver Fae Book 1)

by KB Anne

  “Neither could he,” Ben snickered, flopping on the other sofa.

  “Yeah,” laughed Coda, stopping in front of Christian. “You should have seen Rebecca’s face when she came outside. I actually felt bad for her. I told her you’re under a lot of medication, and you fall asleep all the time. During her next visit, you’ve got a snooze excuse!”

  Coda hi-fived Christian then sat down in Ben’s easy chair.

  Christian ran his fingers through his hair. “I feel bad, but she kept talking and talking and talking. What’s a guy to do?”

  Ben nodded at Coda. “We were doing a little talking of our own.”

  Christian readjusted his position on the sofa to sit up. “And?”

  “What are your plans? You’re welcome to stay here as long as you want, but I’m not sure if it’ll help you in the long run.”

  Christian glanced at me and smiled. “Starr and I were talking too. When she found me, she met a guy.”

  Coda’s forehead scrunched as he turned to me. “Do you pick up guys everywhere you go?” He asked, almost like he was joking, but there was the rough edge of mildly laced accusation.

  I fought the blush coming on. “No, I don’t. I ran into him when I was looking for Demon.”

  Ben scratched his head. “Wait, isn’t that the name of the horse?”

  I glanced at Christian for help. “Tell them,” he said, nodding. “Tell them everything—from the very beginning.”

  I furrowed my brow. He smiled at me. “It’s okay, Starr. You can do it.”

  I took a deep breath. “About two weeks ago, I took what I thought was an exam for a summer fellowship at Trevor University’s Leadership Academy. It turns out the test was a set-up by a secret group called the Organization. The leader of it, the General, wants to train me to become an assassin. I was to begin my training that day.”

  Ben and Coda sat back in their seats. Their eyes were wide, but they didn’t say a word.

  “I managed to get away, and a mutual friend sent Christian to help me.” I squeezed his hand. He gave me a reassuring smile and then jumped in. “I took her to Granpappy’s cabin. I assumed we’d be safe there, but unfortunately, I made a mistake. I rented horses from a dude ranch that must be a cover for the Organization.”

  Coda shook his head in disbelief. “I think you two have watched one too many James Bond movies.”

  “I wish Coda, but the truth is, the very general who wanted to recruit Starr is the one who beat the crap out of me.”

  Ben jaw tightened. “And you still insist that it’s not her fault you were beaten?”

  “Ben, do you think I would be sitting here now if the General had any idea she was with me? I’d be six feet under. Two of her closest friends were murdered the day of the test.”

  Murdered. I had done my best not to think of their deaths. I certainly never thought of it as murder—but that’s what it was... Murder

  Reality hit me hard—like smashing face first into a brick wall hard. I clutched my stomach. Tears streamed down my cheeks. I buried my head into his chest.

  “What can we do?” Ben said.

  “Starr told the guy that she’d meet him tomorrow at the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum in Gatlinburg at eleven a.m.”

  Coda sat up. “What time do we need to leave?”

  “Guys, I don’t want you to getting involved any more than necessary.”

  “Too late, Cousin.” Ben stood up from the sofa brandishing his knuckles. “When they messed with you, they messed with us.”

  Coda stood up beside him. “Yeah, they messed with us, and no one messes with one of our own.”

  Chapter Forty-One

  “How’d you come up with the museum anyway?” Coda asked from the front seat. We left the house at eight a.m. in order to get to Gatlinburg at least an hour early. Gatlinburg was only thirty miles from Cherokee, but we had to drive through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. The guys said it took a couple hours to get there because of the speed limit and the crowds. Evidently, the elk herd caused quite a stir among camera wielding wildlife enthusiasts.

  I played with Christian’s fingers. “I remembered a billboard on our way down to the cabin, and Christian commented how Gatlinburg is such a tourist mecca. It was the first place that popped in my head.”

  “It’s certainly going to have a lot of people around,” Christian said, his eyes filled with concern.

