Page 29 of Light Up the Night

“You know I adore your spirit, love,” Messiah said. “But you aren’t dealing with a pirate or some Rochambeau aristocrat. He is my twin. Believe it or not, he is the darker of the two of us. He always has been, even as a child. Pariah would have broken Atticus… He is a master manipulator, and he never does anything without thinking it out beginning to end. When he brings her, he will have a punishment in store, should you refuse him. There will be a way for him to flip it and serve her, if he chooses, trust me.”

“Trust you…” Anger collided with disbelief and momentarily choked me. “You let Chalice be backed into a corner. That’s what you’re saying, right? … you don’t think perhaps you should have warned her?”

“I’m warning her now.” Messiah shrugged before reaching out to touch my shoulder.

I smacked his hand away and stepped closer to him. His eyes shone wickedly, and he canted his head in an unspoken query.

“You tricked her into whoring herself,” I accused.

“I tricked no one.” His smooth pleasant tone never wavered, nor did the smile. “I’d never allow anyone to do such a thing to Chalice. I love her, just as I love you and Ender, which is why we are planning. We must stay a step ahead of him.”

“You might have warmed whatever was left of my heart…” Ender quietly called while dramatically clutching his chest.

“Yeah, well, we’re in the fucking Inlet, so you should probably put some pants on before your heart isn’t the only thing that’s dead and frozen,” I teased, throwing the pair closest to me at him.

He threw them back and grabbed the pair from the bottom of the bed. The moment the covers spilled from me I felt my soul momentarily leave my body. Freezing, I hurried bare-assed and without an ounce of shame towards the hearth where I did a jig into my pants on.

Messiah and the others gathered close while I filled a few glasses of wine and started passing it around. It occurred to me that their water might not be as dirty as that of the cities, but I wasn’t about to trot my ass down to the kitchen and fetch any.

“So, what?” Chalice slowly asked. “You want me to humor him? To pretend to accept his proposal until we have her?”

Her shoulders danced like the idea alone had made her skin crawl. It was a dirty trick. An Isabella trick, but I didn’t point it out.

“And if he tries to take liberties?” Ender spat, only calming when Chalice placed her hand on his knee.

Chalice

Talk swirled around me until I felt suffocated by the buzz of voices and sounds that didn’t even make sense anymore.

Manipulate or be manipulated. That’s what it had come down to after all this time and effort.

I had learned from the best, so what chance did he stand? Sure, Messiah was leery of him, but I had to ask myself, was his assertions about his brother factual, or were they projected fears of what Messiah knew himself to be deep inside?

I killed the wine in one sip, but it didn’t drown my paranoid thoughts.

“You’re too quiet,” Keif said, nudging me gently with his elbow. I flashed a smile that was more of a mask and leaned in to kiss his temple.

“Suppose that I tell him Azaria of the Savagelands is next to worthless,” I mused. “Tell him… that he shall only have my hand if he cripples the Kingdom Isles and brings me Isabella and Atticus as well.”

It was quite for a moment. I swore I could hear every creak in the Hall, before Ender finally nodded and saluted my idea with his drink.

“That’ll do it.” He sighed contently.

“I’d almost forgotten about them…” Messiah snorted.

“What if…” Keif started, only to fall silent and rub the back of his neck. “What if he succeeds? Do you all actually want Isabella and Atticus back?”

His words might as well have been a punch to the gut. I placed my hand over my belly and opened my mouth to speak, but before I could get a word out, the door behind me swung open. Ender grabbed for his sword but settled once he saw Pariah’s long sun-bleached dreadlocks.

“Your Majesty,” he nearly purred. “Would you care to meet your fallen foe?”

Messiah pushed him aside and sprinted from the room.

“What the fuck?” Ender called running after him.

“Yes. She’ll see him now,” Keif spoke for me, his gaze locked on the door and the men who had left us alone with an expert assassin. “Why are they in such a hurry?”

I grabbed my spiked staff and slowly started toward the others. Pariah held the door wide for us to pass before falling into step beside us.

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