Page 11

Eighteen Years Old

The clicking of Marlena’s heels rang down the long, guard-lined hallway.

Fortis had always made Marlena feel like there was someone watching her, and it was likely because there was.

Lucius Dimico trusted no one, and neither did his father, or his father’s father.

There was a long line of untrusting commanders that dated back to before anyone currently alive in Tolevarre could remember.

The Dimicos always had something to hide, and when there was always something to hide, there was always a shoulder to look over.

Marlena didn’t hide, and she didn’t look over her shoulder. She held her head high, making no eye contact with any of the guards as she walked by.

Play the part.

She was Marlena Caelum, future seat holder of Amora and Aeris. She didn’t need a reason to show up unannounced to the fort city of Atrox, searching down the commander of Tolevarre.

She had only been to the commander’s home once, but she knew where the meeting room was—and the meeting room was never far from the leader’s personal office.

Two guards lined the double doors at the end of the hall, where Marlena knew she would find Commander Dimico. She took a deep breath and positioned herself in front of the doors, glancing idly at the guards in their fresh-pressed black uniforms.

They didn’t even look at her, didn’t pay her a single glance.

Marlena cleared her throat and crossed her arms like she’d seen her mother do a thousand times before when she wasn’t getting the attention she desired.

The female guard’s eyes landed on her, but not a muscle more moved besides her lips. “Commander Dimico isn’t taking visitors.”

Marlena motioned to the door. “Pity. He is now.”

Confidence, Marlena. Wear it like you own it. Make them bow.

Finally, the male guard decided Marlena was enough of a nuisance to step in. “You’ll have to come back.” He started to move towards her, reaching for her arm—he would likely force her out of here if he deemed it necessary.

Marlena’s invisibility washed over her. She stepped out of the guards’ way, watching both of their eyes blink rapidly as their faces flickered with confusion before she allowed herself to cloud back into view.

She was only a few feet away but far enough out of reach that she’d be able to disappear again if needed. “I’m only going to warn you once not to put your hands on me. If you do, I’ll make sure to remove the air from your lungs.”

She’d never tried, but she didn’t mind using this man as a test dummy.

Marlena wasn’t leaving this building without speaking to Lucius Dimico.

“Now, let’s try this again.” Marlena motioned to the door one more time. “Open the door for me. Or should I mention to the commander that his soldiers defy orders from the future Curia leader of Aeris and Amora? Please don’t make me hold a grudge until it’s my turn to rule.”

The woman didn’t hesitate this time, turning to grab her side of the double door. The man did though. He stared Marlena down, not budging an inch.

Marlena smiled slowly, letting it reach the corner of her eyes. “I’m an impeccable grudge holder.” The soft smile her parents had taught her to have wasn’t the one she donned now. The one that took its place was calculated, sinister. A promise.

Marlena stepped around the man, never glancing back as she stepped through the open door.

Commander Dimico sat at his desk, focused on whatever paperwork was on it. His blond hair was slicked away from his smoky-blue eyes, and his cape hung over the back of his chair. The commander looked only a little ruffled from a long day’s work.

“Marlena,” he quipped as a half-assed hello. “Is there a reason you’re here giving my guards a hard time and interrupting me unannounced?”

She stopped at the end of his desk, and the door to the office clicked shut from a small gust of her wind.

“Put a sound shield up.” Marlena didn’t ask.

Lucius’s head snapped up, his pen falling from his fingers. “Excuse me?”

The commander obviously wasn’t used to being bossed around, but that was okay…

Marlena could work with that. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I stuttered.

Let me try again. Put a sound shield up.

” She didn’t break eye contact. “Better?” A plan was beginning to form in her head, and a new sense of confidence had washed over her like a tide.

Lucius stood from his chair, and the grating sound from the legs scraping across the floor made Marlena twitch. She blinked away the fuzz inside her brain and crossed her arms over her chest lazily.

She waited, showing Lucius she wouldn’t shy away from him. Marlena would no longer flinch when anyone approached her. I am done being afraid. I’ve lived through worse.

