Page 56 of Lies That Blemish
Commander Ledger hung his head into his hands, and rubbed his temples, and then looked up into my eyes. It was like looking at an older Jace. “The people aren’t ready for this. You tell them you married Kohen Badshah, and they will have you hanging from a tree in Emberlane Park by nightfall.”
“He’s right,” Admiral Caruso said.
My heart fell. “But we have evidence of what my father did.”
Blade nodded. “We also have a confession that Badshah killed your father and then killed you. Even if it was to retaliate for what your father did to his. People won’t see him in a good light. He’s still a killer.”
They were right. How did you overcome years of prejudice and smear campaigns? They would hold anything they could against Kohen, against his people. Even armed with the truth. The very men and women in this room were doing it. They were still judging Kohen on his past, on rumors, on where he was from.
“He didn’t kill my father to retaliate. He did it to protect me. My father was also behind the attack on my life at boot camp,” Ideclared. Might as well just let the whole truth out there, at least with everyone in this room.
Gasps, more shocked expressions.
I opened my mouth to say more when Liana burst into my mind with frantic energy.‘Get outside. Zara is here without Valor.’
It felt like the entire room spun as I bolted up from my chair, muttering something about my sister’s creature being outside, and then I ran. Down the hall, past the kitchen, and out the front door, I burst into the yard of my father’s palatial mansion and skidded to a halt when I saw Zara, bloody gashes all along her left side, her right wing burned slightly.
‘Luskins took Victory on our way to Sky Reach,’she rambled into my mind.‘Elaine fought with all she had but will die without help. Vespa died. Valor and Virtue are safe and hiding in the woods where I left them.’
A sob, which turned into an angry roar, ripped from my throat.
Admiral Caruso burst outside behind me. “What’s wrong?”
I felt out of my body, unsure how I got from where I was standing to Liana’s back.
“Luska took Victory. Vespa is dead. Elaine is dying,” I managed to say before Liana took off after Zara, who was leading the way.
Vespa was the first creature who’d ever let me touch her. I’d grown up as a young child with her in my bed every night as Elaine put me to sleep.
‘You’re sure Vespa is gone, not just injured?’I managed to ask Zara, finding I could speak to her as easily as I could with Liana.
‘I’m sure. She’s… dead,’was all she said.
‘Did they hurt Victory? Did they leave demands?’So much rushed through my head. Kohen saying he saw a future whereVictory had been taken. Elaine being hurt and wondering if Valor could heal her.
‘Victory was unhurt when I last saw her. They left a letter.’
Stars, I felt sick—my sweet little sister carted off into Luska. Would they torture her? Of course they would. She might be fourteen, but she was an Everhart. The sick feeling became too much, and I leaned over Liana and vomited into the sky.
‘They might not have plans to harm her. Wait until you read the letter,’Liana told me.
It was good advice, but I couldn’t calm my mind. I was already mentally living in a terrible future without Vespa, Elaine, or Victory.
It took a nerve-racking two hours of flying before we got close to my sisters. Zara was a fast flyer, but not as fast as Liana, and we had to follow her. She couldn’t explain where in the woods they were hiding, but she remembered how to get there.
When we stumbled upon our family car, flipped over on the road, and smoking, I gasped. There was blood… tire marks—so much blood.
Six bodies. I counted six bodies. Dizziness washed over me as I identified our driver, Verik.
‘Sorry. Your driver lost his life fighting. I forgot to tell you. The others are Luskin. Elaine killed them.’
Verik. He’d been our driver for as long as I could remember.
I peered over at her.‘It’s okay, you’ve been through a lot.You did the right thing hiding the girls and Elaine in the woods and then getting me.’
I could see the pain in her eyes. She was hurting because Valor was hurting. Valor, a triplet who had scarcely ever been without her sister, had just witnessed a live kidnapping, and her mother figure was near death.
I realized I hadn’t thought enough to stop and get a med-kit, and prayed that Elaine was still alive. I couldn’t go throughVictory being kidnapped and mourning Elaine’s death at the same time. It would end me.
