Adele made sure our visit was astronomically undersized, probably for his sake and we headed out on the long road.
It felt almost nice as we submersed in the familiar terrain but I wasn’t sure if I was ready. I had other things on my mind. We had just got back and I was merely moments away from finally reading my father’s journal but it was unexpectedly put on hold. It still made me anxious. I’m the only person who knew where I put it and I still wore the key around my neck, tucked into my clothes so no one would see.
I missed Bryce already and Troy too. Their smile, their laughs. It made me smile just to think of it and only for a moment did I forget that we were apart. It kept me sane during the eight days it took up to get to the coast. We finally were on the hill, looking down at the little town stretched out across the water and my family faded from priority.
“How are we going to do this, Adele?” I asked.
“I’m undecided. Would there be such a need to be subtle this time? Zayden was right. They will recognize us.”
Ruby groaned next to me. “I can’t believe I’m suggesting this but what if we didn’t look like us?”
We both looked at her and I was surprised by the suggestion.
“That could work.” I said.
“But we’re still three strangers that are women.” Adele sighed. “They’d know.”
She was right, wasn’t she? Whoever Chan really was would probably expect us to come.
“Unless one of us looked like a man.”
We looked at Ruby again when she spoke and this was the most surprising suggestion she’s ever had.
“Who would pull that off?” Adele wondered.
“I will. I’m the one that’s going to kill him, remember? I can get closer to him if I’m a man.”
She had a point and I looked at Adele.
“Fine.” She agreed. “Let’s back up. We’ll make camp in the brush over there where I can start on our transformations.”
“Just don’t make me look foolish.” Ruby said. “Bulk up my body with heavy clothes and make my features more masculine.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
We rounded back over the hill and stowed ourselves out of sight in the thicket to get started.
Ruby seemed to be the most ready for this and I was glad she was so cooperative. She usually hated having to change her look for any kind of mission so that could only mean she really wanted to kill him or she really just wanted to get it over with.
It was entertaining to watch. Adele made her clothes larger on her so it made it seem like she was really larger under it all. I guess it help that she was the tallest of us and that part was the fastest. Now Adele had to be more careful and work on her actual face structure. First, she shortened her hair to an average man length and made it a uniform brown color, not to have it be too attention drawing and also browned up her eyes. Now came her face. Her jawline was broadened, her chin built with a cute little cleft like Darius, forehead higher, eyes wider and her nose perfectly proportioned to her new face.
“Wow.” I said. “You look pretty good as a man.”
“Watch your hormones.” She joked. “I’m still all women under these clothes.”
It even made Adele smile. “All right, we’re next.”
“Make sure you don’t look too good.” Ruby said. “We don’t want to draw that kind of attention to ourselves.”
Adele turned to me and she dressed us in average looking clothes, something we’re definitely unfamiliar with wearing and dulled up our natural beauty a bit. My hair was shortened and turned a dirty, ashy blonde color. It was still curly but the curls were not perfect spirals like before. Instead, they were sporadic and a bit messy looking and my eyes a dingy hazel.
She gave herself a lighter brown color of hair that was a tad wavy, also with the messy factor thrown in and her eyes were a dusk blue mixed with a bit of brown.
She even dulled up our complexions and we now looked relatively normal and hated it for sure.
Ruby came over to us with her manly structure and put her arms around each of us. “There, now my wives shouldn’t draw so much attention.”
I laughed. “Your wives? Is that what we are?”
“That’s what you’re going to be.”
“I guess it fits into this town.” Adele said. “Let’s go be normal people.”
“Allow me to do all of the talking.” Ruby said. “I am the man after all. You just stand quietly and obey.”
I thought it was funny but Adele sighed and we started on foot down to the pier.
People were walking around and since we were too, without horses this time, we didn’t get that unnecessary attention we didn’t need. We quite literally looked like everyone else and blended better than we had hoped. It seemed no one looked at us. It made things much easier.
“Where do we find him?” Adele muttered in a soft utterance.
“Where else, my lovelies?” Ruby smiled, putting her arms around both of us as to show rights to her claim over us. “I’ll go to the pub while you two are free to do a bit of shopping.”
“Don’t kill him yet.” Adele whispered. “I want to know who it is first by seeing his face.”
“Done.” Ruby kissed her cheek and sent us off, giving us a gentle nudge in the direction of the open market.
Things did seem different this time. The town seemed more alive like they didn’t live in fear; all but one thing. The inn we last stayed at was boarded up with a sign nailed over the barricaded door that read:
CONDEMNED
Under new management for reconstruction soon.
It looked like it had been hanging there for a while despite the indication of the word soon but Adele and I knew what it meant. The old innkeeper and his wife that ran the place when we first came here, Knox and Milee, were probably killed by the real Chan for helping us just as Adele had always feared. I never wanted to believe it but we were seeing the truth for ourselves.
