Samuel told part of the story. Titus weighed in. Mason added a few words. Gunner remained silent.
With me gone, Gunner had put Jalaine back on at the arena office. They all thought it the wise thing to do. She ran the office better than anyone. That day she had run an errand, and Samuel guessed that when she returned to the office she found him and the men who guarded the door on the floor, blood running from their heads. Samuel had drifted in and out of consciousness. He saw strange men rummaging through drawers and closets, trying to find the day’s revenues. He figured that Jalaine had walked in, spotted the intruders, and then saw him lifeless on the floor, and had run.
“By then the whole arena had been overrun,” Titus said. He and Gunner were trapped in the apartment when it happened, with unknown attackers banging on the barred door to get in. They had both looked out the apartment window trying to figure out who the attack was coming from. They saw Jalaine run to the tower above the office where the Valsprey lofts were kept. She disappeared inside and then she was at the terrace wall releasing one of the birds, but arrows began flying through the air. One of them brought the Valsprey down.
Was this the bird that had somehow managed to reach Kazi and me? Why else would Jalaine release the bird unless she was sending a message?
“The next thing we saw was—” Titus paused. His lips rolled over his teeth. “We saw Jalaine fall from the top of the tower. They threw her over the side.” His hands pulled into fists on the table, but his eyes were empty, like every bit of emotion had already been drained from him. He said the banging on the door stopped, and he and Gunner managed to make it to the office to get Samuel, but they couldn’t recover Jalaine’s body from the arena floor. They lived and hid in the forest for a week before they were
able to reach the vault. They didn’t even know who the attack came from for another week after that.
Mason leaned forward, his head in his hands. “We still don’t know how Rybart was able to launch such a large assault. For weeks he was everywhere.”
“And the weapons?” Titus added. “The king says we were stockpiling them, but we know that’s not true. All we can figure is that when Zane was making deliveries, he stole the plans and cut a deal with Rybart.”
“It wasn’t Rybart attacking the town,” I said. “It was the king. Beaufort was working with him from the very beginning. He’s the one behind all this, he and his magistrate, who is now his general. Zane was the go- between.”
“What?”
“From the beginning?” “The king?”
Disbelieving mumbles circled the table.
Paxton nodded to confirm what I said. “Rybart and his crew were victims in this too.”
The mumbles quieted and glares were aimed at Paxton, his first words met with hatred. They still weren’t ready to believe anything he said, even the truth, and I wondered if some of them might fly across the table and throttle him. They had seen him standing with the king, and I realized Kazi held the same reviled place in their hearts.
I came here for help and found the opposite. I discovered a vault full of disheartened survivors. I discovered my sister was dead. Discovered that Kazi had been thrown to the wolves by my own family. That my wife was going to be hanged. I promise you, Kazi. They will listen. They will love you. The kitchen was suddenly suffocating. I couldn’t breathe. More broken promises surfaced. You’ll be fine in the morning, Sylvey. I promise. Close your eyes and sleep. I stood abruptly, the chair flying backward, and I turned and walked out. Back through the storeroom, the study, the catacomb of rooms. A rumble of footsteps followed after me. Where are you going, Jase? What are you doing? Talk to us.
I reached the main entrance tunnel and crossed to the greenhouse door, spun the wheel, and opened it. I needed to make sure it was still there, like my last hope hadn’t disappeared too.
“Jase!” Priya called. I glanced over my shoulder. They were all following me, maybe afraid I would do something crazy. I had just learned my sister was murdered and my wife had been turned over to a fiend. Doing something crazy seemed like the sane thing to do.
I passed mounds of fresh dirt. This was where they were burying the dead. Spades were still stuck in the soil, ready, like they were waiting for more.
A goat skipped away. Where it had come from, I had no idea, but it hadn’t fallen in. I looked up at the hole high in the cave roof. Foliage surrounded it like a lush green collar, and water dripped from the vines. Usually it had a calming effect, but with fresh graves dug below, there wasn’t too much that was calming about the greenhouse now.
I crossed the cave, no, I stomped like my steps would bend the world to my will, that it would somehow stop the madness. I climbed the uneven side of the cave, finding footholds in the rock, then reached behind a stony ridge, yanking the bag of ammunition out first and then the launcher.
I turned and held it up. “Did she tell you about this too?”
Priya’s face pinched with shame. She nodded. “I heard her as we ran away. She said you had hidden a weapon in the greenhouse. I looked for it when we came back but couldn’t find it. I thought it was only more lies.”
“Even after—” My throat felt like it was swelling shut. “Even after you betrayed her, she tried to help you. And she would have told you exactly where it was, if you had given her the chance.”
“We didn’t know, Jase,” Mason said.
I looked at the launcher in my hand. This. This was all I had to try to save her—one launcher against their hundreds. I dropped it to the ground and stepped closer to the huddle staring at me.
“She laid her life on the line to save me!” I said, pounding my chest. “She laid her life on the line to save Lydia and Nash! She never showed any fear, but you know what she was afraid of? You! All of you! Do you have any idea how much courage it took for her to return here with me? She
heard all those things you said to her. What you were going to do to her. I told her that you would understand. You would listen. That you would love her again. Because that’s what families do.” I felt myself cracking into a thousand pieces. “I guess that makes me a liar, doesn’t it?”
Priya shook her head, her eyes glistening, and she reached out and pulled me to her, held me, and I broke down in her arms. A big hulking Kbaaki, sobbing on her shoulder. They all gathered round, holding me, holding one another, Samuel, Aram, Titus, Mason, and Priya. Everyone but Gunner.
He turned and walked out the greenhouse door.
 |
We untangled ourselves. Wren, Synové, and Paxton stood off to the side, their eyes wide, as if afraid to be drawn into a circle of fury and tears that made no sense, not even to me. Was it possible to love and hate someone at the same time? It was habit for me, habit to turn to family, but maybe it was time to break that habit.
And then another voice: “Jase.” We all turned toward it.
Samuel stepped forward. “Mother, you’re supposed to be lying down,” he scolded.
“It’s true,” she said, staring at me. “You’re alive.” I stared back, not sure what to think.
She put her hand on her swollen belly. “Your father’s last gift to me.” She shook her head. “I know, it’s not a good time for another baby.”
A baby? No, it wasn’t a good time. It was a very bad time. “But you said that about all of us, didn’t you?” I answered. “We came at the worst possible time? It all worked out, though.”
She nodded. “And it will work out again.”
I went to her, and this time she was the one crying on my shoulder, my mother who never shed tears. And then she made me repeat that Lydia and Nash were safe. “Yes, they’re safe. Paxton’s straza took them to the Vendan settlement.” I told her they’d be well cared for but would have to stay there until this was all over. “It’s the safest place for them to be.” I explained that
they would be hidden in the root cellar just as I was, and that it was Paxton who had taken me there after I was injured in an attack.
She looked at Paxton and then, without hesitation, she went and embraced him, murmuring her thanks. He awkwardly returned her hug, looking over her shoulder at me uncertainly.
I nodded.
He patted her back.
She turned to face me again, wiping her eyes. “Even in the hardest of times, our family grows in unexpected ways,” she said. “Now, what’s this about you being married?”
