Marks of the Mazza: Reverse Harem (Mazza Series Book 1)

by Blake Blessing

  “Wonderful! I especially can’t wait for the lesson. I’m tired of constantly fumbling in the dark.” I set my expression to one of, I hope, eager appreciation.

  “Just grand. I have a meeting to attend to.” He gives Rand an indecipherable look. “But I will be around. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask one of the guards to escort you to my office, or have your current escort bring you to me. I have let my people know you can always have access to my private chambers.”

  Is that a little odd? I think it is. Or maybe he’s baiting me? He can’t think that I am just this compliant. Either he is on to me, or he believes he has done a fantastic job of showing me just how ill-treated I was with the LL.

  “Thank you, Rainer. I appreciate the kindness you are showing me.”

  “Don’t ever thank me for that, my dear.” He smiles jovially before patting me on the back and leaving us to get on with our day.

  As soon as he is around the corner, Rand’s tenseness deflates. I hadn’t even noticed it before, but he definitely relaxes as soon as Rainer has left our presence.

  “Let’s start with the training rooms, love.”

  “Sure. I would love to.”

  Rand loops my arm through his as we climb down interminable stairs to the basement of the lodge. I was expecting a big gym with lots of mats, workout equipment, and maybe a gun range. Definitely something above ground.

  Where the hallways and open common areas are rustic and warm, as soon as we descend down the staircase to the basement, the atmosphere becomes clinical, cold. All metal walls and metal stairs, no artwork or wall hangings. Our steps echo off the ceiling, letting anyone below (if there is anyone) know that company will soon be arriving.

  At the bottom there are five doors, metal like everything else down here. There are no windows or hanging plates to tell you what each room contains. It’s clear that only people who are familiar with this setup visit the basement.

  He leads me to the second room on the left, and the door opens before we reach it.

  Inside, Rand flips a switch on the wall that brings a flickering, fluorescent light into being. The room is made of metal with no noticeable vents or openings. There are several hunks of metal in all different shapes and sizes scattered around the room.

  The door clanks shut behind me, closing us in. This has to be the training room for the Janer members.

  There are five doors down here. Four of them must be designated for one house each as a training area. What about the fifth door? What could it hold that would be considered necessary for training when each house has its own door? This is all hypothetical, but I would bet my entire last paycheck that I’m right.

  If I ask Rand, will he tell me?

  My gut instinct says that he is on my side, or at least not on Rainer’s side, and I’m damned curious what’s behind the fifth door. But if I ask him what’s behind it, he might think I’m being too nosy.

  Before I have time to voice my question, he walks toward two large metal chunks on the floor. The metal takes shape, and where two metal blobs once were, now sit two delicately elegant chairs. The details are amazing, with engraved symbols from what I can only imagine is representations of all four houses.

  How flipping cool is that?

  He gestures to one chair and waits for me to sit down before settling himself in his own chair directly across from me.

  He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and locking his fingers loosely together.

  “Okay, love. We have complete privacy in here. Nothing can get in here to listen to our conversation. What questions do you have?”

  I wasn’t expecting that. This is good, though. I might get some answers without all the unsettling touching…

  “I would love to ask you my questions and get some answers. Finally!” I roll my eyes to the ceiling and toss up my hands.

  “First. What are Rainer’s chances of actually carrying his plan through? If he can take over governments while ‘looking for the cause of the attacks,’ there’s no way humans will get control back without a fight.”

  “Of course not. He wants control and power in any way that he can obtain it. He is using this as an excuse to get followers to support taking over the human realm. It’s working, too. Enough people have lost loved ones that they are willing to invade other governments to find the culprit, even if there is no hard evidence to point in that direction. Rainer has a decent amount of support and lots of connections, so his chances are high.”

  “Why are you so against your dad?”

  He sighs. “You mean besides the obvious? To save humankind?”

  I nod, and he lets out a humorless laugh.

  “Rainer is a manipulative bastard who cares for no one and nothing other than his own agenda. I am fucking lucky that I didn’t turn out like him or have him as my only role model.” He runs his hand through his hair, leaving ends sticking up all over. If this wasn’t such a serious conversation, I would laugh at the adorableness.

  “You met Yunez, right?” He knows I did since he led us straight to his door. “I must have been like…nine or ten maybe? Anyway, my father had just found my little collection of statuettes.” He smiles sadly and looks off to the side, lost in memory. “I had a passion for art, you see. I used to make all of these little statuettes of animals, faeries, really anything that caught my fancy.” He picks up a small chunk of metal from the floor by his feet, and it shapes into a small replica of a woman with faerie wings. Handing it over, he continues with his story. “He was so outraged when he found my art that he melted it all in with palms of his hands before taking the belt to me. I had welts all up and down my back. My legs…”

  Rand sounds so weary. A tiredness that wasn’t there before is so evident I don’t know how I missed it before. Maybe he’s just that good at wearing different masks for different people. If that’s the case, what does he wear with me? I thought our time together showed the real him, but now, I’m not so sure.

