Traitors

by Bella Forrest

  Ronad couldn’t watch any of it, while Kaido and Sarrask looked on with blank expressions. To Kaido, it was probably just a building, a material thing that held little emotional value. His parents were safe, though one had been arrested, and he had his laboratory neatly packed up in crates, at the back of his ship—he had everything he needed. The mansion didn’t matter. Sarrask’s emotionless face was a little more surprising. I’d expected something from him, but his features were unreadable.

  “Where are we headed?” I asked solemnly, unable to tear my eyes away from the blaze.

  “You can take refuge at my home, for the time being,” Sarrask replied, blinking rapidly. The merest hint of a tear trickled down his cheek, only to be brushed away a split second later. So, he was feeling something after all.

  “Thank you, Sarrask,” I said softly, since nobody else seemed eager to speak.

  As we drifted toward Sarrask’s house, with him moving through to the cockpit to take charge of the controls, Kaido disappeared into the back of his ship and reemerged a moment later, brandishing a glowing bottle. He seemed to have entirely forgotten that the only home he knew had gone up in flames, and more important matters were taking precedence in his mind.

  “My unexpected visit to the lab reminded me that I had something to give you,” he explained, handing me the glowing vial. “Here is the special item that I mentioned the last time you agreed to aid in my experiments.”

  “What is it?” I asked, taking the gift. In the time that had passed since that day, I’d been striving to remember the visions I’d seen, but nothing had come back to me. I could remember a sensation or two—a feeling of being cold and scared—but that was it.

  “I designed it based on your neurological feedback during my experiment,” he said, his manner excited. “I am certain you do not remember much from our test, but I learned a great deal. This formula is designed to mimic the brain function that occurred during that experiment. In doing so, it will stimulate the production and utilization of the natural imocea present in your system, making the most of the small quantity that is there. The effects should only last a short while, but you will experience heightened speed, strength, focus, healing ability, and acute sensory improvement.”

  I gaped at him. “All of that is in this little bottle?”

  “It is not the size that matters, Riley, but the potency of what is held within,” he said, entirely serious. I almost burst out laughing and heard Ronad snigger behind me. At least it had taken his mind off the burning house.

  “How many uses are in here?” I wondered, stifling a giggle. The wing serum had been a much larger bottle, and even that had been used up pretty quickly.

  “One or two, depending on how much you consume, and how intense you wish the reaction to be. I would recommend you do not use it recklessly,” Kaido explained. “I hope to develop the formula more, in time, but I require space and further resources for such a thing. The location must be correct—I cannot be expected to work in a subpar environment.”

  I wasn’t sure if Kaido was making a sly dig at the prospect of Sarrask’s house. Even if he wasn’t, I was glad Sarrask was busy elsewhere. Today was hard enough without tensions running high.

  “Thank you, Kaido,” I gushed. “This is a wonderful gift!”

  Overwhelmed with gratitude, I pulled him into a friendly embrace. His body stiffened before he offered me an uncomfortable pat on the back, which felt more like he was trying to burp me than hug me. Ordinary Vysantheans weren’t too thrilled by emotional displays of contact, and Kaido was even less impressed.

  “It is your reward for being so generous with your time and your brain,” he said, evidently relieved that I’d pulled away.

  I couldn’t believe the kindness of the gift I held in my hands. Kaido couldn’t possibly understand the extent of my gratitude, and no amount of unwanted hugs would ever be able to convey it. While the coldbloods could take healing potions, I had nothing to speed up the repair of injuries, or aid in my recovery from sickness. For once, it would be a godsend to have something I could use, if anything happened to me. Plus, if Kaido planned to keep working on it, there was no telling what he could do for me, to keep me on a level playing field with the coldbloods.

  My only concern now was whether Navan would be able to find us, now that we’d abandoned the Idrax mansion. I had the black box device stowed away in my waistband and wondered if I could get Ronad to help me use it. The signal might’ve been blocked when Mort tried to reconnect with Navan, but that didn’t mean it was still blocked. Besides, with Gianne already in the know about Navan’s return, an intercepted transmission didn’t really matter anymore.