Despite all the joy in our lives, it seemed the world was still a very cold place.
Chapter 32
Ruby
I wondered how this look would really help me find out who Chan really was. Who would I have to get close to? Kanon, maybe, if he was still here. That might have been easy. Then again, I’m not a beautiful woman this time. I’m—well, this. I wasn’t sure how I really looked and I couldn’t rely on Jaylyn’s constructive criticism due to a much difference in opinion.
I walked into the pub, expecting the unwelcome glowers as before but I notice an immediate change. No one even looked and there was laughter and music like the place was one of celebrations. I didn’t know what it meant or what to even think for that matter.
I went over to the bar and ordered myself a drink. No one even recognized me as being new in town. No one even cared but then I started to hear one voice amongst the rest that I deemed notorious. It was Kanon. He was still here, sitting at a middle table with people around him, drowning in the laughter. The more I watched, the more I remembered him and how fun he always made everything seem. Well—right up to the point when he knew who we were and turned into the enemy.
My mind drifted to that day like Troy’s memory had rubbed off on me and I saw Kanon’s face. I had just accidently thrown who I thought was Chan through this very floor, I could see where the hole was repaired, and Kanon’s reaction of complete betrayal when he discovered who we truly were. His features were hard but it was his voice of command that made me fear the worst.
“Assassins! Kill them!”
At that moment I remember everyone listening and obeyed to destroy us. It took me this long but I had figured it out. It was him; Kanon was Chan and he’s who I was here to kill.
I didn’t like it—at first. I never had a reason to hate him. He was really nice to us but it all changed when one phrase caught my maximum listening attention.
“The Great Seni Fighters will pay.”
I leaned a bit more in that direction but kept my eyes clear from any
of theirs.
“I could have overlooked it if they didn’t have a part to play but they made me look like a fool. Aligning with our women to do it was beyond necessary.”
“And that they’re with them now.” Someone else said.
“I heard they have children.” Another said.
It was silent and I had to look. I made it casual like I was just stretching and Kanon sat cold with this glow of death in his eyes.
“They bred with them now?” His disapproval for something that wasn’t his business started to anger me. I had to take my own deep breaths to stop it. “They’ll soon learn that was a mistake. Alert the men. We set out to end them and their infected litter of brats.”
The men got up to leave and I looked away, pretending I didn’t notice them at all but I needed to leave too. I left money on the counter for a drink I never got to drink and casually walked out a moment after. They were headed up the street, not towards the shore but away so I knew I had some time; time enough to find Adele and Jaylyn and be ready to stop them.
I walked around the streets but it almost seemed like I forgot what they looked like until they found me.
“There you are, dear husband.” Jaylyn said, scooping her arm around mine.
“So?” Adele asked.
“I’ll tell you on the way back to the horses. They’ll meet us.”
She was puzzled for sure but I couldn’t explain around all of these people. We had to get much farther away and we took the street all the way off the pier.
“Did you talk to Kanon?”
I looked at Adele and slowly shook my head. She was going to hate this news. “It’s him.”
“What do you mean?” Jaylyn asked.
“Kanon is Chan.”
Jaylyn gasped and Adele stopped us so she could turn to me. “How do you know? Did you confirm it?”
“Heard it.” I kept walking so she would and we could get back to looking like ourselves. I wanted Kanon to know who was going to kill him. “But this mission now has nothing to do with what we initially thought.”
“What does he want?”
I almost wanted to cry just from actually having to say it but I knew I couldn’t with this man disguise and disgrace myself. “Let’s get back.”
We walked faster and Adele didn’t let us take in the sight of each other looking normal before she snatched her question. “Well?”
“He wants to kill our husbands.”
Jaylyn laughed which was a completely different reaction than I foresaw. “Oh, you were serious.”
“Why?” Adele snatched.
“Because they made a fool out of him by befriending him and they’re with us but that’s not all.” I held off on my next words as long as possible. I didn’t want to say them. I didn’t even want to think of them but Adele’s impatient stare forced them out. “He wants to end our sons as well.”
Their confusion crippled to not caring and they were with me one hundred percent. He was going to end, not them.
“Where is he?” Adele demanded, her voice straight and fierce.
“He was gathering his men together so they could look for them.”
“Then we kill them all.”
Jaylyn nodded and I took full pleasure in making sure that it would happen this time. The past means nothing. Anyone who threatens our family will be destroyed. There is never another option.
Chapter 33
Zayden
We haven’t heard from Ryon in days. He was supposed to come back and tell us how it went. The girls should be on their way back by now. I wouldn’t assume they’d want to stay there for any amount of time than what was necessary.
“Relax.” Darius said while I practically paced the floor. “I’m sure everything is fine. He’s probably just staying with them until they’re a safe distance away.”
