Lockhart's Confirmation (Vespari Lockhart Book 2)

by J. Stone

  “You look good,” she said. Catching herself, Autumn added, “I mean…! You look like you’re healing!”

  Wynonna grinned and tried to stand. She wobbled a bit but stayed upright. She then walked forward the couple paces to Autumn and plopped down in her lap, throwing her legs over the armrest of the chair and her arm around Autumn’s neck. “I look good, huh?” she asked.

  The quartermaster smiled timidly and whispered, “You do. Also, the door isn’t locked.”

  Wynonna twisted her head around to the door and then back to Autumn. “Hm. So I should probably get off you, huh?”

  Autumn nodded. “For now.”

  “Fair enough.” Wynonna stood up and moved over to the chair where someone had piled her clothes. “So, what’s the plan here?”

  “Plan?” Autumn asked.

  Wynonna grabbed her jeans, sliding her legs through them. “You said Ambrose wanted to see me. What’s going on?”

  “Oh. You’ll have to talk to him about that. In fact, I’ll go let Ambrose know you’re up. When you’re ready, meet us down in the elders’ chamber. Feel free to take a few minutes.”

  Wynonna nodded, got the jeans up to her hips and struggled to clasp them with only one good hand. “I’ll be there soon,” she told her.

  “Good,” Autumn replied, moving to the door.

  As Wynonna turned and started to put the blue dress on, she discovered raising her arms that far upright was terrible on the broken ribs, and she tumbled to the bed. Luckily, by that time, Autumn had already opened the door and rolled out, closing it back behind her as she left. Without anyone to impress, she sighed a heavy, painful breath, and groaned, sitting down on the side of the bed and letting the dress hang there, only partially on.

  She raised her good hand to her ribs, gently touching the side she’d slammed in the fall. A bandage wrapped around her chest, just under her breasts, but she could tell her regeneration hadn’t had enough time to right those bones yet. Each breath she took came accompanied with a scraping sensation under her skin. She’d kept a brave face for Autumn, but now that she was alone, she could act how she actually felt.

  Wynonna fell back on the bed, taking a few moments to get her breath back. She wished she hadn’t told Autumn that she was feeling alright, but what was done was done. Gritting her teeth, Wynonna set upright, sorting the dress down over her jeans. Her boots came next, followed by her gun belt, her duster, and then finally her hat, each taking much longer than typical thanks to her injuries.

  After she was prepared and ready to go, she grabbed the vespari medallion that Corrigan had given her, which hung on the back of the chair. Looking at it, she wondered why she continued to carry it around. She wasn’t a vespari anymore. She supposed she never was. All the same, a man she cared about gave it to her, and she intended to keep it. Rather than throwing it around her neck and letting it hang down on her chest, Wynonna just slipped it into one of her pockets and turned toward the door.

  Moving out of the room, Wynonna found the halls completely unoccupied. Granted, this time of day, she didn’t expect too many of the vespari to be wandering around on that level. Too late to be waking up; too early to be going to sleep. The only exception to that was her because of her injuries, and thanks to them, all she could do was hobble down the hall toward the stairs.

  Those proved harder to navigate than the simple hallway, but leaning against the wall on the way down, she made her way well enough. Thankfully, she only had one floor to go, and when she arrived on the third floor, she paused there in the stairwell to collect her composure. Though it wasn’t a strenuous activity, Wynonna nonetheless found sweat dripping down her brow and her breath heavy. She decided she could really use some more regeneration. The first chance she had to go after a nosferatu or strigoi or dhampyr, she was going to take it.

  When Wynonna felt well enough to carry on, she left the stairwell and moved forward to the elders’ chamber. As she approached, she could hear a chorus of voices almost like the buzzing of insects. Holding one hand to her ribs and using the other to guide her along the wall to the room, Wynonna arrived at the door. It was open, and inside, she saw a large gathering of people within the elders’ chambers.

  Just about everyone she knew seemed to be there. Ambrose and Bowater of course, but other vespari lined the room too. She saw Magnus, Spencer, and a few others she’d seen wandering the tower. She noted Ernest Hildebrand’s absence, though she certainly didn’t mind. Autumn, however, waited for her right by the door, smiling up at her.

  “What is this?” she asked hesitantly, looking from Autumn forward to Ambrose.

  “You’ve earned it,” Autumn whispered to her, as she stepped further into the room.

  The vespari elder moved forward. “In light of everything you’ve done for the vespari order and the state of the elders at the time, we have decided to overturn our former decision.”

  Wynonna narrowed her eyes and asked, “What decision?”

  “Your confirmation,” he explained. “You have proven yourself a capable vespari, and you have shown your loyalty to that which we stand for.”

  “So…” she began.

  “So,” Bowater interrupted with his signature scowl. “You’re a vespari now.”

  Wynonna couldn’t believe it, especially coming from Bowater. “What?”

  “You heard me. I won’t say it again.”

  “Congratulations!” Magnus shouted from the side, his rosy red cheeks visible to her even at this distance.

  Spencer started clapping, quickly joined by Magnus, Autumn, and then everyone else in that chamber. Wynonna smiled and looked around the room at all the faces. After everything she’d been through, all she’d had to do, and all the resistance she had faced, she’d decided that this would never happen. She’d concluded that her fate would be to let down Corrigan. She had feared his legacy and name would end with him, but here she was defying her own expectations and fears.

  Ambrose stepped toward her as the applause died down and smiled to her, taking her good hand in his own. “You are one of us. You are confirmed, Wynonna Lockhart.”