Page 20

Amaia

“ Y ou do not, under any circumstances, summon me.”

I rolled my eyes. What a greeting. His soldiers had done everything but buy me dinner first in their search of both our bodies and our bags. It’d be less irritating of an experience if they had bothered to take our weapons but they hadn’t. No. That was just another display of Ronan taking autonomy from us any way he could without going back on our deal.

Riley was locked in a pissing match with Malachai. The two of them stared at each other, faces full of snarls of different meaning. Where Riley promised Malachai death, Malachai promised him more pain. I hated myself for bringing him here, taunting someone he wanted to destroy in front of him like a worm on a fishing hook. Nevertheless, he was the one I trusted the most to behave. So behave he would.

“What are you rambling about, Ronan?” I said lackadaisically. Crossing my arms, I scanned the room for any sign of the presence of rebels. None stared back at me.

Nope, only Bietoletti and Hollis—an emissary I rarely saw unless it was him going out his way to piss me off. They stared through me in the same way they usually did, as if I were unimportant enough to look at with unglazed eyes.

Ronan was on me within a few steps. His hand snapped across my face, the pain of this minute compared to the rage coursing through me at the action. “Respect, woman.”

I kept my movements measured. Controlled. Meeting those eyes I had memories of love and hate in, I remained level-headed. Riley twitched at my back. One hand out to make him hold, I raised my head. He would not break me.

Violence was the easiest way to maintain power. But if I told myself his violence meant nothing, that it was no more than a training exercise for the fight I would bring to his side of the world, it was too easy to pass off. Physical pain meant nothing to me. That I could endure. Losing my home—my family—I could not.

“I want to make it abundantly clear to you who reports to who around here,” he said, turning his back to me.

I scoffed, “You’re the one that came running like a dog to a whistle.”

He glared at me over his shoulder, pouring tea into two cups that appeared entirely out of place. “I’ve come to discuss business—other aspects of our deal. You demanding Bietoletti to organize a meeting was a behavior I’m lucky enough to correct in person. Let me be explicitly clear regarding my emissaries. They are guests in your home. Bietoletti, Hollis, and Tyler do not fall under your command. Any attempt to do so will be seen as an act of aggression, which I’m afraid leads you and me one step closer to talks of war. Is that clear?”

I clenched my fists, needing to feel my nails dig into my skin. Deep breaths . The smirk peaking above the cup of tea he held in the air triggered me. It was at that moment I decided to start digging into the well of my magic I’d never touched. I wasn’t ready yet, but I would be. Ronan’s time was coming.

My own grin in place, I pulled a chair from the long table in the center of the room. “I love it when you come to visit.” I plopped down beside him. The simmering anger at my lack of respect practically had him vibrating next to me. He jerked his chair back. I fought back a laugh. “By the way, since I’m here and speaking with the source. I’m going to need you to sign off on the whole trade agreement thing before people starve.”

“It almost makes you wonder if starving your prisoners would help your rations go further.” Hollis smirked. It was more of an animalistic snarl. Bietoletti chuckled, only silenced by the harsh stare of Malachai.

Ronan raised a finger. “Ah, yes. Perhaps that. Now, I’m going to offer some leniency here and ignore whatever it is you thought you held over me. Kill them, release them—it is of no concern to me. I have little use for soldiers weak enough to have been captured.”

“The trade agreement,” I said through gritted teeth. “Ronan.”

He cleared his throat, forcing his emotions back in check and meeting me with the same stone-hard gaze Seth had rewarded me with many times. “On the topic of trade, you and I have come to understand people to be a resource.”

“Yes,” I agreed. “Except I believe them to be invaluable.”

“Same as I.”

I snorted, taking a small spoonful of sugar and dumped it into the tea. Stirring, I peered at him from the side of my eye, answering as politely as I could feign. “Mm, not in the same capacity.”

“No,” he said with a laugh full of humor I could not relate to. “Perhaps not. How’s my daughter doing, anyway? That girl can be a handful.”

“Prosperous,” Riley answered. I’d never seen him so cold.

