by A. K. Koonce
“Help with what?” I ask, trying to push the uneasy tone from my voice.
Sparkling red eyes meet mine; her lips part just slightly as she stares up at me. The air meets my lungs in erratic, uneven, and useless breaths.
“Declan was telling me I should try to compel him. That it might be useful around the mortals.”
I’m sure he’d love for her to compel him. It’s what he’s used to, after all. She says the word mortal in a disengaged voice. As if she never was one.
I lean a heavy and tired shoulder against the broken door frame, my eyes lingering on the door lying at an angle against the wall. I wish it was easier to speak to her. My chest shouldn’t feel so tight and anxious every time I talk to her.
How did we get here?
“He’s right. You’re risking a lot going into the Capitol. You should be prepared.”
I can’t bring myself to look at her beautiful face. My stomach sinks lower and lower the longer I stand here before her empty expression.
“I can handle myself,” she says with so much anger that I physically flinch.
Maybe she isn’t empty inside. Maybe she’s filled with hate now.
A heaviness fills my breath and falls tiresomely from my lips, impatient to find some normalcy around the woman I love. “Since you’ve been turned I’ve snuck up on you at least three times. If I can catch you off guard, then the resources the mortals have will, too.”
The images of the thrashing veil claw through my memory as I stare into her reckless and gleaming eyes. The small lamp at her bedside throws the room into a yellowing hue, casting the angles of her face in a shadowing but aggressive light.
“Declan, can you give us a minute?” Fallon says with a sharp and dangerous tone.
The hybrid shifts on the mattress, clearly enjoying the emotions that are being flung carelessly through the room. After several moments, he finally stands from his comfortable spot on the bed and walks the short distance across the room. I give him plenty of space to exit her compartment.
Folding my arms across my chest, my white shirt bunches around my biceps as I stare down at the infuriatingly beautiful woman before me.
She takes a slow breath, her eyes closing before she shoves another jagged bone over her lips. I cringe from the crunching sound. Every move she makes is cataloged in my mind. Because I thought I knew her. I once knew her.
And now I don’t.
“Compel me.”
Her eyes narrow on me until they’re just slits of glaring flames.
“I can’t,” she finally admits.
“You just need practice.”
“I’ve tried. I can’t.”
She’s tried? Who would she want to compel? My brows rise, her lips pursing as she stares up at me. I take a hesitant seat at the edge of the mattress, taking Declan’s spot on my wife’s bed.
“Try again.” Before I can stop myself I lean into her, closing the distance between us and leaving my lips just inches from hers. Her fiery gaze blazes into mine, sending a mixture of fear and lust right through me. “Tell me what comes to mind.” I lick my lips as I consider what she might order me to do. My heart comes to life from our closeness and the way her breath catches against her parted lips.
Her chest heaves, nearly brushing against mine. I’m almost entranced just waiting to hear the demand against her mouth.
“Leave.”
The harsh word echoes around the small cabin. In an instant she’s across the room, her fists clenched at her sides as she stares at the floor, waiting for me to do as I was told.
Another weak breath that was trapped within my lungs slowly releases as I stand, pushing my hands roughly through my hair as I cross the room.
As if without thinking, her fingers trail over the inky black lines against her forearm, something I can’t bring myself to care about in this crushing moment.
The deck above comes to life as I exit her secluded cabin, but I only make it a few feet when she speaks again. This time it’s in a soft and almost shameful voice.
“Why – why does this scar remain when the others have healed?”
My eyes burn as my chest becomes heavier. I turn to her, trying to meet her downcast gaze. She continues to trace the lines that represent a vow we took just weeks ago. My throat tightens. A weight within me threatens to crush me to the floor at her feet.
“Because the magic that bound us together is stronger than any magic you’ll ever find in this world. It is stronger than the curse of the Red Hills, stronger than the Crimson Sword and stronger than the power of my ancestors. It’s stronger than either of us.”
Love.
The bond is one of love. And she won’t lose it as easily as she’s lost herself.
Chapter Six
The Capitol
Fallon
Nightfall and the salty, cool breeze of the ocean greet me. Everyone on deck appears to be asleep besides Shane and Kaino, who are talking quietly at the helm. Shane’s eyes lock on me, his hand dropping from his commander’s arm and clasping the wheel with so much strength I’m afraid he might fracture the wooden spokes.
As I walk closer to them, I realize the shift of the breeze sends their scent right to me. My breath catches in my lungs, refusing to breath in the intoxicating smell of the blood within their veins. With silent steps I walk near Asher sleeping on a bench. His young face appears sunken with worry even in his sleep. It’s as if the last few weeks have aged him into a waiting grave.
With a feather light touch I sweep my fingers up his strong jaw, lingering there for a bit too long. There was a time when he watched over me while I slept. I wish this was easier. I wish life was easier.
“We’ll be there within the hour, Princess,” Shane tells me, his eyes deadlocked on a far off destination.
I nod and step away from Asher, my palm reluctantly slipping away even after I feel the hum of his pulse against my fingertips.
Still holding my breath, I make my way to the back of the ship and stand just a few yards from Kaino and Shane. Not until my hands are tightly clasped around the smooth wooden rail, with my body leaning out into the depthless ocean below, do I take a slow breath.