  I walked over to him. “Will you help me with this thing?” I asked, holding out the black box device.

  “No harm in trying.”

  “I have something else for you, too,” I admitted, plucking Naya’s journal out of the makeshift bag. “I thought it deserved to be with its rightful owner.”

  He stared at the book in disbelief, tears glittering in his eyes. Tentatively, he took it from me and held it close to his chest. For a long time, he said nothing, setting the black box device down on a nearby shelf and losing himself in the first few pages of her journal, turning each leaf with a nervous delicacy. Although I was desperate for news of Navan, I knew contacting him would have to wait until we landed. Right now, this was more important.

  “You have no idea what this means to me,” Ronad whispered, at last.

  “I’m just glad you have it now, so you’ll always have something to remember her by.”

  “It’s like hearing her speak again,” he murmured. “When I read the words, it’s like she’s here, saying them to me. You’ve given me the gift of her voice, Riley. I don’t have enough words of my own to thank you for that.”

  I smiled. “It was my pleasure.”

  Twenty minutes later, the ship descended toward a small village tucked away to the side of a little lake, where those ghost-like fish I’d seen during my first visit to the South were twisting beneath the glittering surface. It was a pretty place, with only a handful of houses. It really didn’t seem like the kind of place that Sarrask would choose to live in, but it appeared I was wrong.

  We’d just set down outside a quaint little cottage and were about to head down the gangway when another ship landed beside us. All four of us froze in the belly of the ship, staring outward, fearing the worst. Had Gianne caught up to us already?

  There was a hiss of hydraulics as the other ship’s hatch slid up. The gangway slid down to the ground, and Navan stepped out.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  I jumped out of the hatch and hurtled down the gangway, leaping into Navan’s arms with a shriek of pure joy. He gripped me tight to his body, spinning me around and around, his face nuzzled into my neck, breathing in the scent of me.

  “Riley… Riley… Riley… My love, my only love,” he whispered.

  I snuggled into him, holding on for dear life. “I love you, Navan. I love you so much!”

  “I love you more than you’ll ever know.” A smile spread across his face; I could feel the happiness of it against my neck. “Rask, it’s good to have you back in my arms.”

  With happy tears streaming down my face, I flashed him an ear-splitting grin. “I missed you so much.”

  “I missed you, too. I’m never letting you out of my sight again.” He laughed softly, brushing the tears away from my cheeks.

  As I clung to him, pulling him in for another desperate embrace, I realized something was wrong. One of his wings was out, instead of tucked beneath his shoulder blades, and there was something wrong with the top section of it. Instead of the organic leathery skin I was used to, it was forged from some kind of artificial material that had been crudely stapled onto the top part of his wing, the metallic stitches looking like something out of a monster movie. With this new artificial piece attached, I guessed it prevented him from tucking the damaged wing away again—I’d seen the same
thing before, with Aurelius, whose fake wing always trailed limply. Mort had mentioned Navan getting into a mishap with a landmine…

  “What happened to your wing?” I asked, looking up into Navan’s eyes.

  He grimaced, cupping my face in his hands and leaning in to kiss me before speaking. “Brisha forced me to go on one last campaign before she’d let me come here to get you. There was a skirmish at the border. Their numbers were greater than we’d expected, and they took us by surprise. A fleet came in from the east without warning. I was trying to disarm one ship by fixing an electromagnetic pulsar to the engine port, when some guy fired at me from behind with an incendiary rifle—it fires explosive bullets, and one of them tore right through the top of my wing.”

  “So no landmine?”

  He kissed me again. “That came later. It exploded right in front of me, but I managed to get out with just a few scrapes and bruises. I had a huge cut across my chest, where some shrapnel caught me, but it was nothing a bit of healing tonic couldn’t fix.”

