white dawn (Black Tiger Series Book 3)

by Sara Baysinger

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  AURORA

  After I’ve packed extra clothes and stuffed my belt with daggers and a gun, I phoneband Rain and tell him and Ember to meet me in my room. I have reason to believe they will be understanding. They’ll have to be. Because I need Ember to be willing to take up leadership while I’m gone, and I need Rain to convince her to do it when she refuses. I send a quick message via phoneband to Rain, and hear a knock on my door minutes later.

  “Everything okay?” Ember asks as she steps in.

  I nod and gestures for them to sit in the couches. “I didn’t want to risk Walker or any mansion worker to hear us.”

  “What’s wrong?” Concern fills Ember’s eyes while she takes the couch across from mine. Rain plops beside her and places his arm around her shoulders. They fit together like a puzzle. No wonder Rain was so lost without her.

  “I’m leaving to find Gideon tonight,” I begin.

  “What?” Ember leans forward. “No! Didn’t Titus say in his note that Nashville will kill you?”

  “I have reason to believe Titus was lying when he said that. You know Titus.” I roll my eyes. “I can’t handle losing Gideon again, but I don’t want to involve anyone in Ky. That’s why I’m meeting with only you two. I don’t want to involve leaders like Walker and Krin. I don’t want to involve Defenders like Mcallister. I don’t want to involve anyone who might instigate Nashville to start a war, and I don’t want to tell anyone who might try and stop me.”

  It feels amazing to have people care for me this much, but their love is going to get in the way of my rescuing Gideon.

  “So why are you telling us?” Rain asks.

  “I need you, Ember, to take leadership while I’m gone…and stay chief if I don’t return.”

  Her eyes widen. “Oh. No. No, no, no, no. The whole reason I gave my life two months ago was so you could live!”

  “And I did live. And I cleaned up the messes, I cleared the way. Leading from here on out will be easy for you.”

  “But I don’t want to lead!” Ember says. “I mean, can you imagine me?” She barks out a laugh. “Sifting through endless paperwork and sitting through boring meetings? Hosting parties? Talking to Patricians on a regular basis and living in Frankfort?” She shudders. Rain places his hand around Ember’s arm, and this seems to calm her down a bit.

  “I’m coming back,” I say, trying to sound like I believe that myself. “I’m just getting Gideon. I won’t even be gone a full week before I’m back. But I have to do this. I’m a lousy leader if all I can think about is my son, and how he is, and if my brother has somehow managed to hide him somewhere else. Try to understand, Ember. Gideon is my life. I have nothing without him. How would you feel if this was Elijah we were talking about?”

  She stares at me, at loss for words, until she’s not. “I’m coming with you.”

  My heart weighs down. I knew she would say that. “I need you here.”

  “You can’t tell me what to do. I’m coming with you! You’re my sister. Gideon is my nephew. We’re in this together, and I’m going to help you get our family back.”

  “Holy Crawford, Ember,” Rain says. “I just got you back.” He presses his lips firmly together in frustration, then looks at me, blinks and says, “I’m coming too.”

  “No, Rain!” I stand, exasperated. “You’re supposed to talk Ember into staying back, not decide to go with her!”

  “Seriously?” He snorts. “Have you seen what happens when you try to make this girl do anything?” He gestures dramatically at Ember. “The whole thing backfires!”

  “Excuse me?” Ember turns toward him. “Would you rather have a brainless Delta Blood as a girlfriend?”

  He offers a wolfish grin, clearly amused by her fire. “Never.”

  I laugh and shake my head. These two. Seriously.

  “Ember,” I say, sitting back down. “I need you here. You were born before me, and so are the rightful heir, anyway.”

  “How do you know?”

  “It was in Mother’s journal. Which, by the way, I’m giving it to you.” I pull it out of my satchel and pass it to her. “I tore out the page that talked about me, because it’s…it’s the only thing I have from Mother. But she talks about you a lot, and you actually knew her, so I figured you should have it.”

