Salvation: Saving Setora Book Seven

by Dark, Raven

  Secure in the knowledge that the Violets they served would take care of them. That as long as they obeyed and followed the laws their master race set out for them, they would live long and healthy lives.

  And if they didn’t follow those rules…

  I swallowed hard.

  He was creating a perfect world—a world where Violets ruled and everyone else was safe… as long as they did what they were told. Sure, they wouldn’t be called slaves, but that’s what they were.

  As soon as the images faded, that wall that separated his thoughts from mine slammed back up, blocking me from seeing his thoughts. I couldn’t see his thoughts, but I could sense every drop of his over-bloated pride, to see every image of his warped, perfectly segregated and mastered New World Order.

  That wall. That was the key. If I could get him to lower it again…

  “You see now?” Julian’s voice was soft as he lifted his finger from my temple. “That is my world. Violets will be what they were meant to be. You will not be the slave you were raised to be. You will be my equal.”

  I seized on that.

  Turning my head slowly, I made my eyes go wide. Letting him see it, letting it sink in.

  “You… You would allow a woman to be your equal?”

  “Of course. You are as I am. Your world views align with mine. You seek the same perfection as I do. As long as that does not change, there is no reason to control you. Had Damien not hidden you from me all this time, you would’ve already been here, by my side.”

  As long as my views aligned with his? If it weren’t so critical that I appear to agree with him, I would have given a bitter laugh at that.

  I put on my best baffled expression. “Julian, what you’ve done is nothing short of incredible. What you’re doing for them—” I nodded to the women and their babies below us—“for everyone, is a miracle.”

  His chest swelled with pride.

  I turned and folded my arms on the railing, looking out across the lushness that filled the room. “You have to understand…Cama Don…no one has ever done anything like this. Offered to set me free. Damien….”

  I heard his growl. Ah, I had a feeling Damien was a sore spot for him.

  “I was kidnapped, you know. Sold. Almost auctioned off.” I drew on my horror of that time and shivered. “I was sold, and then about to be suctioned off to a ruthless barbarian. A cannibal, if the stories are right.”

  He stroked my hair. “Nothing like that will ever happen to you or anyone again.”

  My back stiffened, and I covered my revulsion with a sniffle. Tamping down the wish that Sheriff or Hawk or Pretty Boy or Steel could snap his neck before the thought could form.

  All I had to do was get him to lower that wall again. All I had to do was be ready to seize on the reinforcements whose minds and power was linked with mine. Ali’san had taken them to a cave about a mile from the castle, and I trusted her to keep them safe.

  I called on my fear and love for my men, for the ones I might never see again. Called on it until my eyes misted. Then I wiped away a tear and faced him with a nod.

  “Tell me one more thing.”

  “Anything.”

  Maker, if I didn’t know better, I would have thought he really had feelings for me. He didn’t. I was a means to an end. The mother of his new world, one who was only safe and respected if I toed his line.

  “Why are you doing this? I mean, no one just wakes up one day and decides to reshape the entire world. What changed?”

  “That’s a long story, Setora. I will tell you someday. When I know you are completely mine.”

  His. I suppressed a sigh. One way or the other, that wall was coming down.

  And so was he. He needed to trust me.

  Forgive me, my loves.

  “I will try. I can’t promise, but…” I turned around again, my back to him. “No one has cared for Violets. They have been oversights in our history.” I faced him again and reached for his hand. “It is time for that to end. They deserve more. We deserve more.”

  His brows went up. His eyes filled with such happiness that I would have felt horrible if I didn’t know how truly evil his mind was. But still, there was hesitation there. Julian wasn’t a stupid man.

  “Then it’s time.” He cradled my hand in his. “You must prove that you are mine. Come with me.”

  Oh no. I jerked back on his hand, fear freezing my heart. There was only one way I could think of that he’d expect me to prove I was his.

  He looked back at me, brow quirked. I covered my panic with uncertainty.

  “What are you going to do?”