  I squeezed his knee. “That’s a good thing. I’ll meet Jude outside and Coda’ll be within grabbing distance the entire time. Right, Coda?”

  “I’ll be right by her.”

  “Maybe I could stand close by…,” he said.

  All three of us answered him with a firm. “No!”

  “Christian, we discussed this last night. We need information from Jude—having you there will ruin our chances. And just a little reminder, you do have bruised ribs although you act like Captain America,” I tickled him gently.

  He still winced. “Alright, alright, I’ll just sit in the car and do nothing.” His shoulders drooped against mine. I wrapped my hands around him and gave him a long, lingering kiss on the cheek. He sat back up, but I didn’t think the kiss lifted his spirits entirely.

  Ben nodded at the Welcome to Gatlinburg sign. “We’re approaching it now. It’s a little before ten. Everyone ready?”

  “No, no wait,” Christian said in a shaky voice. “Let’s do a drive-by to make sure everything looks good.”

  None of us would deny him this one small request. Ben swung the car back into the bumper-to-bumper traffic. “There’s the museum,” he said, pointing to the gigantic neon sign. “Starr will wait by Bumblebee, and Coda will stand by the large green safari jeep less than twenty feet from her. I’ll park half a block away just like we planned.”

  Christian nodded as he listened to Ben, but his eyes scanned every person on the sidewalk. I didn’t notice anyone out of the ordinary. In this case, we were looking for buff, military guys who didn’t fit in with the otherwise souvenir t-shirt clad tourists. Once we cleared Ripley’s block, we all looked at him.

  Coda winked. “Happy?”

  “Happy is not an adjective I would use to describe how I’m feeling right now. Mildly discontent, yes.”

  Ben peeked in the rearview mirror. “I’ll take the side road, so we can check out the back of the building.”

  “Thanks,” was all he said, memorizing every face we passed.

  Ben drove up another block and took a right to return to the main road. “Ready?”

  “Ready,” Coda and I replied. Christian remained silent, his nerves speaking volumes.

  As Ben pulled up to the curb, Christian shifted forward. “Coda keep her in your sights at all times.”

  “Of course.”

  “Don’t let her get more than twenty feet away from you, and don’t follow her to the car once she’s done with Jude. Go around back, but don’t go around back until Starr gets into the car and the door closes behind her.” Christian’s white knuckles gripped his seat.

  Coda turned to face us. His large brown eyes focused on Christian. “I won’t let her out of my sight. My eyes will not leave her until she’s back in the car safely with you.”

  “Good luck,” Ben added.

  “Luck? Luck’s got nothing to do with it. Now if we were playing cards, then I might need some luck, but this…”

  Ben put the car in gear. “Would you go already?”

  Coda sauntered down the sidewalk, at ease with the task before him—at least that made one of us. I wasn’t worried about myself. I was worried about the person sitting next to me. He would be in agony until I returned to his side.

  Ben pulled up to the curb at my drop-off location. Christian grabbed my hand. His blue eyes burned with intensity. “You don’t have to do this.”

  I squeezed his hands as I stared into his eyes. “Yes, I do, but nothing will stop me from getting into the car. Nothing.” His mood didn’t waver. “Besides, it’s all good,” I laughed. He roll
ed his eyes, but the corners of his lips twitched.

  “Please come back.”

  “See you soon.” I shut the car door and walked away. I heard the quiet shift of gears as Ben pulled into traffic, but I didn’t dare take one last look at the car or Christian. My meeting with Jude was our only hope to learn about the Organization that had taken so much from me—my life, my family, my two best friends, and almost Christian.

  There was a steady stream of tourists loitering in front of the museum. A young girl tugged on the bottom hem of a man’s jacket. “Daddy is that guy real?”

  Curious, I glanced at the exhibit they were standing in front of. The little girl was pointing at a life-sized model of a hairy gorilla man with two goat horns sticking out of his head and a naked baby with a tuft of hair on his chest and tiny horns of his own sitting on his shoulder.

  “That’s disturbing,” the man said. “Honey, let’s go look at Bumblebee.”

