Page 20 of Rebel in the Deep

Then they step aside and Siobhan enters the room. Her presence should be enough to cool the tension that rose between us, but somehow it only makes it worse. She looks between us and then walks over to perch on the edge of the desk. “Well?”

“You left Bastian without even giving him some clothing?” Nox carefully skirts past me to a chest on the other side of the bed. They dig through it for a few seconds and come up with two sets of clothing. The black set gets tossed to me.

I catch it against my chest with my free hand. “Rumor has it that you only wear crimson.”

Nox ignores me and walks into the bathroom, shutting the door firmly behind them. Leaving me and Siobhan alone. Again.

I stare at her. I wish I were a better man who could put past concerns behind me in the face of this rescue. I’m not. “You went to Nox.”

“I went to Nox.” She crosses her arms over her chest. Her gaze is steady, but I know her as well as I know myself. She never would have broken her word to Nox if she wasn’t desperate, andshe was only desperate because I put her in that position. “What happened? You’re not usually careless with your magic, and even if you were, you should have been able to talk yourself out of any mess you ended up in.”

She’s right. I’d done exactly that in the past. “There was a woman—a girl, really—being threatened by two Cwn Annwn in Mairi. It was a few days after we…went our separate ways.” I clear my throat. “There was a third I didn’t see, and they had a mental shield that my magic couldn’t penetrate. By the time I realized, it was too late and they’d broken my hold on the other two.”

“Bastian.” The censure in her tone snaps my spine straight.

Guilt is a live thing inside me, because Ididfuck up, but I’m still so damned angry at her. I don’t know how to reconcile the two. Instead, the feelings amplify each other. “Have you changed your mind?”

Siobhan slashes her hand through the air so quickly it’s almost a blur, her movements jerky and just as furious as I feel. “Thatis what you want to ask me right now? You were so certain you were right, and the first thing you did was get scooped up by the Cwn Annwn, whichperfectly demonstrates my point. We only saved you by resorting to lies and manipulation—and then running the first chance we got. That won’t work again. It isn’t possible to win an all-out war.”

I should know her words by heart at this point. I practically do. I shake my head. “I made a mistake, and a costly one at that. I’m aware. That doesn’t change the fact that I’m right. Even though they didn’t know about the rebellion before, they’re bleeding us with a thousand cuts. The war isn’t even out in the open, and it’s already a war of attrition.”

“Yes,” she says bluntly. “It is. How much worse will that be when they realize the size of our network?Wedon’t have a fleet to fight them with. They’ll cut off our informants, cut off our supply chains, and then kill us at their leisure. At this point, I don’t even think we could escape through the portals into other realms because they would chase us down just to prove a point.”

I want to say such a thing is unprecedented…but it’s not. There have been dozens of times over the years when the Cwn Annwn slipped into the very realms they’re supposedly protecting in order to kill those they call monsters. If they discover the rebellion, we’ll be lumped in with the so-called monsters. “You can’t let fear guide you.”

“There’s nothing new to add to this conversation. We disagree, and it’s clear we won’t reach peace now…or ever.”

“Or ever,” I repeat numbly. “So that’s it, then.”

The bathroom door opens before she can reply, revealing Nox in their new crimson clothing, their blond hair spiky from the shower. I can’t think aboutthattoo closely, or I’ll be remembering how good Nox looked naked and wet and…Fuck, I’m remembering it.

Nox looks from Siobhan to me. “So. It’s like that.”

“You agree with me,” Siobhan snaps. “Don’t pretend you don’t.”

“I did.” Nox shrugs. “Morrigan changes things. She’s not a fool like so many of the other captains—or Council members, for that matter. Now she knows you’re aliveandshe knows we’re working together. She’s not going to stop.”

“Then kill her. You’re good at that.”

Nox laughs bitterly. “As if it’s that easy. Morrigan is more powerful than I am—and more deadly. Our only option now isto run.” They turn to look at me. “The real question is if there’s anywhere left to run to.”

“Yes.” Siobhan sighs. “Bastian, we need to know what you told Morrigan.”

I blink. It takes my exhausted brain a few seconds to understand what she’s saying—what they’re both suggesting. “You think I broke.”

“Torture will do that to a person,” Siobhan says gently.

I thought I couldn’t get angrier. It turns out I was wrong. I sit there stiffly and look from one of them to the other. “I didn’t tell her anything. She knew about the glamour. She…” My breath catches in my throat. “She threatened my family, but I think the Council was pushing back against the plan to arrest them.” I meet Siobhan’s honey gaze. “She already knew something was going on, that I’d been spotted in the company of a woman, that people were disappearing instead of being brought to the Cwn Annwn.”

Siobhan and Nox exchange a look, and it strikes me all over again that they have a relationship that has nothing to do with me. Nox joined the rebelliondespitemy presence. They and Siobhan spent plenty of time together in the beginning, enough to build a true friendship.

Enough to build…more?

Nox sighs. “Well, fuck.”

Siobhan scrubs her hands over her face. “There’s something else. Something you both need to know before we go further. You can’t underestimate Morrigan.”

“Obviously.” Nox waves that away. “Didn’t I just get done saying that she’s dangerous?”

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