  Looking down at the little figurine in my hands, I let out a short gasp. It’s a miniature replica of me. Fine-boned features with a serene expression lighting the face. Eyes closed and her hair, my hair, tousled and fanning around the shoulders, separating for the wings. It is so amazing, words can’t even describe it.

  “He said no self-respecting Janer House member would be caught dead creating art with their gifts. We only acknowledge the weaponists and the engineers of our house. Have you noticed that?”

  Actually I had. When Nato and the boys were explaining the houses to me, those were the exact gifts they described. I nodded in encouragement for him to continue.

  “He said he would take everything I loved away and destroy it if I didn’t follow in the family footsteps. I remember thinking that I hated him. That I would do everything in my power to take him down. Even that young.”

  Rand shakes his head. His dark hair slides over his forehead at the movement.

  “I ran out into the woods to nurse my wounds in private without the ridicule of any of his guards or members. I found a cluster of boulders to hide within, and I camped in there for several hours. It was there that I met Yunez. He knew I would be there. He sought me out and provided the thing my nine-year-old self needed. Hope. And a good role model. He told me that there would come a time when I would be powerful enough to go against my father, and at the same time, saving countless innocent lives. He said I needed to be what my father wanted me to be. Let him see what he wanted to see, and at the same time, learn his weaknesses and his strategies. His plans and backup plans. He said I would know when the time was drawing close because I would meet the Mazza at a time when she had already met some of her mates. He said that would be the family Ralina and I were looking for.”

  Shellshocked, I only blink at him. If what he is saying is true, then Yunez has been a mastermind behind the scene for years, if not decades. A puppeteer, plucking strings as he saw fit, coaching everyone to dance to his tune with a gentle hand. This makes everyt
hing seem so much bigger than it already does. The weight of what is to come seems unbearably heavy, not even knowing what it is.

  “I started meeting with Yunez in secret once a week. Even now we continue to meet. He has been the mentor, friend, and brother I never had. Under his guidance, I learned to portray exactly what Rainer wanted to see. I learned engineering, but I especially studied weaponry.”

  Rand picks up another, larger chunk of metal lying beside his chair, and it instantaneously melts and starts to reshape into a long sword with a ribbed handle. It looks incredibly sharp. As dangerous as it is beautiful, with intricate designs etched into the blade.

  “You see, love. It doesn’t do any good just to have the metal gift. Anyone in our house can melt metal. A true weaponist, though, they know how to shape the weapon, create the best balance for the deadliest effect. It is a true skill that takes many years of hard work and dedication. Everyone can put a pencil to paper, but only a rare few can create a masterpiece. Same for weaponry.”

  Even if Rand didn’t tell me about his artwork, I can hear his appreciation for the process of creation in his words. The emotion is even more evident in the things he creates. Everything I have seen him make has been breathtakingly beautiful with etchings of scenes or objects.

  Good for him. Even though he studied what his father wanted to see him study, turned himself for all outward appearances into the man his father wanted him to be, Rand still put his passion into his work. Just in a different way than he ever thought he would.

  “Is Rainer the power that the Mazza is supposed to fight against?”

  “Yunez is terribly cryptic. You can barely ever get a straight answer out if him when it pertains to the future and especially the Mazza.” He smiles at me. “I can’t say for sure what he sees, but Rainer is definitely a big part of it. My own opinion is that we are to save the human realm from Fennin who would see that world owned and destroyed.”

  “What is your plan? Or maybe I should say Yunez’s plan? I feel more anxious every hour we spend here while Jari is held captive down in that room.”

  “Yunez hasn’t shared his plan with me. He said it is ever changing and it flows better when we just do what he tells us, when he tells us. He said we have a better chance of survival that way.”

  “Who is we?”

  “The spies in this camp of course. You didn’t think I was alone here, did you?”

  “Well, no. I guess not. I believed Ralina and Mehki were in your camp for sure.”

  “Right you are. We need as many eyes as possible here to make sure that when the time comes, Rainer will fail.”

  I am almost afraid to ask where Lucia stands, and I’m not quite sure what I want the answer to be. Part of me wants it to be a ruse, but a bigger part of me thinks it would be easier if I was seeing her true nature here. Does that make me a selfish bitch? Maybe, but I’m only human, ya know?

  “What about Lucia? Is she in your camp too?”

  “No. I’m afraid she has been working with Rainer as long as I can remember.”

  I let out a slow breath.

  “Is her affection for Sage false? Was it all a ploy to get control of my LL?”

  His faces screws up in confusion. “LL?”

  I forgot that he doesn’t know our nickname for the boys. I have been saying it so much in my head that it’s as if they’ve always been the Lusty Legion.

  Heat creeps up my cheeks. “Um…. It stands for Lusty Legion. We were trying to come up with a creative term for the Mazza mates and then shortened it.”

  Rand barks out a sharp laugh that settles into low chuckles.

  Ah, man. The things his voice does to me. I rub my thighs together in an effort to suppress some of my tingles.

  “Back to your question about Lucia. I don’t know that Rainer really knew why they were so important, but he knew that Yunez had taken a great interest in Nato. He directed Lucia to get close to him to keep an eye on them. You didn’t know this, but Lucia was with Nato first. But he has always been a love-’em-and-leave-’em type guy. After he tossed her aside, Sage was there to pick up the pieces. Nato just discarded her, and for someone as vain as Lucia, that stings. That’s one of the reasons Lucia hates Nato so much, not that he would ever know that.”