The sound shield fell into place as Lucius gripped the side of his desk, leaning forward to get within a few inches of Marlena. “Watch how you talk to me, little girl.”

His warning should have frightened her, but it didn’t—it settled something inside Marlena instead.

He wouldn’t be rattled if he thought I wasn’t a threat.

Her lip ticked up on the side. She enjoyed the reaction she’d gotten from Lucius. “I could give you the same warning, but I won’t because I have something you want.”

He laughed in her face, but only after he’d hesitated for a second too long.

Just long enough for Marlena to catch it.

Lucius pushed himself back, away from Marlena as he pushed the chair in and walked around to come face to face again without anything in his way.

“Is that so?” His head cocked to the side, and Marlena saw the twinkle of amusement in his eye.

“Of course. You want power. It’s why you sided with me on the day my parents tried to take mine away.

Choosing my parents' side would take from you, wouldn’t it?

” Marlena was the one to cock her head now, imitating him.

Mocking him. “They want to pretend there isn’t a resistance, that the evil of this realm can be kept at bay if they give them just another crumb—throw them just one more bone, and they’ll be happy. ”

Lucius was listening, the muscles in his body tightening as Marlena hit every nail on the head.

“They want the power to themselves. They think they’re better than the rest of you, more powerful. That by having their daughter hold the seat to two Curia territories, they’ll never fall. A well-placed puppet to keep their hands in the metaphorical cookie jar.”

The commander’s demeanor was calculated, etched from years of practice.

His face gave away nothing, but Marlena could see the wheels turning behind his eyes…

She could see his interest piquing by the way his sound shield grew stronger.

His ability wrapped them in a tighter bubble to ensure they weren’t heard by anyone else.

“Is that what you are, Marlena? A well-placed puppet?”

I was.

Catching herself before she let self-pity slip through, Marlena waggled her head left to right, swallowing that nasty rising emotion down. “Not in the way they planned me to be.”

Revenge was best served cold.

“I want to take it all away from them. Every last bit of power, of control they think they have. And if you follow along, I can give you everything you’ve ever craved, everything you deserve.”

Promises. Her world had been forged off promises. The promise of a life no one else had. The promise of power.

And behind everyone’s back, her parents would tell her how much she was allowed to have. They would only give her what they thought necessary while they basked in all they would keep from her.

Marlena was done being the puppet. It was time to become the master—to use what she’d been taught.

It was only a matter of time before the student became the teacher.

The hook was floating in the water, dangling by a bobber. All Lucius had to do was reach out and bite it. “And you plan on doing that how?”

Marlena adjusted Lucius’s lapel. His eyes watched her delicate hands before shooting back to Marlena’s siren-like gaze.

She could call him out to sea, but he would have to take the bait himself.

“By taking them down from the inside. What better way to rid ourselves of both our problems at the same time than by doing so at the hands of the last person they’d expect?

” Marlena raised her brow. That’s exactly what her parents were—a problem.

A problem she only saw one ending for.

All her life, Marlena had been overlooked. By everyone, but mostly by her parents. They’d paid attention to Vega more—to the power that simmered beneath her little sister’s skin. They didn’t pay attention to the anger and hatred growing in their eldest daughter’s heart.

She’d hid it well, and she would continue to hide it until the time was right. There was still much to do before Marlena made her strike. Her first order of business was to find the people who would fight behind her, people who were sick of being told what they could and could not do.

Lucius continued to study her. “And you think you’re strong enough to do that?”

Marlena straightened her spine, standing up to her full height.

She wasn’t much shorter than the commander in her heels.

“It’s not always about physical strength,” she mused.

“I’m smart enough to do it… and at the end of the day, Commander, that’s what it all boils down to.

You have the brawn, congratulations, but I? I have the brain.”

While everyone watched as Vega grew stronger, no one paid attention to how smart, how cunning Marlena was becoming or what she was studying when no one was looking.

She’d spent a lot of time being under the watchful eye while in public, assuring she didn’t do or say anything she shouldn’t… but no one watched when she was alone.