  He smiled. “I will do as I promised and make you my queen. You will prove that you are mine, not just to me, but to the entire world. Tomorrow night, you’ll announce your coronation…and then I will officially make you my mate.”

  Oh, Maker, no.

  Chapter 40

  Guards and Prisoners

  If the situation had been different, I would have loved this place.

  A day after that She-Warrior’s return, we were there. A month after having set out from Ran fucking Tama, were standing at the icy mouth of hell itself.

  Julian’s castle. Setora was in there somewhere.

  Standing on the cliff before the palace’s long-ass ice bridge with the other Legion members, my fists clenched. I wasn’t a Violet, but I could feel Princess in there, waiting.

  The castle was a wonder to behold, in an evil, freaky sort of way. Those many spires appeared to be made of solid ice, each one reaching out of the snow, clawing for the sky like the hand of some winter god. The fact that it was inhabited by a raging megalomaniac didn’t make it any less of a damned engineering marvel.

  “Anyone have a plan for how the fuck we’re getting in there?” Steel asked behind me.

  I glanced over my shoulder at him, noting the way his brows were knitted with worry.

  Right there with ya, pal.

  “Let me think.” Sheriff ran both palms down his face, eying the castle from our hidden perch on a high cliff.

  “I don’t like how few guards there are,” Hawk said quietly, looking through T-Man’s monocular. “I only see one at the gate. There’s maybe two on the grounds.”

  “Yeah, it means either the place is so well fortified that they don’t need many gaurds, or they’re so arrogant that they think they don’t need them,” I said, borrowing the monocular for a look.

  “I’m more curious in how she got in there,” T-Man said, taking the monocular.

  “My guess is she just walked through the front doors.” Hawk shook his head. “According to Julian, she’s supposed to be there. If she was alone, he’d have no reason to think she’s a threat, and no reason to stop her.”

  We headed back down the cliffside to an area hidden in a deep crevice in the mountain, a safe, cave-like place to discuss the plan, where we’d left some of the men.

  I wanted Setora now. Wanted her in my arms, unharmed, so I could take her the fuck away from this frozen deadman’s land. A week ago, I’d have been ready to march in there without pause, ready to snap Julian’s neck. But I couldn’t do that. We couldn’t do that. We had to wait and be patient. We needed a plan.

  When the hell had I become so cool-headed?

  Once we got back to the cave hidden in the mountainside, Ivek stood up, along with Beast and Savage. I could see the worry in the barbarian’s eyes for his sister.

  “What did you find?” Ivek asked.

  “Nothing, that’s what we found.” Frustrated, I leaned against the cave wall and crossed my arms. “There’s no one outside his castle but a couple of guards. No army, nothing on the grounds. It’s like a painting of some fairy tale winter scene out there, not a hint that a war is about to go down.”

  “Julian is arrogant, Dark Legion. He feels safe.” Ali’san made her way to the front. “Sinister of Devil’s Breath has the answer in how to get in.”

  I looked at Hawk. He and I were always amazed at Ali’san’s eerie
proclamations.

  “Sin?” Sheriff called.

  A minute later, Sinister and Savage came forward. Savage gave Ali’san an odd look as he took off his backpack and set it on the floor. When he opened it, he drew out four of those thin armored suits Julian’s men wore. He held up one uniform, along with a helmet.

  Steel whistled. Doc chuckled.

  “Ooh.” I laughed. “This is good. Let me see that.” I took the uniform from him and looked it over, running my hands along the scales, silver tinted with blue, and smooth as polished ivory.

  “Where the hell did you get them?” Hawk took another, marveling at the smoothness of it.

  “Remember the heads? We kept the uniforms just in case,” Tyrant said.

  Savage threw a uniform and helmet to Steel.

  “Brilliant, give it here.” Sheriff grabbed one of the uniform helmets and looked it over. “We’ll have to cover our faces, but we can make it work.”

  “Okay, so we have a way in.” Steel shrugged. “But then what?”

  Ali’san held up a hand, capturing everyone’s attention. “Before I left here, a regiment of Julian’s guards came through the gates carting prisoners inside. I suggest we make some of you prisoners.”