  That doesn’t feel good, knowing Lucia had two of my LL. The burning in my chest intensifies, making my heart pound at an unsteady rhythm.

  Damn. I hate these strong emotions that the LL brings out in me. This anger and jealousy are such new emotions, I don’t know what to do with them. I can’t control them, and that’s scary.

  “I don’t understand. If you knew Lucia was playing Sage for a fool, and that these guys would be your new family in some distant future, why did you let him think she really had feelings for him? Sage said you two used to be friends.” My temperature steadily rises. I’m offended on Sage’s behalf.

  Rand sighed. “Lucia is Rainer’s pet. She does what he tells her to. Sage is also a big boy. Yes, he has feelings for her on some level, but no way did he love her. If he did, he wouldn’t have dropped her so fast.”

  Not the first time I’ve heard that.

  “If I thought for a minute that Sage was in danger of falling in love with her, I would have found a way to warn him about who she really is. Under the circumstances though, Yunez told me to keep my head down and be the perfect son so no one would be suspicious of my allegiance.”

  Makes sense. This type of double life must be stressful. Rand always looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was questioning his motives, and afraid for his life if they did.

  “To tell you the truth, if Yunez foresaw that Sage was falling for her, he would have intervened.”

  It was my turn to sigh. “I get it. So what now? Are the boys trying to get me and Jari out of here?”

  He nods. “Yunez didn’t share any plans with me, but they’re working on something. He wants our reactions to be authentic so I’m not under scrutiny.”

  “You won’t be leaving with us?” A little kernel of fear starts to grow in the pit of my stomach. I suspect this kernel will continue to grow until it becomes a full fucking cornstalk in the next few months. Rand is putting so much on the line. What if he doesn’t make it out?

  “It’s not time for me yet. There will be vital information I can pass along by staying. That’s too important for me to cut ties.” He answers with zero inflection in his voice. His eyes, though. His eyes tell me he would rather be anywhere but here.

  “I hate to cut our time short, but we should be getting on with our tour. I don’t want anyone to wonder why we have been cooped up in this room for so long.”

  He waves a hand, and the chairs, statuette, and weapon all melt back into the hunks of metal they were before he shaped them. Such a shame for his work to not be seen and appreciated.

  THE REST OF the tour goes fairly quickly. I pay close attention to the layout of the lodge and how the grounds are set up. Knowledge is power, and I want to make sure when the time comes I have all the weapons I can get.

  Rand keeps our conversation to a minimum after we leave the room. When we pass people, they greet us, and Rand returns the gesture, usually placing a hand on my lower back at the same time.

  It almost feels as if he is trying to send a quiet message out. Who knows, he might be. He could be saying, “Hey, this girl is with us and not to be messed with” to either party. I wouldn’t be opposed to that.

  When it’s time for lunch, he takes me to a different room than the one we dined in last night. This one is much smaller, with more windows bringing a light, airy vibe to the room. It’s so stinking cheerful it almost hurts my teeth. The bright canary yellow doesn’t help.

  Lavi is standing over in the corner with Lucia. Wonderful. Insert eye roll.

  Ralina is in the opposite corner, curled up in a chair, reading what looks to be a literary classic, with its leather-bound cover and yellowed pages. As I get closer, I make out Moby Dick along the spine. I wouldn’t have pegged Ra
lina as one to read a book about not becoming too obsessed with one goal. Then again, the choice fits her perfectly.

  I’d rather stick old, rusty needles in my eyelids than be subjected to this lunch. I try to convey that to Rand with a look. He presses his lips together with suppressed humor before scooting me deeper into the room.

  Pulling me over by the table, he leans in to embrace me, trailing his hands down my back as he whispers in my ear.

  “It’s just lunch. Sit next to Ralina, and you will be fine.” Panic sets in as he tries to pull away. I grab his biceps and pull him back into me less than gracefully, jerking his arms back around me.

  “You aren’t staying?” Even though it’s whispered, I hear the distress in my own voice.

  “No, love. But you will be fine. I will come collect you in an hour.”

  Rand leans back and kisses my lips with such sweet, succulent ardor I have a hard time catching my breath.

  “That didn’t take long.” Lucia sneers.

  I was wrong. I don’t want to stick old, rusty nails through my eyelids. I want to stick them through hers. And maybe between her toes for good measure.

  “Lovely to see you all again.” I give Rand a quick peck on the lips in thanks as I disentangle myself and face the firing squad.

  “You too, Isolde,” Lavi says with disdain and a slight downturn of her mouth. This woman apparently only has one expression. Disapproval mixed with boredom.

  Ralina stands up and loops her arm through mine, guiding me to the table.

  “It’s time to eat now that Isolde is here. Let’s sit,” she says without looking over her shoulder to see if Lavi and Lucia are following.

  The round table and high-backed chairs look like something out of Rose’s sitting room in Titanic. Ralina and Lavi sit on either side of me, and Lucia takes the seat across from me.