  I followed the pair to the Bumblebee exhibit. The sign for the famous Transformer hung from an awning a few feet above him. I checked my watch. It was 10:05 a.m. I had one hour before Jude showed up, but I knew he’d be here.

  Coda’s positioning between the G.I. Joe jeep and a garbage can was ideal. He was close enough to reach me in seconds but far enough away not to arouse suspicion. I made no indication I knew him in case Jude sent a surveillance team to scan the area ahead of time.

  I couldn’t believe I was thinking about a surveillance team. I must be insane. It was the only reasonable explanation.

  I was not an assassin. I was a girl ready to take on the Organization that killed to get what they wanted. If it came down to it, could I do what was necessary to keep the ones I loved safe? My eyes drifted over to Ben’s orange car. I couldn’t see Christian through the tinted rear window, but I know he was there, watching me. I remembered when he was hung from a cross, beaten, tortured, and left to rot. Anger and hate surged through my veins.

  Yes. I would do anything to keep him safe. Anything.

  To pass the time, I paced back and forth in front of Bumblebee. The father and daughter disappeared but another young family took their place. It wasn’t even midday, but tourists of every age and ethnicity swarmed the sidewalks. I bobbed and weaved through slow-moving day-trippers. A toddler with a dangerous red candy apple wobbled toward me. Fast thinking and quick reflexes saved my white leggings from one deadly encounter but thrust me into the arms of another.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  My body immediately recognized that a male caught me, a male who was not Christian. I jumped away from Jude and checked my watch—10:20. He was early, very early.

  I wavered, forgetting that I was the one who called this meeting, that I was the one in charge, that I was the one in control of this situation. I took a deep breath and remembered who I was and my role today. “You’re early.”

  He sidestepped away from the candied apple toddler. “I didn’t want to miss you,” he said, quickly glancing at me, then shoving his hands in his pockets.

  I couldn’t tell if he was uncomfortable or if he was staking out the area, but I knew what I needed to do. I needed to remain calm and in charge, as if everything that was happening was exactly how I planned it to happen. “Well, here I’m. Should we sit and talk?”

  We headed over to the park bench on the side of Bumblebee. With my back against the wall, I had a clear sight of the perimeter. I was ready for flight if necessary. “So, have you thought about what I told you?”

  He nodded. “I have.”

  “And?” I asked, smiling sweetly. He returned the smile. When he didn’t answer, I raised my eyebrows as a hint.

  “After you left, I snuck into the barracks and went to bed. Guys come and go at all different times of the night—someone’s always training, or studying, or on patrol, so unless someone saw me with you, I knew I was safe. And trust me, if any of the guys saw me with you, they’d tell the General right away.”

  “Oh good, I was worried you’d get in trouble.”

  He smiled again, his green eyes careful and controlled. “The next morning, when the General discovered the prisoner…,” he paused, then corrected himself, “that guy was missing, he freaked out. His face turned beet red and nasty ass veins popped out all over his forehead. He went ape shit.” He glanced at me. His body tensed. “I apologize for using vulgar language. That was wrong. I’m trying to do better.”

  I shrugged. “No big.”

  “Anyway, he punched walls. He broke fence rails…. It reminded me of a ‘roid rage an old Bomber teammate of mine had last term. Scariest thing I’ve ever seen.” He stopped and looked at me. “I knew no one saw me, but still, I was scared he was going to beat the tar out of me.”

  My every instinct wanted to squeeze his knee or give him a hug to reassure him that everything was going to be okay and that he was doing the right thing, but I was all too aware that Christian was watching my every move, my every breath—I think it was fair to say touching was out. “I’m so sorry you put yourself in danger. I really appreciate what you did for us,” I quickly amended my statement, hoping he missed the slip, “for me.”

  He straightened. The corners of his lips turned up. “When he finally calmed down, he paired us up and sent us to search for the pris—for that guy. Another recruit and I went down to the main building to ask the innkeeper if she had seen anyone. She told us a girl dropped off some horses, but she was cloudy with the description. She described you as short, brown eyes, and brown hair. Clearly, she didn’t even look at you.” He smiled again.