It still wasn’t comforting me and I continued to pace, only stopping long enough to hear a knock at our door.
Darius smiled in victory like he was right not to be paranoid like me.
I rotated away with no intent to say he was right and swung the door open in anticipation.
“Hey—”
I pulled Ryon in before he could get out another useless word.
“Tell us.” I demanded.
“Just tell? I thought I was going to show you?”
“You know what I meant. Show us then.”
“Are you okay?”
“Zayden’s been a little agitated by your absence.” Troy said.
Ryon looked at me and smiled this impetuous smile. “You missed me that much, brother?”
“I’ve only been concerned about what happened that we can only find out from you, so show us.”
He walked over to the couches and sat down in the middle of one with the sight of the stairs directly in front of him. “What exactly do you want to see? Just how the kill went or everything from the time they got there.”
“Which is most necessary?”
“Probably just the kill. I can quickly fill you in on things that lead up to it before I show you. Ah, they found out that the guy you met before—”
“Kanon?” Troy asked.
“Yeah, they found out that he was actually Chan and his goal had nothing to do with overthrowing the capitol but instead you.”
I was caught by surprised and traced the room. “Us?”
“Yeah for making him look like an idiot and being with our women.”
“Our women?” I said it offensively.
“He’s Kaluian. That’s what I meant but he also recently heard about your sons and wanted to dispatch them along with you.”
“What?!”
He tried to calm me before it got out of control. “It’s just how he was brought up, you know, war. It doesn’t change for everyone just because two Kings called a truce.”
“Is that all that happened?” Darius asked. “That should have been enough to set them off.”
“Oh, believe me. Red was the one that found out all this first and it took everything she had not to rip his head off right there.”
“She found out first?” Troy wondered.
Ryon laughed. “Oh, did I leave out the funniest part? They were all disguised so they wouldn’t be recognized and the lovely Mrs. Revier gave up her beautiful womanhood to pose as the man.”
I looked at Darius and it almost took me everything I had not to laugh. “Really?”
“Just in the face mostly. Clothes hid anything else.”
“You can show us that.” Troy said, smiling while looking at Darius.
Ryon looked too and actually asked for his permission. “Do you mind or do you not want to see that?”
He grimaced indefinitely. “What do you think? Of course I don’t want to see my wife as a man.”
“Are you sure? Jay thought she looked pretty good.”
“I’m sure.”
“Yeah. You know. It might be best if you skip that.” Troy decided to agree.
“Okay.”
“Show us the kill.” I said.
“They look like themselves at this point. Red was determined to make sure he knew who was going to kill him.”
“That sounds like her.” I joked. “Will we be able to hear what’s happening?”
“You want to?”
“It’d be nice but I was just saying because the boys had finally just got to sleep.”
“It’ll be quiet.”
His eyes moved towards the stairs and we all turned our heads to look. I heard him take a breath like he was blowing air towards it and the air began to become hazed and seem like fog had filled the open space in a soft blanket of white. I heard the voices first and the image became clearer.
The girls were standing together, waiting of sorts but they all looked mad. Adele’s arms were folded and she was looking straight in front of her as if glaring at me from one of our fights. Jaylyn was on her left, fingers restlessly tapping on the handles of her ring blades and Ruby was on her right, eyes flaring red death in
a scowl that would weaken the defense of an army.
“We’re ready now.” Jaylyn said, annoyed.
“I’ve been ready longer.” Ruby snatched, spearing her voice through the wind that had now travelled around them.
“Patience.” Adele said. Her voice was rather calm in comparison to her expression.
“Says the most impatient person in the world.”
“But this time it’s true. They’re going to come straight to us.”
“And that two-faced creature is mine.”
“Oh, this is so exciting!”
Ruby and Adele struck looks of abnormality towards Jaylyn at the same time and we all tried not to laugh from watching.
“What?” She asked, trying to zone down her excitement. “I like my job. Let me have my moment.”
“We’re not doing this because we like to anymore.” Ruby argued.
“Let her be.” Adele said. “We all know why we’re doing this.”
“You’re right. It’s just more important to some of us.”
It was clearly the wrong thing to say and Jaylyn took it offensively. “You think I don’t care about stopping them as much as you?!”
“You just said it, actually.”
“This isn’t the time.” Adele said, pushing them a little farther away from each other. “They’re coming out.”
This is where I started to worry. A group of almost thirty men stepped off the pier in their direction.
“Relax.” Ryon said to us. “Would I be this calm if something actually happened to them? It’s actually pretty great. Keep watching.”
I couldn’t stop if I wanted to. I felt tense with anticipation.
“Stay behind me.”
Ruby took a few steps forward to get in front of Adele and Jaylyn and naturally, Adele immediately asked. “Why?”
Ruby looked back, her eyes still piercing red. “Just stay.”
Rising Sun (Fate's Intent Book 9) Page 16