Ronan’s eyes moved over him, a pause stretching between them as he took him in. Dismissively, he waved his hand, no longer caring to discuss the topic. Odd for a man who claimed to focus on God, country, and family. Which is exactly why I would never bite his bullshit. This was about power. It always would be for him.

“She’s dating. I’d say you’d get along great with her girlfriend but, you already know her.” I shrugged. “And I heard you didn’t get along too well.”

Ronan’s posture tightened. I was fishing. Did he know Jessa was there? For Reina’s sake, I prayed she wasn’t the leak we thought her to be. That she’d been honest in her confession to Reina. The blank stare behind his sea storm eyes was not fake. Ronan was the type to brag about his deceit—which, in theory, should have made it easier to trace leaks. But instead, it meant untangling truth from his web of half-truths and exaggerations, making the job of determining who among us was sharing information even harder. If there was anyone at all.

Again, Ronan changed the subject. Controlling what we did and did not discuss. I had my work cut out for me. Bringing him down would take patience. Time. There was no ‘politicking’ our way out of this. I could see that now. No. We’d have to hit him with brutal force and he wouldn’t stand a chance if he saw it coming.

“The resources,” his voice boomed, pulling me from my thoughts. “I’ll need to call in for them now.”

I smirked. “Resources? That’s what we’re calling people now? You’re getting creative with your euphemisms.”

He ignored me. “You’ve had a new influx of people. Quite the growing military you’re building—of course, I assume there’s no correlation between that and the lack of residents in Duluth.”

Naturally, any soldiers that had arrived from surrounding territories had become part of mine. Technically, under the new treaty for the war we thought was going to happen, they were already my soldiers. But with an increase of population, an increase in military personnel followed.

I preferred to keep my ratios within the historical realm of victory. One soldier per every forty citizens. Like America in Germany during World War II. Of course, my ratio had always been a bit more than that. Now, however, we were looking at about two soldiers per every thirty people. And I wanted more. I wasn’t done recruiting. I’d expected this to come up.

“No relation, pure coincidence.” I crossed my arms, not bothering to hide my irritation. It was. Duluth’s residents weren’t here—it wasn’t my fault he hadn’t thought to check the bunker. “What else am I supposed to do with soldiers, turn them into gardeners?”

His eyes narrowed. “No. I’m requesting two hundred.”

My mouth dropped open, then I laughed, a sharp, biting sound. “Two hundred? Two hundred of my soldiers? You’re joking.”

“I don’t joke.”

“That is what he said, yes.” Malachai chimed in, standing off to the side, nothing more than a smug mouthpiece.

I held up a hand to stop Riley before he could instigate a fight we could not win today.

“No way,” I said flatly, turning back to Ronan. “Over my dead body.”

He watched me, waiting. I knew his game. I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. “Fifty.”

“Fifty?” His lip curled. “Now what am I supposed to do with fifty soldiers? Do I appear to be the type of individual that bargains with lesser settlements.”

“That’s not my problem. Figure it out. What are you planning to do with them, anyway?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Nothing that concerns you,” he said smoothly.

“My monkeys, my circus.”

Riley, predictably, couldn’t hold back. “So you want a battalion and we don’t even get to know what for? You?—”

I cut him off, my tone firm. “Riley, let it go.”

He clenched his jaw, glaring daggers at Malachai. But he stayed quiet.

I turned back in my seat, eyeing Ronan over with a sweet, saccharine smile. “I want the trade agreement signed off right here, right now. You’ll get seventy-five. Don’t worry—they’ll be there before you even know it.”

I slipped my hand into my bag. The room tensed, everyone reacted, jumpy hands flew to their weapons—all but one. I took out the agreement and slammed it onto the table. Ronan didn’t flinch. He simply licked the tip of his pen and signed it, his gaze never leaving me. He didn’t read it. The issue had never been our requests—it was about making us suffer.

“It was a pleasure meeting with you. We’ll be in touch soon.” He dismissed me, but I wasn’t ready to leave.

“Actually,” I leaned forward, taking another sip of the now cold tea and entered his personal space. “I have a request of my own.”

My head felt light. A bit fuzzy. My thoughts scrambled a bit as I forgot what I’d come here to discover.