  She takes it in her hand, and the look in her eyes is enough to make me grin. She runs her fingers over the cover, then flips it open, and her eyes mist with tears. “Her handwriting. Holy Crawford. I had nothing left after Mother passed, because the house burned down.” She looks at me, her lashes wet with tears. “You have no idea how much this means to me.”

  I swallow hard and nod. “I think I have an inkling. Read it tonight. Maybe you’ll be reminded of Mother’s hopes for you.” I lean forward, take both her hands in mine. “Look, I know you didn’t want to be a leader. But it seems like this was Mother’s wish. And besides, the Resurgence and possibly the rest of Ky will take only you. You have the mind of the Proletariat, but the blood of the chief running through your veins.”

  She closes her eyes and shakes her head.

  Rain offers a sorry smile. “I’ve already tried that line on her.”

  She shoots him a glare.

  “I’ll be back. I promise. And when I return, we can talk more about it. You might find that you really enjoy leading. And I’ll always be here to mentor you through it. But if, when I return, you find that you detest being chief, then I’ll be happy to take the throne, assuming the people will have me.” I shrug. “Talk to Rain about it. He has a solid opinion.”

  “Hey, don’t bring me into this.” Rain lifts his hands in mock defense.

  Ember studies Mother’s journal, then nods. “Just until you get back.” She pins me with her brown eyes. “Promise you’ll return.”

  I grin. “I promise. Now go get some sleep. You’re going to need all the energy you can muster if you’re going to be of any use in the Community Garden tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  RAIN

  Ember and I leave for the Garden before dawn and work through the whole day, tending to the wounded, passing out food and blankets, helping restore the Garden to its original condition. It’s refreshing to see Ember’s passion. To be reminded that this was once her home, and even though she thought about leaving it once, she ended up giving her life to save it. And now here she is, exhausted, but giving herself up for her people. Just like Aurora did on our trip around Ky. These sisters are more alike than I ever knew.

  After exhausting ourselves, darkness settles over the land, and we decide to turn in for the night. I begin heading toward the hotel, but Ember tugs on my hand. “The wounded and healing need every room the hotel has to offer. And besides, I kind of want to stay in my home.”

  I stare at her, give a grave nod. We head down the road, away from the town square. All I’ve wanted to do since I found out Ember was alive was spend a few hours with her wrapped in my arms and not a care in the world. She’s grown in the few months we’ve been apart. She’s become this determined little hero that I always knew was in there. Makes me wonder if her facing death head-on chased all her fears away. Death is the ultimate fear, after all, and she slaughtered it.

  My Ember. My fire in December.

  I reach over and link my fingers through hers as we walk. “I missed you.”

  She turns to look at me, her rainbow-arch eyes shining. “Not as much as I missed you.”

  “I seriously doubt that.”

  “What happened? Between you and my evil twin? You guys are like…friends now. It’s weird.”

  I smirk. “It was a roller coaster ride. She imprisoned me. I tried to assassinate her. Then she talked me into going with her to distribute the antitoxin.” I release a heavy sigh as my mind revisits the memory. “When we came to the Garden, some Patricians attacked. She was…pinned to the ground after an explosion, and I wanted so bad to walk away.”
r />   Ember looks at the road. “Why didn’t you?”

  I swallow hard and shake my head. “The same reason I didn’t kill her when we were in the caverns.” I glance at her. “I wanted to honor your wishes.”

  A small smile creeps on her beautiful lips. I missed that dimple.

  “Do you regret your decision?” she asks.

  “Not at all. I tried to see her through your eyes. And we sort of…bonded I guess. When I really started looking, I caught these glimpses of vulnerability. Like when she talked about her mother, when she talked about Titus, and when she spoke to her people like she actually cared.” The memory of her first speech comes back to me. The people crying for joy. The people chanting Ember’s name through the streets. Emotion wells up in my chest, and I clear my throat. “She really loves you, Ember. She gave you all the credit for the freedom of the people.”