  I crossed my arms and looked at the four best candidates with us. Hawk, Sheriff, and Steel were doing the same. I smirked.

  “I have the perfect candidates for prisoner duty,” I said.

  Tyrant narrowed his eyes. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Nope,” Sheriff said.

  “Fuck.” Sinister growled. “Figures. Ty, I told you never a dull moment with these guys.” He grinned and located his pack. Then he drew out a set of cuffs, ones with multiple shackles, each linked by a chain, allowing one guard to have up to five prisoners.

  Sheriff gave me a shrug. “But since you’re being so smug about it, give Tyrant your uniform. You can put one of these on.” He held up a shackle.

  I shook my head. All right, I walked into that one.” I handed my uniform to Tyrant and snatched the cuffs from Sheriff.

  “General?” Hawk looked out of the cave and then glanced at Sheriff. “There’s more prisoners being marched in. If we’re going to do this, we need to do it now.”

  We’d been watching the castle from our hiding place in this cave for a few hours now. And this was the first time any hint of Julian’s army really existed, outside of what Ali’san told had us. The opportunity was down-right perfect, making it easier to blend in if we followed the castle staff’s routine. Besides, the longer we waited, the more time we gave that sick maniac fuck time to do who knew what to our woman.

  I slapped the cuffs on my wrists. Ty smirked and locked them.

  “Let’s do this then,” Sheriff said.

  Clapping the cuffs from one chain on himself, then doing the same with Savage, Beast and Reaper, Sinister groaned. “Let’s get this over with.”

  “Why do I have a feeling this is a regular thing with you guys?” Tyrant said, putting the rest of the cuffs from my line on T-Man, Ivek, and himself.

  Since there were only four uniforms and we needed him in there, Doc let himself be cuffed in the last set of shackles in Tyrant’s line.

  “Which part?” Steel stripped off his clothes along with Sheriff, Hawk, Steel, and Tyrant, and started squeezing himself into one of the uniforms. “Breaking into hellholes, saving Setora, or getting the Brothers of Brimstone to bail us out of clusterfucks?”

  “All of the fucking above,” Tyrant said.

  Sheriff called everyone to attention and explained what was going to go down. He and Ivek had decided to leave the Critian captain in charge while we were gone. We were to give them three hours. If we hadn’t returned with any news, they were to follow up with Plan B—infiltrating the castle by force.

  “All right, boys. Masks on. Let’s go,” Sheriff commanded.

  While checked on my cuffs, Tyrant pulled one of the fur cloth masks Ivek’s men had made for us up over the lower half of his face. Hawk, Steel, and Sheriff did the same.

  The masks would look like they were meant to ward off the cold, but they’d also hide the “guards” faces from Tahmi or any of the other guards who might know what they looked like. Hawk had used those drops of Doc’s to turn his eyes black. Ali’san had all evidence of her Violet status covered but still wore her Yantu garb.

  The guards would think she was as valuable a catch as any of the Critians or other strong, warrior types Julian’s army had captured.

  The “guards” led us prisoners toward the cave entrance.

  “Everyone about ready?” Sheriff asked.

  “Go on over there, She-Warrior, your turn,” I told her, nodding to a waiting Sheriff.

  Ali’san ignored my nickname for her and held out her hands to him.

  Ivek watched Sheriff cuff the Violet with a smirk. “I should make you wear those all the time, little tigress. Then you’ll never get away from me again.”

  Steel grunted a laugh.

  “Not going to happen,” Ali’san growled.

  I was about to make some well-thought out crack about a woman’s place and Sheriff was about to lock the cuffs, but she jerked her hands free.

  “Woman, relax, it’s just for show—” Ivek started.

  But something was really wrong with her.

  She held her head with one hand, the other slapping the wall as if to hold herself up from collapsing to the floor of the cave. The cuffs clanked to the floor.

  Sheriff dropped the chain linking her and his other captives and hurried over to her. “Ali’san?” He knelt as she dropped.