And when she was alone, Marlena had time to plot.

Her answer snagged him by his lip when he finally bit on the hook dangling out in the open. She already knew she had him hooked because she knew men like him. They just had to think they made decisions on their own.

“When are you making your move?” Lucius asked.

Taking a step back, Marlena began to roam around the room. She grazed her finger down the length of his desk, eyes landing on a map of Tolevarre so old she knew it was an original passed down through Fortis lineage. Lucius watched her every move.

“When the time is right.” She pointed to the map.

“When we have enough allies to do this once, and only once.” People failed when they didn’t take their time.

Marlena wouldn’t move too fast—she would do this right.

“This is a long game, Lucius. We’re not overthrowing a multi-thousand-year-old government overnight.

We aren’t doing it in a week, a month, and certainly not a year.

” She leaned herself over the back of his chair, liking that the table had turned and she was on the other side.

“We do this my way. Clearly, no one else that your ancestors have put their trust in succeeded. Mira Viator, for example. She messed up, got caught, and your family pointed a finger at her like she was working alone. Like Fortis and Fraus haven’t been in cahoots for hundreds of years trying to find new ways to crumble the very foundation our world was built on… ”

His body froze at the mention of Mira. “Where did you get that information?”

Marlena’s smile grew wider. “It’s pretty easy to find what you’re looking for when you know where to look.” And I’ve been looking for years.

“If you’re so willing to backstab the very people who birthed you, who’s to say you won’t do it to the people willing to side with you?” he asked, stalling.

A slight shrug of her shoulder was answer enough, but she would elaborate if it was the nudge Lucius needed.

“I guess that’s the risk you’ll have to weigh out yourself, but let me remind you that my parents were willing to strip me of the only opportunity they’d ever given me.

They’ve never cared about me. They didn’t raise this daughter to love. They raised her to rule.”

There was a break of silence where the two stared at each other in a battle of who would crack first.

I’m done cracking.

Lucius broke. “What all is in it for me?”

“What do you want?” Marlena cooed, pushing herself off the back of the chair, then meandering around to position herself in front of him again .

There was barely any hesitation in his answer.

“I want control of Fortis.” Commanders didn’t rule over their territories—they ran the army while another family member sat at the head of their seat.

“I want a promise that my lineage, my son, will be the next commander of Tolevarre. He, as you were, was born to rule. Gifted by the gods to be stronger, better than anyone or anything before him.”

Rumor had it Lucius Dimico’s son, the one who had warned Marlena to stay away, was the strongest warrior their people had ever seen.

“That’s all?” she asked.

“Marriage. You said you’d never be reduced to the birthing heir, but what if I can offer you a connection to Fortis and Fraus? Forever.”

“I’m not interested in a three-way with you and your wife, I’m afraid,” Marlena jeered. She knew where he was getting at, but the words had to be delivered outright. He had to make his demands clear.

He boomed a laugh, vibrating Marlena’s insides.

“While I won’t deny your beauty, Marlena, I’m not interested in getting myself tied up with whatever madness you have going on inside that head of yours.

” He raised an eyebrow. “But my son, Bridger. A union with him would be a promise of power for years and years to come.”

Marlena weighed her options. And the choice was easy.

“You have yourself a deal.” It wasn’t a promise of love—love that Marlena had once craved.

It was a promise of power, and power would get her farther than love.

She stepped back, putting space back between them.

“You’re cordially invited to my parents’ Saturnalia celebration. Bring your allies and your son.”

Her heels matched the rhythm of her walk again as she strode for the door, her back to the commander.

“If you don’t show, I’ll take that as your refusal to accept my offer, Lucius.

” The door opened on her gust of wind, the guards standing wide-eyed outside the door when it slammed open.

“And I won’t hesitate to do this without you.

I’ll go to your allies next.” Marlena glanced over her shoulder before she left.

“ And I doubt they’ll want as much in return for a taste of the power I’m offering.

” She winked and strutted her way out through the foyer, never looking back again.

I am about to become my parents’ worst nightmare, and it’s exactly who they raised me to be.