  “She did?” Ember sounds oddly surprised. “I knew she wanted what was right. But I guess I still sort of saw some arrogance in her. I thought she would take all the credit.”

  “That girl’s got zero arrogance and a pound of empathy. She’s nothing the persona she put off when we first met her.”

  “I wonder why she felt obligated to put that off. And I wonder which part of her Forest saw.”

  The mention of Forest makes my throat constrict. My focus has been on losing Ember. But now that Ember’s back, that ache needs to cling to something else.

  “I’m sorry about your brother,” Ember says, then mumbles, “and I’m sorry I brought him up.”

  I kick a pebble into the ditch. “I’m gonna have to face it one day. Losing you was hard. Too hard, almost, to bear. But Aurora filled up my time pretty well, and despite the gaping hole I had after losing you, I didn’t really take the time to mourn Forest.” I glance at her. “I’ll take you to his grave when we get back. I know he admired you, even if he did kind of cheat on you.”

  “He didn’t cheat on me any more than I cheated on him.” She lifts her eyes to mine. “I was attracted to you long before Forest and I broke up.”

  “Oh I know. Most girls are.” I let the humor roll out of me in an effort to combat the grief.

  Ember narrows her eyes. “Of course you did. You probably thought I was attracted to you the moment I laid eyes on you on that prison bus.”

  I smirk, remember that fateful day. Her annoying little questions were what made me take notice of her. “You just couldn’t keep your shoddy mouth shut.”

  “And you loved me for it.”

  I grin. “Yes. Yes I did.”

  We arrive at her burned-out husk of a home. My head fills with memories of staying here with Aurora and Chale while we were on the run. Then Chale attacking Aurora. And, of course, Aurora reading her mother’s journal—the same journal Ember read deep into the night last night. It seemed to refuel her purpose, just like Aurora hoped.

  “What’s that…boulder?” Ember asks. “It’s never been there before.”

  I follow her gaze to her headstone. The familiar grief automatically rises up, but is quickly washed away by the relief that Ember is here and that she’s alive. “That’s your grave.”

  “My what?”

  “Your grave. We had a funeral for you and everything. We buried your coffin. Which…must have been empty.” Which means Defender Shepherd did a stellar job covering up the Resurgence’s tracks.

  “Oh my word, I have to see my own headstone.”

  She walks faster, practically dragging me along with her. We stop in front of the rock, and I read the same inscription that I read a week ago, when I fell into complete despair.

  EMBER CARTER. DELIVERER OF KY.

  The speck that grew into a flame that blew over an entire city.

  “Wow,” Ember says. “Those were Mom’s words.”

  “Aurora must have heard you talk about it.”

  “Or Walker told her.” She reaches out and runs her finger along the smooth face of the black stone. “Holy Crawford, she gave me, like, a royal headstone.”

  “Well, you are royalty.”

  “Yeah, but Titus didn’t see me as such.”

  “Aurora isn’t Titus.”

  “It’s so weird hearing you defend her. I mean, I like it. It makes me trust her more.”

  “You didn’t trust her before?”

  She looks up at me. “I hoped I was making the right decision. But it was only a few days that I saw that side of her. It wasn’t really long enough to know for sure she was on our side. I totally trusted my instincts.”

  I jerk my head back. “Wow. Um. I’m glad you’re telling me that now and not before. Cuz I totally would have killed her if you died for her based on your instincts.”

  She grins. “I know.”

  I wrap my arms around her, brush a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “You always were following your emotions. Dreams and visions persuaded you better than anything your own father said. I used to think it was silly. Now I’m beginning to realize that we’re all different. God speaks to us in different ways. For some of us, he speaks through practical facts. But to others, he speaks through dreams and emotions. And who are we to judge who’s right and who’s wrong? Who’s crazy and who’s completely sane?”