  I wondered if that was what had stopped my climpet from working, because his had been cut out by the shrapnel, but I didn’t want to ask him about it here, with everyone watching. Sarrask, Kaido, and Ronad were still waiting at the top of the gangway, giving us our space, but I knew they could hear everything. I really didn’t want to get too sappy with them eavesdropping.

  “Are you okay now? Is there anything we can do about your wing?” I asked, pressing my hands to his chest, trying to feel for the climpet. Sure enough, there it was—a tiny dot beneath his t-shirt. If it was still there, then it couldn’t have been the shrapnel that took it out.

  He shook his head. “Brisha was all out of her experimental wing-healing serum, so she had one of her medics stitch this on instead. She’d been giving the serum to the generals and soldiers in her army since the beginning of the war, as the wings are usually the first things to get hit, and the supplies had dwindled. Anyway, there was a halt in production, and I didn’t like the idea of waiting another two weeks for it to be ready. I mean, I can still fly, but I’m a little wobbly, and not as quick as I used to be. I’m still getting used to it.”

  I leaned up to kiss him tenderly on the lips. “I’m so sorry. I wish I could kiss all of your aches and pains away.”

  He smiled. “That’d be better than any serum.”

  “And the others? How are they?” I asked, tracing a little trail of kisses up the curve of his neck.

  He gave a frustrated sigh, bringing a stop to my kisses. “I haven’t been able to get in contact with them since this morning. They were fine when I left, but the signal keeps jamming whenever I try to reach their comm devices.”

  “Do you think something might have happened to them?”

  “I don’t know. I was hoping we could try and get in touch with them through one of your devices, in case it’s just my transmitter.” His tone was tense. “Someone might just want to silence me, but they won’t know about your device.”

  Shaking off the worst-case scenarios screeching through my head, I held his face and looked deep into his eyes, centering myself. “How did you find us, anyway?”

  “I was already near the house when a ship whizzed past me and descended onto the driveway. As soon as I saw Gianne and Aurelius step out, I knew I had to stay close, ready to attack if she did anything to you,” he explained. “Instead, I saw Aurelius and the soldiers bring out my father. I thought it best to stay hidden until they’d left, and hope that you and Ronad were still hiding inside somewhere. Then, I saw what happened to the house.”

  I pulled a face. “Sorry about that… We didn’t really have much of a choice. I’ll explain it all to you later. Right now, I think we need to put those three out of their misery.”

  He looked over my shoulder to where Ronad, Sarrask, and Kaido were standing at the top of the gangplank. As if sensing his cue, Ronad barreled down the slope toward his brother, throwing his arms around Navan. I ducked out of the way, not wanting to become the middle of an awkward sandwich. They embraced, slapping one another on the back, smiles spreading across their faces.

  “It’s so good to see you, man!” Ronad cried, shaking Navan by the shoulders.

  Navan chuckled. “It’s good to see you too, Brother.”

  Navan’s smile faded as Sarrask approached, walking slowly down the gangplank. I sidled up to where Navan stood, determined to keep things amicable. They stared at each other for a moment, like two beasts of prey circling, sizing each other up. A scowl had formed on Navan’s face, his eyes glittering coldly, and I knew things could only go badly if I didn’t step in.

  “Be kind to your brothers,” I whispered, slipping an arm around his waist.

  He glanced down at me, stunned by my words. “What?”

  “I said, be kind to your brothers.”

  “Have they done something to you?” he asked, worried. “Have they brainwashed you?”

  Kaido cleared his throat as he took up a position beside Sarrask. “You misunderstand the term ‘brainwashed,’ if you believe that is what has happened to Riley. A person who has been brainwashed does not know they have been brainwashed. So, even if she had been, your question would be moot.”

  I smiled. “I think what Kaido is trying to say is, no, I haven’t been brainwashed. These two have been helping me out. It turns out Kaido is pretty cool, if you treat him with the respect he deserves. And Sarrask… Well, Sarrask is currently atoning for a couple of sins.”

  “Sins?” Navan replied.

