Page 8 of War Of Fire and Fortune
Mai lao kai.Even the voice in my head was mumbling and weak.
“That’s enough for now. I'll let you heal, but don't think I'm done with you yet.” Valla's voice slithered through the air. Her footsteps receded. The door closed with a clank, sealing me inside this tomb of a room.
How long had it been? Moments? Hours? Days? I wouldn't know. Time had lost all meaning in this abyss, each second indistinguishable from the last, stretching into an eternity of pain and darkness. Valla was a mastermind at torture, I’d give her that.
The shadows crept closer, and I knew I wouldn’t be awake much longer. So I let the dark claim me, whispering promises of my oblivion.
My vision swam as consciousness returned, a dull throb in my skull keeping time with the pulsing agony of my shattered limbs. As clarity came through the haze of pain, I saw him—Kade, the prince of Ember—looming over me.
I tried to pull back, but all I did was hurt myself. I hissed in pain. "What the fuck do you want?" I signed roughly, blood staining the air with each jerky movement of my bound wrists. I spat blood on his boots. I could feel the weight of his gaze, assessing, calculating. What game was he playing now?
But instead of the expected cruelty, with a clink of metal, my wrists were suddenly free, and I was a broken heap of feathers and flesh. Kade reached out and grabbed me, his hands surprisingly gentle as he eased my body to the floor with care that seemed at odds with everything I knew of him.
"Skies above, what the hell is this good guy, bad guy bullshit? Is this what you did to Emelyn all this time!?" The signs came rapidly, fueled by a blend of confusion and rage.
Pain flared through my limbs as I struggled to focus on Kade, the prince who was now crouching before me. His brow was furrowed, and the look of urgency in his eyes seemed to be searching mine for some kind of understanding.
"I wouldn't let that happen to Emelyn, Ace. I need you to listen to me very carefully because I do not have a lot of time. It's me. I'm Crow." His voice was barely above a whisper.
I narrowed my gaze, disbelief clouding my thoughts. "You're lying," I signed.
A moment passed, it was silent save for the ragged breaths escaping my lips, and then a thought struck me. How could anyone know about Crow? Especially the prince. He was a wraith, a shadow slipping through the cracks, unseen and unheard as far as I knew from what everyone at the rebellion had said.
As I lay there, I grappled with the implications of his claim. A traitor to his crown? My mind spun, trying to align this revelation with the world I thought I knew. He sat on his haunches next to me, letting all the gears in my mind work through what he had told me. Pain seared through my back like embers igniting dry leaves. I could feel the jagged ends of bone grinding against one another with every little movement. Every fucking breath.
“Give me more of a reason to believe you. Hollow, or tell me something only Crow would know. Anything,” I signed, and then his body slowly slipped into shadows. Wispy tendrils flowed off him, and then Crow was crouching before me.
“If you need more of a reason, I also Hollowed you into the lake on our way to the rebellion.”
Jackass. Skies above. He was fucking Crow.
“Now listen to me. While Emelyn was here, she was under my care. Unfortunately for you, you were captured by Valla and arenot under my protection like she was. But I will do everything in my power to keep you safe.”
"And what? You expect me to trust you? After this?" I signed, my movements sluggish as I looked over myself and then back to him.
“Yes, because I'm the only one that can get you out of here.” Kade continued, “If you would like to leave right now, all you have to do is say the word and I will Hollow us both back to the rebellion, but know that if I do that, they are going to know someone from the inside was responsible for your escape. My father would havegood reasonto think it was one of his children, and we could lose all of the progress we have made, but I would do it for Emelyn—for you. I know how much you mean to each other. But Ace, know that my father is planning something for the Peacebringer that I feel we are close to uncovering. I just need some more time. I don't know what it is, but while Emelyn was here, someone controlled her mind for only a moment, but it was long enough for her to lose control. She wasn't herself. If you are willing to stay here just a little while longer, I might be able to figure out what it was," Kade explained, every word desperate and pleading.
"Why do you care so much for us? You have only known Emelyn for mere months."
"Because . . . Emelyn is my mate and I have known about her since before the war started." The conviction in his eyes was bright even in the darkness. "I had been keeping Ember off of her trail from the moment I found out she was mine."
My mind raced, piecing together everything. The way Crow had been attached to Emelyn at the rebellion, the way Kade had maneuvered to let Emelyn escape on his ship, the maps marked with our locations . . . He hadn't been seeking to capture us. He had been watching over us. Random absences at the rebelliontook on new meaning. He wasn't just one of us, but also one of them, a double agent within his own empire.
"I've been on both sides of this war for a long time, Ace." Kade's voice broke. "I'm just as ready for it to be over as you are. I just need need to figure out what control my father had over Emelyn."
Voices echoed on the other side of the door.
Fuck, we were out of time. If I stayed, if I endured, perhaps it would be the turning point we needed. I didn't want Valos to have the upper hand over Emelyn ever again. I could do it, do this, just a little while longer.
"Fine," I signed. "For Emelyn, for Luana, for the chance to end this war . . . I'll endure anything."
"Thank you." Kade exhaled, the sound almost too quiet.
“I still don't trust you.”
Kade acted swiftly, doing his best not to hurt me anymore as he shackled me again, but I couldn't hold back the growl as the cold metal bit into my flesh and pain flared through my back.
“I don't need your trust. I'll gain that later. Right now, I need you to live. I'll be back. I promise,” was all I heard as Crow . . . Kade disappeared into the darkness of his Hollow. I closed my eyes, and in my sleepy haze, I remembered his hands tending to my wounds and feeding me some type of broth.