  “Does she know what’s going on there?”

  He shrugged. “She’s old and senile. The General lets her stay because she used to own the place. She doesn’t leave the front office.”

  Suddenly, the sound of screeching tires filled the air as cars slammed on their brakes. Someone layed into his horn as a woman wearing a pink moo-moo, flailing her hands in every direction, stepped into the street. The designated crosswalk was fifty feet away. Her eyes had that terrified, the-wolf’s-about-to-spring look. My heart shifted into panic mode. Maybe she was trying to warn me. Maybe she knew something. Maybe she… When she reached our curb, she scurried into Monkey Nuts, the homemade ice cream shop. Maybe she was hungry.

  We shook our heads, and my heart rate returned to normal. Well, as normal is it could be, given the circumstances.

  “We reported back to the General. He didn’t suspect you at all, but here’s the weird thing… Are you ready for this?” He raised an eyebrow. I leaned forward. “The horses were gone. We searched the grounds for clues and found nothing, not even a hoof print. We couldn’t find your friend at any of the local hospitals either.”

  They checked the hospitals—thank god Christian had enough sense to get us to the Cherokee hospital. I couldn’t even put into words the relief I was feeling, but I buried my emotions. Jude can’t know the extent of my feelings for Christian. Not yet. Not now. I needed him on our side. He was far too valuable. “Thank you for not saying anything. It really means a lot to me.”

  “How is that guy?” he asked as if he was asking about the weather. My guard went up.

  “He’s still in the hospital. He was beat up pretty bad.” I studied the indentations in the sidewalk. I hid every tell I could from him.

  “Yeah he was.” There was something almost smug about the way he agreed with me.

  The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I turned to face him—hearing his answer won’t be enough—only his physical reaction will reveal the truth. I needed to know just how entrenched Jude was in the Organization and Christian’s beating. “You were there?”

  He cleared his throat and shifted his weight. “Yes, interrogation techniques are part of our training, and your friend was our instructional aide in a matter of speaking.”

  The way he said friend made me queasy, almost like I wanted to throw up in the nearest trash can, but I needed information. “Why was he picked up?”

  “Didn’t he tell you?�
��

  “He can’t talk much.”

  His forehead rose toward his highlighted brown hairline, and his lips lifted just a bit, not enough for anyone to notice if they weren’t paying attention and sitting two feet away from him, but I knew. I could see his pleasure. He rubbed his hand over his mouth, and the remnants of satisfaction disappeared. “The General didn’t say. Most things are on a need-to-know basis. We don’t ask questions. We follow orders.” He paused before asking, “What hospital is he at?”

  “One around here.” I indicated the general area with my hand. Let Jude think Christian was in southern Tennessee instead of North Carolina. “Are you going back to the Organization or are you staying?”

  “I’m not sure. I’m learning a lot from my training, much more than if I had joined the military.”

  Keep him talking Starr. “So, it’s not government run?”

  “Definitely not. The Organization does things that are not permitted by the government.” The corners of his mouth twitched, but he quickly covered it up.

  I had a sick feeling he was involved in the interrogation of Christian more than he was letting on. “What about your family?”

  “I don’t really have any. I came with no strings attached.” He raised an eyebrow. I held his gaze for a moment, before breaking away. I was uncomfortable with his attention, but time was passing by much too quickly, and I needed answers. “What is the Organization?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Who’s the guy in charge? Do you know his real name?”

  “No, everyone just calls him General.”

  “Who does he work for?”

  “I’m not sure. I’ve only been at the ranch.”

  My line of questioning was going nowhere—well that, or Jude wasn’t going to tell me anything. Jude thought about the military—think patriotic duty and morals. “Do you support what the Organization stands for?”

  He was quiet for a minute, contemplating my question. “I thought I did, but then I met you. Your story made me question certain aspects of the Organization I never did before.”