  Ivek knelt as well and took her shoulders with a surprising gentleness.

  “Tigress, what is it?” When she didn’t answer, only letting out a small sound and clutching her head, he took her hands away and tilted her head up.

  “Sheriff.” She grabbed Ivek’s arms, but looked at the General, her eyes glazed with pain. “It’s Setora. She’s terrified.”

  “What is he doing to her?” I demanded.

  “What’s happening?” Sheriff’s voice was death.

  She shook her head. “She needs me—” She cut herself off on a groan and her eyes rolled in agony. Then they got way too wide and she clutched Ivek’s shoulders with white knuckles. When she lifted her head, her face was ghost white.

  “Sheriff… she won’t be able to hide something like this from him much longer.”

  “Hide what?” Sheriff and I both asked, confused and pissed.

  “The most precious secret of all.” She collapsed into Ivek’s arms. “We’re out of time. We have to go,” her voice was full of vengeance.

  “Let’s get out of here. Now,” Sheriff demanded.

  Chapter 41

  Going Sideways

  It was almost dawn when I woke up. I had been dreaming about Mother. She and I were in my garden, knitting tiny booties. Skeins of yarn in yellows, blues, and soft pinks were at our feet. It was a happy dream, making me yearn to return to it.

  Lying in the giant white canopy bed, I closed my eyes. My mind was still holding my mental walls up, not allowing anyone I didn’t want inside. A few times since I’d been here, I had sent short messages through my Sister Hive, sharing quick thoughts of love, letting them know I was okay, and letting them send me support.

  Intending to send out more of those messages now, I reached within myself, searching. Along with the glowing light from the minds of the women, three other tiny sparks answered back, new ones. Going deeper within, I tried to find their source. Unless there were such a thing as Violet cats or mice, these small sparks made no…

  I sat up. “Maker, no.” I touched my lower stomach and knew, without a shadow of a doubt, life was growing inside of me.

  My eyes filled with tears, my heart connecting with those three tiny hearts, love overflowing.

  Julien must never, ever know. The thought of him finding out had me jumping from the bed and running to the water closet. Gasping and on my knees, I emptied my stomach
and tried to get control over myself. I should have been able to revel in the joy I felt, but instead, I shut it down. I had to wrap every drop of mental energy around my mind and hide these precious beings from a man who would destroy them in a blink of a violet eye.

  “Maker. Oh sweet, sweet, Maker. Help me,” I whispered.

  I washed my face and rinsed my mouth as my mind ran at a million miles an hour. Wanting Ali’san. Wanting Mother. Wanting my Four.

  A knock on the door had me hurrying out to find my robe. A lovely dark-haired Violet came in to assist me in getting dressed. My mind was too full for chit chat this morning, so I let her brush my hair and help me dress, all the while practicing my metal walls and preparing my mind for what was probably the hardest task yet—convincing Julian I wasn’t pregnant.

  * * *

  After lunch, Julian and I took another stroll through the castle. I asked to see to greenhouse again, much to Julian’s delight. It was the perfect place for me to hide my three precious secrets. In a room with filled with hundreds of heartbeats, it called to me in more ways than one. Even though I couldn’t hide there all day, it would at least give me time to think.

  Because, Maker, I still hadn’t come up with a plan.

  Julian and I sat on the promenade discussing a bit of Violet history that he thought I was lacking. Apparently, he had no idea the Ladies of Shana Ra had told me much of it, I wasn’t even sure if he knew of their existence. I had to make sure he never found that out either.

  Just then, Tahmi strolled in below us. His footsteps clanked across the floor, and up the steps, stopping beside Julian. He whispered something in his ear, and Julian nodded.

  As Tahmi headed back for the door, I noticed the small blade gleaming on the side of his belt. I’d never entertained the idea of using a weapon before, much less using one on another person, but now, I forced myself to imagine grabbing a weapon from anyone of the guards here. Grabbing one and using it on Julian the minute he tried to hurt me… or my children.