Ronan smiled back at me. One that made my skin crawl. It wasn’t pleasant but had hints of his own humor in there. He raised his head and tilted it, examining me out the side of his eye. “What would that be?”

It came back to me, just barely. I knew. I didn’t need to ask. His smile. The way I felt after the tea. There was no need to question him because I no longer cared. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. The how long, the why, the who. I didn’t need any other powering force to want to kill this motherfucker than his current actions. For once, the history, the root unrest and claim for power didn’t mean shit to me. The present was fueling enough.

“Tea for the road?” My voice dripped with innocence. I waved my empty canteen in the air. Malachai reached for it and poured the tea to the rim with an out of place desire to fulfill my request. Too eager.

“Careful now,” I said, smiling as I took it back from him, “wouldn’t want to spill.”

Malachai snatched me up from the chair, one hand on the back of my neck, the other slamming into Riley’s stomach. He shoved us outside the tent and blocked the entrance with his body.

“Safe travels,” I called out to Ronan now out of view as I brushed the dirt from my army green cargos.

Reinforcements swooped in and we took the hint. They escorted us to the edge of their encampment. Malachai’s eyes followed us until we were out of view and I offered him a mock salute.

“Why did you agree to that?” Riley walked as close to my side as he could, his voice low. I formed my own bout of wind, the opposite of the natural breeze, not wanting our whispers to be captured and delivered right out of earshot.

“Seth gave him everything.”

“What?” Riley whisper-yelled.

“The tea,” I said, motioning my hand down to lower his voice. “It’s poison. I took two sips and felt like I lost my shit. Reina and Moe said Seth was rambling nonsense before he … the last time they saw him.”

Riley teetered on the edge of turning around. It scared me, the thought of Riley and Ronan alone. Head-to-head. I doubted he’d fight fair, Malachai was all too eager to do his dirty work. I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.

He peered down at me. Together . That was our promise to each other. And I was right here with him, we were together, I was not harmed. I was okay. He exhaled slowly and gave a single nod. “You think he drugged his own son?” Riley asked.

“I think Ronan will do whatever he has to do to get what he wants. Including drug the person who loved him the most.” I tossed him the canteen as we crossed where the tree had previously been swarmed in vines. The bark lay bare before us. “Reina can test it but I’m sure of it. Who knows about the cavalry?”

Riley blinked twice in quick repetition. He’d made notes too. Contact had been made, initiated, we could go from there. “No one, just the others and Ramona.”

“Kill them.”

“General,” Riley said. It was a warning on the line I was crossing and confirmation that he would do as ordered. He only wanted to know why.

“Send your guys and kill them. That’s twenty right there that died along the way, for all he knows. Make it happen in another territory, preferably one he can’t retaliate against. Some place already in turmoil. It’ll buy us some time.” The words tumbled out of my mouth as the plan pieced itself together in my head.

Brutal, but necessary. I couldn’t save everyone, but I could stall. The ones loyal to us wouldn’t be the ones to suffer—that was all I could promise with the power I had left. “Then listen to the ground for anyone who remotely seems to sympathize with Seth. They’re to be questioned and shipped within the week.”

“Amaia,” Riley said, his voice cautious, prepared to talk me off a ledge.

“Yeah, Riley. I know.” I stopped pacing and met his gaze. “What choice do we have?”

He didn’t respond. His silence was answer enough. We both knew there weren’t any good options left. I hated this as much as he did, but our choice right now was morality versus mortality. One could be revived and the other could not.

“At least if he upholds our deal, the others won’t be experimented on. They won’t lose their lives, not like that.”

“And if he doesn’t?” Riley asked quietly, his eyes searching mine, searching for some sliver of hope.

I swallowed hard, the weight of it all sinking into my chest, as heavy as lead. “Better traitors than those 100 percent loyal.”

His jaw clenched, and for a moment, the air between us grew tense, a thread on the verge of snapping. But then he nodded, a slow, solemn acceptance. “Right.” His voice was steady, but I could hear the grief in it. He’d follow me through hell if I asked. I just wished I didn’t have to.