Salt and clean, cold air is all I smell. My nerves calm as I close my eyes, focusing on the sound of the ship cutting through the waves instead of the relentless pounding of my friend’s hearts. Tension slips from my body with each breeze that pulls at my thick hair.
A single hopeful instant is all I allow myself. The meeting tonight doesn’t scare me the way I know it should. If it goes well, the mortals of my camp will have a real chance at life. The mystics will have a real chance at life. If it goes bad …
I don’t even finish the thought. I push it back, rejecting it from my mind.
Instead I choose to keep checking off things on my imaginary list. Once this meeting is finished, I’ll find Atticus and break the curse … somehow. My life will be normal again. I won’t want to literally murder Asher every time I look at his gorgeous face. And I won’t have to see that world-shattering look of disappointment in his eyes anymore. If everything goes well …
The ship docks at an oddly small port, and Asher is at my side before the ship fully stops. His arm brushes mine. His scarred skin feels smooth. A tingle runs through me at the slight touch. With a small and insignificant breath I step away, breaking the warm contact of his skin against mine.
A minimal amount of land separates the gentle sea from a towering brick wall ahead of us. It’s so tall, not even I can see the top.
“This is the entrance to the Capitol?” I ask Kaino, my attention settling over the tiny dock that greets us. There’s no real entrance in sight. Nothing but miles and miles of smooth brickwork lines the coast.
“No, we’re meeting Ayden here. This is the civilian port.” His prowling eyes continue to scan our dark surroundings.
The moon is the only light that filters over us. It doesn’t matter, though. I see movement long before a person comes into focus.
Ayden makes his way to our ship, slinking through the shadows like a … total mortal. His feet stumble against the damp grass nearly bringing him to his knees more than once. When he finally makes it to the dock, I step away from the rail, away from the one friend I’ve known all my life. Something similar to shame pounds through my chest as I back away from him, safely out of view.
“Are – are you coming down?” he yells up to the six of us.
A panicked look fills my face as I search out Asher. Hesitation doesn’t slip across his features for even an instant.
“We’ve brought cloaks,” Asher whispers down to him. “We’ll be down as soon as possible.”
The hybrid begins unpacking black cloaks from a bag near where he was sleeping. He hands them out one by one.
“Just Fallon.”
Asher halts his work immediately, and three long and assured strides is all it takes to bring him fuming to the edge of the ship.
“You really think we’ll let you sneak off in the middle of the night with her alone? After what your people did to us? After what they’ve consistently done to us all of our lives?” His hands grip the sleek wooden railing until a soft splintering sound cracks along the frame. He releases it immediately. “That’s a hard no, human.”
Gabriel instinctively wraps his arm around Luca and she lets him. She lets him take care of her. After years of holding onto her guard so tightly, she lets him in. Now I’m holding on to that guard like it might save my already lost life; like it might save all of their lives by just keeping some distance between myself and them.
“I cannot sneak you all in through security.” Ayden’s quiet voice becomes scraping and harsh. I’ve never heard a whisper sound so angry in all my life. “You can’t hold me responsible for the actions of other mortals.”
Asher begins unfolding a black cloak as if he couldn’t care less what my friend has to say. Before I realize what he’s doing, he walks over to me and begins tying the soft material around my shoulders, meticulously adjusting the large hood until my eyes are shadowed.
“I would never let anything happen to her,” Ayden adds.
With burning lungs, I hold my breath as Asher looks down at me, studying every angle of my hidden features. His warm hand dips into the shadows of the hood and, with unsure movements, he lightly brushes his palm along my jawline – just as I did to him only a short while ago.
I blink a few times, swallowing hard as his heartbeat begins to dance in a faster rhythm, making me crazy with the simple sound of it.
He drops his hand, allowing me to breathe freely once more, then storms back to the edge of the ship. “Fine. Just take me then. Fallon and me.”
Kaino stares a hole through the spot between Asher’s tense shoulder blades. Everyone is silent for nearly a minute.
“I’ll take you, but I can’t stop them from throwing you in with the others.” Ayden speaks without care as if he wouldn’t mind this outcome in the least.
The others. The other hybrids the Capitol is holding at their own disposal.
“I’ll go alone,” I tell them in a voice that was intended to be confident but came out small and uncertain.
“You’ll go alone. With me,” Asher says as he slips on an identical cloak, tying it loosely around his shoulders, the hood concealing his hard features from me.
He makes sure to tuck the Crimson Sword into the dark cloak, only his black boots and dark jeans are revealed from the knee down.
From beneath my hood, my eyes bore into him until I release an anxious breath and begin descending from the ship; not pausing to see if he follows or not.
My feet falter the moment I’m in front of Ayden, my boots slipping against the creaking, damp dock. My friend looks at me, his eyes staring into the shadows that surround my features. An irrational anxiousness fills my chest, and I dip my head low before he can look any closer at what I’ve become.
Heavy and confident steps sound against the old boards until Asher stands at my side. With a small dip of his head, Ayden begins walking toward the endless, towering wall.