  I nodded, giving him a brief rundown of what had happened back at the house, with Gianne’s surprise arrival. I explained how Sarrask had been responsible for her going there in the first place, as she had wanted to catch Jareth deceiving her after receiving leaked information about his secret alchemy lab. I reasoned that he was sorry now and wished to make amends for the poor choice he’d made.

  “He knows the danger he put us in, and I genuinely believe he wants to prove how sorry he is,” I said, casting a pointed look at Sarrask. “That’s why he’s here with us, because he’s ready to change his ways. He already helped us blow up the house, at Jareth’s request, even though there was a lot of information still hidden away in the lab. He could’ve been tempted to wait for the researchers, and try to stay in Gianne’s favor, but he made the right choice, this time.”

  Sarrask looked down at his feet. “I wish I hadn’t done it, but I did, and I can’t change that. Riley’s right—now I’m trying to make amends for it.”

  Navan seemed placated now that he knew more of the story. There were still a few more things he needed to know, namely about Jareth and Aurelius, but all of that could wait until we had some time in private. I still had to tell him about Seraphina, too. The prospect of that was weighing so heavily on my shoulders that I thought they might snap at any moment, bowing beneath the pressure. All I wanted to do was wrap him in my arms and melt into his embrace, spending days on end in a love nest somewhere, the way new lovers are supposed to, but everything else kept getting in the way.

  “I’d also like to apologize for kissing Riley,” Sarrask announced suddenly. I whipped around to glare at him. Ronad looked just as shocked, glancing between me and Sarrask. Kaido didn’t seem bothered, but that was just his way.

  What the hell did he think he was doing? We had an agreement never to bring it up ever again, and yet here he was, casually announcing it to the one person who really didn’t need to know. My decision to keep it from Navan hadn’t been a selfish one; I just didn’t want to be the cause of a brawl between brothers.

  “What did you say?” Navan asked, his eyes narrowing.

  “I said, I’m sorry for kissing Riley, too. That’s another sin I wish to atone for.”

  For a moment, Navan said nothing, though there was ice in his eyes. Then, the look of anger dissipated, leaving a still calm that unnerved me more than an expression of rage ever could. “Fair enough. I’m sure accidents can happen, and you’ve been honest enough to tell me to my
face,” he said.

  “Thanks for being so cool about it. It wasn’t something I intended to happen. I just got caught up in the moment and kissed her. I shouldn’t have done it, and I’m sorry.” I really wished Sarrask would just shut his mouth before someone shut it for him.

  Navan smiled. “I accept your apology.”

  Sarrask’s shoulders relaxed. “I’ve got to say, Brother, that’s a bit of a relief. I really thought you’d—” A sharp right hook caught him square in the nose before he could finish his sentence. Blood trickled from his nostrils. He pinched the bridge of his nose and gaped at Navan. “I guess I deserved that.”

  Navan glowered at him. “You deserve a hell of a lot more than that, but I’m not going to give you the satisfaction of getting a punch in,” he spat. I held on to Navan’s arm.

  “I really am sorry, Brother,” Sarrask muttered, tilting his head back as he moved toward the front gate of his cottage, which had lavender-painted walls and a white picket fence. “I’ll be inside, fixing this mess.”

  Kaido frowned, folding his arms across his chest. “What did you gain from punching him, Navan?” he asked. “Riley has selected you as a mate, not Sarrask. Even in your absence, Riley was not attracted to other potential mates, such as Sarrask or Ronad. So, in this way, you are already the winner. Did you hit him as a display of strength, to reinvigorate Riley’s ardor for you? Or, perhaps, to make him look even less desirable to Riley, who might be swayed if she thought you were no longer the alpha male?”

  I stifled a laugh, knowing it would only annoy Navan. His temper was running high, and I knew he wouldn’t take kindly to me making fun of the situation. No doubt he already thought Kaido was mocking him, even though Kaido was only trying to make sense of it all by comparing it to what he knew of the animal kingdom.