The Rise (22 page)

At this, Sasha made a little noise in her throat, tied off the end of my long braid with a rubber band, and stood. “Well, I guess I’ll be going,” she said, tossing a look at Kayden that I couldn’t decipher and another white smile at me. “It was nice meeting you, Alexa. I hope we can hang out again before you take the troops and ride out to save the world.”

I gave a small nod. “Sure,” I said. This made her clasped her hands together in front of her. Then she left, her black hair and blue dress flowing out behind her.

I looked at Kayden. “She was weird,” I said. Then I noticed the tension in his shoulders. He was still staring at the door through which Sasha had exited. “What’s wrong? Do you know her?”

Kayden shook his head. “No, but it looked like she wanted to get to know you.”

I sighed. “Yes, I know. Come one, come all, come see the freak show Sun Warrior.”

He looked at me then, a small smirk back on his face. “That’s not what I meant. Seems like I have competition from every angle.”

My brow furrowed at this, then, “Oh,” I said. “
Oh,
you mean that Sasha, that she—”

Kayden nodded, and I could tell he was fighting back laughter by just the glint in his eyes. His face rarely ever gave expression. “Yes, I mean that she likes women. Well, I mean, she likes
you,
at least.”

My face scrunched up. “What, and I’m not a woman?”

Kayden rolled his eyes at that. “I brought you a blueberry muffin,” he said, ignoring my question. “I think the others have already eaten, and there is a meeting that’s supposed to take place soon, so we better get going.”

I stood up and went over to him, remembering how angry he had been last night. My stomach suddenly felt tight. “Okay,” I said. “But can I ask you something?”

“Anything.”

I took a deep breath and then let it all spill out. “Are you mad at me? I mean, I know that you don’t want me to try and find a Seer. Hell, you didn’t want me involved with any of the shit that’s been happening. And now you’re caught up in it all, too, and I just…well, are you? I understand if you are. Half the time
I’m
mad for no damn reason.”

Kayden studied me for a long time before answering. “I’m not happy,” he said at last. “But that’s a question that’ll take longer to answer than we have right now. Later.”

My heart sank a little, but I nodded. I’d expected as much, because even though my soul insisted that I’d known Kayden forever, my brain knew that I had only met him just over a month ago, and since that time, I managed to get him shot, sliced and more than likely wanted for murder and treason. Not only that, I had dragged his niece and sister-in-law onto the brink of a war that was not tipped in our favor. He’d had to stop my sister from killing me. All this, and yet, it was only a month. I wasn’t sure, really, how that affected his feelings for me, or even what his true feelings toward me even were. I wasn’t sure about any of this, about
anything
that had been happening to me. I certainly did not understand the minds of men.

Kayden opened the door for me, his shoulders still set just a turn too tight. I sighed and stepped out into the hall, looking down at the boots on my feet as they clicked on the floor. I was happy to find that walking in them was easy, and even the jeans had stretched a little to allow more comfort. It was a trivial thing to concentrate on, but a nice one. There were a lot of things that I had decided to forcibly not think about this morning.

I unwrapped the blueberry muffin Kayden had given me and took a bite as I stared down the empty hallway. In the daylight the weeping willows painted along the wall were shimmering all over, as if someone had thrown tiny flecks of glitter all over them. Long, thin windows ran along the ceiling, just slits of glass set in between the slats of wood, letting the day in. Not for the first time I stopped to admire how pretty this insane world was. Kayden slipped past me and began heading in the same direction we’d come from last night. After a moment, I followed him.

When we reached the sitting room I stopped in my tracks, but Kayden, as if sensing my hesitation, turned around and took my hand, pulling me into the room and wrapping his arm tightly around my shoulders. I looked up at his unreadable face and wondered why he had become so possessive since we got here, but maybe he just knew that crowds make me nervous. And there were a lot of people in the small room.

The light buzz of conversation that had been going on hushed and silenced as we entered. I felt my heartbeat kick up a notch. They were all staring at me. I realized that I recognized most of the people here, and that made me relax a little bit, but my hand tightened a little on Kayden’s where I held it at my shoulder.

Like a little angel from heaven, Soraya broke through the uncomfortable moment by running forward. At first, I thought she was going to Kayden, and he thought so, too, because his arm left my shoulder in anticipation of catching her. But it was my arms that she jumped in to, and it’s a good thing that I have incredible reflexes, because I was so surprised that I could have dropped her.

She wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me with all the strength of a seven-year-old little girl, even though malnourishment had left her bone-thin and short for her age. She smelled of fresh shampoo and her little face was clear of dirt or grime. She felt so different in my arms than she had the last time I had held her, back at the awful village the King ran. It was almost like I could feel more energy radiating through her, more
life.

I squeezed her back and ran my hand through her soft curly hair. She lifted her head and whispered in my ear, so low I knew that only I could hear. “I knew you could do it,” she said, in her sweet little voice. “I always knew you would get me and my mommy out of that place.” Her voice cracked a little now, and I knew without looking that she was crying. This made my own eyes burn. “You kept your promise, Alexa. I knew you would.”

