Page 57 of Lies That Bind
She knew. She knew Kohen was here, but I was empress now, and there was nothing she could do about it. I stepped out of theroom, shutting the door behind me as we walked down the long hallway to the command room.
The guard that stood outside of it saluted us as we approached. “Please go wake Commander Ledger and Admiral Caruso,” Elaine said.
He nodded and left his post as I placed my hand on the door to go inside.
Elaine grasped my shoulder, gently stopping me. I looked up at her.
She peered back down the hall in the direction of my room. “Istronglyadvise against that,” she said.
I sucked in a breath, waiting for more. Waiting for,What the hell were you thinking, Aisling? He’s Imbrian, and not just any Imbrian, your family’s sworn enemy…
But that was all she said.
“Noted,” I responded and stepped into the room.
Maybe that was it. She warned me, and Kohen and I would take a break now so others wouldn’t catch us. Yes, that must be what he was talking about. Because I couldn’t focus on the alternative. My father was right. Love made you weak. I couldn’t let Kohen be my weakness, taking up my thoughts during important meetings. I’d have to trust that everything would be okay.
Elaine laid the thick white envelope on the table as we waited for the others. It was a bulging package with something more than paper in it, which made me nervous for some reason.
The second Caruso and commander Ledger walked in, Elaine updated us all.
“This was given to our messenger on the Wall less than an hour ago. I assume it’s from Maxim.”
She handed me the bulging envelope, and I tore it open, forgetting about possible poison and wearing gloves. I half expected him to have sent his underwear back to me with someweird marriage proposal to explain the bulky package. But when my eyes landed on the three identical purple bows, I screamed.
Elaine gave a garbled cry as well, and Commander Ledger and Admiral Caruso were asking what it was.
I didn’t answer or read the letter. That would be a waste of time.
I burst from the room, running for the stairs, as visions of my three beautiful sisters, slain and left for dead, infiltrated my head.
‘Liana.’I could barely speak, even mentally.
‘I’m waiting for you. I will fly faster than you’ve ever experienced before, and we will check on them.’
She knew. I’d stopped questioning how in my head she was. All the time? Or just when she felt panic and danger? I didn’t care right now. We hadn’t set the house up with a phone yet. Doing that would register them with the operator system, telling them that my sisters lived there, and Elaine and I agreed we didn’t want that, so we’d left it off-grid. I regretted that deeply now.
My thighs burned as I took the stairs three at a time, huffing and puffing.
‘Onyx wants to know what’s wrong.’
If I told Onyx, he would tell Kohen. I couldn’t think of all that right now. I had to think of my sisters.
‘Say nothing,’I told her.
When I reached the top of the bunker, a full-on panic had overtaken me. Were they dead? Did that bastard kill my sisters like he’d promised he would? If they were, I would die too. First my mother, then my father—if my sisters were taken from me, I’d have no will to live. I wasn’t that strong.
I burst from the door, scaring the guard on duty, and ignored his salute.
Leaping onto Liana’s back, I grasped the harness handle, and she shot for the sky. Onyx peered at us with a cocked head.
Did Kohen know and not tell me? If Kohen knew my sisters were going to die and didn’t tell me, I’d kill him. I cared for him, but I had limits. Was this why we would stop talking for a long time?
I nearly went mad on the flight to Riverine. I had to close my eyes and tuck my chin to my chest to keep from inhaling bugs. My ears puckered as Liana indeed flew faster than I’d ever seen her before. She was like a rocket.
My heart pounded in my throat as I prepared myself to see my sisters dead. Tears welled in my eyes, and I felt Liana reach out to me with her calming energy.
‘Do not count your eggs before they hatch, young one. The bows could have been a threat. If Maxim wants to truly marry you, he knows you won’t come willingly if he kills your sisters.’