  “We’re all different,” Ember says with a shrug. “You told me there was a God. You told me the historical facts and traditional values in the church that day. But I didn’t need to know the history of our religion. All I needed to understand was that God was the Sower and I was the dirt. That he loved me deeply, unconditionally, and that he was good. I needed to know that I wanted to be like him, and in order to do so, I needed to bring peace to my people.”

  Hearing her speak about God warms my heart. It’s not just a religion to her. I was afraid that pushing her to believe in something bigger would only make her believe because she was afraid. But she believes because she felt something real and unearthly. And I admire her for that.

  “Well,” she says, frowning at her tombstone. “I guess I know where I’m gonna be buried when I die. I always did imagine laying down in the orchard to release my last breath.”

  “By the time that happens, the orchard will be regrown.”

  She looks at me and smiles. That dimple. It gets me every time. “Maybe we can regrow the orchard together.”

  “Well, Aurora will need a new orchardist when this all blows over.” Assuming she returns, I don’t add. Because I’m not sure if Aurora will return. But I can’t tell Ember that. I can’t ruin this mood by mentioning the grim possibilities.

  I pull Ember into an embrace, resting my chin on her head. She wraps her arms around my waist, and I feel so full, so complete. The Garden is cloaked in darkness, save for the moon casting silver hues across the orchard.

  “We should get some sleep, little apple picker." I pull away and search her eyes. “Your people are going to put us to work tomorrow. I can feel it.”

  She laughs, her always-smiling eyes shining. It was so rare, this joy she possessed. Ember was all anger and rage and sadness, but now she exudes confidence and inner joy. And I love it. I need it. I missed it. Without thinking, I lean down and claim her lips. She doesn’t resist, but kisses back. I run my fingers into her hair and cup the back of her head, deepening the kiss, but the action backfires, and she trips back, falling into the grass and pulling me with her. She laughs against my lips, and I pull back, look down at her.

  “You’re still clumsy as ever,” I growl.

  “And you’re just as pushy.” She weaves her fingers into my hair and pulls my head down.

  And kisses me again.

  Oh, how I’ve missed this.

  Wrapping my arm around her waist, I drink her in and vow to never ever allow Ember Carter to put herself into danger again.

  So not worth it.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  RAIN

  I awake on the floor of Ember’s house to a light vibration coming from my wrist. I crack an eyelid
open and notice my phoneband glowing blue with Walker’s name flashing across the screen. The room is pitch black, telling me is around midnight. Carefully, I unwrap my arms from around Ember and click a button, turning on my earbud. “Hello, Walker.”

  “I’ve got a problem.”

  Great. No problems. Not at this time of night. Everything is just now looking up. “What is it?”

  “Aurora’s gone.”

  “What?” I try to force the surprise into my voice as I sit up a little straighter. Ember wakes up beside me. “Like, kidnapped?”

  “No. Well, I don’t know. She disappeared to her room last night, but didn’t make an appearance all day. When I asked the maid about her, she told me Aurora was feeling ill. I left her alone, because I assumed she was purely exhausted, but it’s midnight now and she hasn’t even phonebanded me to ask how things were going. I went in to check on her myself, and she was gone. She left a note, though. I guess she’s leaving Ember in charge.”

  I quickly relay the info to Ember while putting Walker on speaker.

  “Is there anyone in the room with you?” Ember asks. Her voice is still sleepy. She rubs her face and looks at me with swollen eyes. I don’t think either of us is even remotely caught up on sleep yet.

  “Nope,” Walker says. “I’m alone.”

  She sighs. “Aurora already told us.”

  “What?”

  “She told me and Rain last night about her plans. I agreed to take the reins while she’s gone.”

  “And neither of you thought to clue me in? Holy Crawford, I’ve been worried sick. And you do realize the danger she’s put herself in, yes?”

  “We couldn’t stop her,” I say. “And she didn’t want you freaking out…like you are now.”

  A huff sounds from the other side of the line.

  “By the way, were you…ever going to tell me?” Ember asks. “That I was older than Aurora?”