“It’s almost as though you’re trying to keep people out,” Asher says sarcastically, his hand skimming along the perfect stones of the barricade. A small skip seems to be in his step, as if he isn’t afraid at all. Today is just another day to him.
“We have security measures to ensure no unauthorized guests enter the Capitol.”
Asher nods, his hood bobbing slightly, as if it makes logical sense.
The small amount of lawn that leads our way is the greenest grass I’ve ever seen. My steps are lighter and cushioned against the immaculately manicured ground. Soundlessly we travel along the wall. Nearly an hour passes with no entrance in sight.
Fear begins to creep into me as I start to calculate the time. We have maybe three hours before the sun rises.
A screeching sound pulls me from my stress and into defensive thoughts in a mere second. My hand grips the Crimson Sword. Asher reaches into his cloak and does the same. Ayden, however, walks confidently toward the sound.
With an unnatural and anxiety-riddled clicking noise, a veil skitters down the wall. It’s long, thin taloned fingers dig into the crevices of the brickwork until it is eye level with Ayden. Its slick gray face looks at him up-side-down and calculating.
The smallest of signs gives Ayden away. He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing while the veil breathes in his aroma, sniffing his scent so hard its heavy breath fans against Ayden’s perfectly combed hair. My friend holds his hands behind his back in a stiff but compliant gesture, his heart pounding wildly through the night.
The veil opens its thin mouth, the monster’s attention settling on Asher. Faintly I can hear Asher’s heartbeat, a steady, natural and almost pleasant sound within his chest. It gives a single sniff toward the hybrid, probably recognizing Asher’s scent immediately.
Within myself, however, nothing but silence fills my veins.
Large, bulging eyes seek me out and shift unseeingly over my body. The veil inhales loudly from just a few feet away, its spindling body arching out to close the distance between us. An unsure but violent shriek slips over the creature’s thin lips as Asher and I keep our stance at the edge of the sea, ready to jump in at any moment. Another scraping and skittering noise fills the air high, high above us, my fist tightening even more against the hilt of the sword.
Ayden takes a single step toward Asher and me, his hands held out in a submissive gesture. The veil appears almost confused as it shifts its blind attention from the human to me.
One of these things is not like the other …
With reluctant steps it begins to ascend the barricade. With abnormal and quick movements, it pulls itself up to whatever rests at the top of this eerie wall.
A slow sigh escapes Ayden’s lips, the tension slipping from his shoulders as he stares up at the unseen home of the veil. A heavy breath leaves my body, the tension uncoiling from within my chest the moment it’s out of sight.
We turn and I realize what the veil were guarding. The wall ends abruptly, opening into the city. Ayden leads us past the wall and through the side alleys of the city. Infinite street lamps light our path, and my gaze shifts over every leaf that blows in the wind. There’s too much light here. Too many possible peering eyes …
“It’s just a little farther,” Ayden tells us in a hushed tone, his back hunched slightly as if he might disappear into the well-lit street.
Asher’s cape brushes against mine as he leans into me. “You ever get the feeling that something is a trap?”
My eyes close tightly before I nudge him and his negativity away with a sharp elbow.
The beautiful and overly perfect houses begin to disperse, and I can tell what he said is true. We’re close.
A hundred feet of crisp green grass separates us from a white, domed building. Shining glass windows etch the midsection of the semicircular structure and perfectly trimmed trees outline the estate. Bright lights emit from the ground, shini
ng up on the Capitol, highlighting its every detail.
“The president will be here at this time of night?” I ask, my boots faltering against the asphalt, almost afraid to step foot on the intense green lawn.
“She didn’t always, but there are new and invaluable things here she wants to keep a close eye on.”
My head tilts at him as I consider what could possibly be so valuable to the president.
“We’re going to enter through the back basement door. It isn’t a visible entrance, and guards won’t be there.”
Without a response I trail after him, Asher keeping pace at my side.
The back of the building is shrouded in darkness, as if all the grandeur was saved for the front. We scurry along the soft ground, not a single leaf blemishes the plush grass. Ivy streams along the white brickwork, seamlessly weaving over the building. Ayden pauses at two immaculately trimmed shrubs and pushes at the thin branches until he’s behind them.
“This way,” he whispers as he begins to descend an unseen staircase.
Asher’s warm hand rests on my lower back as he leads me forward, holding the limbs back for me to pass through the shrubbery. The thin branches scrap my sides, pushing my cloak back and scratching at my flesh as I make my way through them.
Carefully I reposition the cloak, making sure I’m safely hidden away before I begin trailing after Ayden. The stairwell is dark. My boots echo against the concrete steps.
At the bottom, Ayden unlocks an old, worn door that doesn’t appear to have been opened for several decades. The hinges protest when he opens it and a screeching sound attacks the silence. My shoulders tense as I look around into the unlit basement. Asher slowly closes the door behind us, shrouding us entirely in darkness.
Only the faint and covered light of the Crimson Sword pulses in the darkness. Even with my heightened sight I can’t see a foot in front of me.
“Stay put. I’ll check the hall to see if it’s safe.” Ayden’s voice whispers out to us and I nod despite knowing he can’t see me.