I set her down before my emotions could get the best of me. Offering her a smile was the best I could do. I felt guilty knowing that we were nowhere near being out of the heat yet. She was just a child, just grateful that she was out of that village, and I couldn’t blame her, but that didn’t mean that worse things might not wait ahead. Also, I wasn’t the one who had rescued her. That had been Nelly. And that was
not
something I could think about right now. Not with all these people around.

Catherine was sitting on a bench with Soraya and Tommy, all of them in new clothes. Gavin and Patterson stood off in the corner by the windows that looked out over more bright gardens. Patterson looked worse than I had ever seen him, his face drawn down in long lines, his eyelids drooping as if he hadn’t slept a wink, more gray in his brown hair than I thought had been there yesterday. My heart twisted seeing him that way, and I made myself promise to seek him out later, to talk to him about the hurt he was feeling over my Mother’s death, to tell him that he wasn’t alone in it, though the prospect made my chest constrict.

Camillia was here also, along with Silvia and Sasha. The Warrior who’d introduced himself to me as Simon stood off to one side next to Victoria, who had apparently gotten to pick her apparel as well, wearing a red halter top and jean shorts. I bit back a scowl. I still couldn’t help but feel some animosity toward her. Once I decided I hated someone it was hard to change my mind.

There were two other people whom I also already knew, but hadn’t expected to see. An old woman with wispy white hair and a slightly hunched back, blue penny loafers on her feet and sharp eyes. Olivia. Next to her sat a guy I had met only once, on the last night I had seen Olivia; the night I had gotten her granddaughter, Akira, kidnapped by Lamias. I had to wrack my brain for a moment to remember his name. Then it came to me: Gabriel, Olivia’s nephew. He looked the same as he had before, wavy brown hair, thick-rimmed black glasses and a decidedly interesting face. He nodded when he saw me looking at him, his dark eyes serene behind his glasses.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, and had to stop myself from slapping my palm to my head. It seemed I was becoming an expert at opening conversations with rude questions.

Olivia’s wrinkled face softened as she looked at me, but her sharp eyes studied me in that way she had that I hated, making me feel like she was looking
through
me, rather than at me. “Same thing you are, Warrior,” she said. “To help put an end to the King’s madness.”

My eyes darted around the room, a bubble of panic forming in my stomach. “Where’s Akira?”

Olivia smiled, the wrinkles in her face cutting deep grooves around her mouth. “She’s fine, Warrior. You needn’t worry. She is with family, safe.”

A thought occurred to me then as everything that had happened since that dreadful night at my house when the Lamias had attacked and taken my Mother came back to me. My eyes narrowed as I looked at Olivia, and I expected my voice to come out angry, but it sounded resigned even to my own ears. “You planned all of this, didn’t you?” I asked. “Sending me to Two Rivers, telling me how to find Dangeon, saying that my”—my voice caught and I had to clear my throat—“that my Mother would be angry with you when she found out. You set it in motion, didn’t you?” I gestured around me, as if the entirety of what I was talking about was visible in the room. “All of this. You knew this would happen.”

Olivia said nothing to this, but she had the decency to look down at her wrinkled white hands, folded in her lap. Her mouth opened once then closed. It was the first time I had ever seen the old woman at a loss for words.

I filled the silence for her. “You knew what would happen if my sister and I went to Two Rivers. You made the choice for me, betrayed my Mother after she had spent her life trying to keep us out of this crazy, sad world.” I paused. “You played me like a pawn in a chess game.”

Olivia looked up at me then, a deep line formed between her eyes. Her voice was heavy when she spoke. “Not like a pawn, War—”

There went my temper again. “Bullshit,” I spat. “I won’t listen to you talk to me in circles anymore. I’m here. You’ve got what you wanted. The only words I want to hear come out of your mouth next better be explaining a damned good plan with which to take down the psychopathic King you’ve got snapping at our heels.”

The room was silent, thick with discomfort and averted gazes. Gabriel spoke then, having sat quiet and undisturbed through my entire rant. His voice was soft, almost a mumble, and I remembered that the only other time I’d met him he had only spoken to me in one word sentences. Despite the tone, though, his words somehow seemed to carry around the room gently, but clearly.

“The first thing to do would be to remove the dark magic the King has over the Five Cities,” he said. “Not just Two Rivers, but all five of the Vampire/Wolf Territories. The people must know what King William has been up to. I would assume that he has been using a Sorceress to place the enchantment—if that’s what it is—on the substances that the people consume. We know he deals with the Accursed, using their blood to create a super race of Warriors. We will need numbers if we are to win this fight. As of now we have some two hundred allies near and around the Five Cities, but the King’s army with be much larger than that, and stronger.”

I found myself wrapped up in what Gabriel was saying. He had a strange way about him that made you just listen and stare. He didn’t even seem to be pausing for air.

“I believe that we can accomplish this, but it will take a few days. There are many of us who have devoted our lives to this cause, Sun Warrior,” said Gabriel, staring at me over the rim of his thick-rimmed, black glasses. “My Aunt was wrong to do what she did. I would not have agreed to send you in to this…unfortunate situation without explaining to you first what it could cost you. But you are here now, and I can see in your eyes that you will fight with us. The people would rally behind you, and though the King has many, the common people outnumber his army fifty-to-one. These aren’t terrible odds.”