Endless Night (Fate's Intent Book 3) (16 page)

“We’re going on the mission to Maaki like ordered. You knew that.”

“Without being properly briefed? I don’t think so. Join me for breakfast at Carmen’s.”

Adele paused for a moment and looked down as if she was glancing quietly behind her. I knew she didn’t like it but I knew we needed it. “That’s not necessary, father. Brief us here.”

“It wasn’t a suggestion. You have five minutes and I really hope you’re not dumb enough to walk out of here with those horses.”

“Just in the process of changing that.”

“Good. Don’t let anyone see you do it.” He walked his horse out of its stall and rode out of the stables toward Carmen’s, the local eatery and always the General’s choice place to dine, making it most popular.

“Well, great. We get breakfast.” Jaylyn smiled.

“We’re not staying for food.” Adele said. “Just long enough to get the information we need and I have a bad feeling about this.”

“At least we woke up early.” I sighed.

“Apparently, not early enough. Come on.” Adele put her hand up to Zayden’s horse first and it started to turn a shiny black starting at the nose and soon covering the entire body.

“Well, I have to say, you look good.” The horse stomped his foot and grunted like he was disagreeing. “I know but it’s only temporary. Finish it.”

Adele nodded and stepped passed him to my man’s horse. The horse started panicking and backing up as she got closer and Muscles immediately grabbed the reins. “Easy. It’s all right.”

“Steady him, Darius.”

“Well, what can I say? It’s like taking away his manhood.”

“Just hold him!” Adele reached her hand out quickly and touched the horse’s nose.

In an instant, the horse turned a reddish brown and Muscles helped calm him down as best he could. “It’s okay. It’s done. You’re all right. You’re fine. You’ll get it back. Just try not to look at yourself.” It was cute how he did it.

Adele turned towards Troy’s horse with a laugh and he was keeping his focus away by having his head in his direction. “Go ahead.”

She nodded and put her hand on the side of his neck, turning it gray. I tried to hide my widening eyes but Jaylyn was in a locked stare. “Are you deaf? Remember what I said? You can’t—”

“Relax, Jaylyn. It’s fine. We’re leaving.”

Jaylyn sighed with her head down, speaking in a tone that was meant for herself. “Trever is not going to like this at all.”

No, he wouldn’t. At least if he saw it and by that I mean, I hope we’re out of there before he does.

Chapter 26

Zayden

The sun had risen higher in the sky and was seeming more like spring as the air started to warm up. We rode at a normal walking pace up the street, getting closer to the palace clearly ahead.

Luckily for us, Balwin Manor was on the same street as this place we were headed to and we didn’t have to cross any, drawing even more attention to ourselves.

“Oh no.” Jaylyn sighed.

“What’s the matter?” Troy asked.

“Take a guess.”

There was another gray horse ahead outside of Carmen’s up on the left.

“I assume that’s Roslyn.” I said. “Trever did say he would see us soon.”

“When?”

“I don’t remember him saying that.” Adele said.

“No. It was after. We were getting ready and Ruby needed help finding something.”

“Oh.” Adele looked right at Darius but he managed not to look back.  “Let’s try to make this quick.”

“Yes, please.” He muttered.

We stopped in front of Carmen’s and got off our horses, tying them up on the posts and heading right inside to waste no time.

There were all kinds of people around and the noise level was quite high.

“Wow, so alive this early.” I said. “Kind of weird.”

“This place never sleeps. Everyone comes here because this is where my father lives on his days off. This way.”

She led us through all of the people to a room in the back and paused just after a couple of steps in. The General was sitting on one of the couches with Trever, Ryon and Kole sharing another.

“Father.”

“Good. You made it.” The General stood up and walked to a doorway on his right. “You three follow me and you three stay here. They will make sure you’re—comfortable.”

“No!” Adele snatched, pulling me close to her in some sort of attempt to save me but I felt perfectly safe.

“Adele—trust.” General Balwin said.

“It’s not you I don’t trust.”

She had every reason to think she couldn’t trust anyone here but I did. I’ve only been around Trever for a few minutes since we’ve been here but I felt I could trust him on some level. I didn’t know why. I couldn’t explain it but there was something about him and I showed confidence in it. “It’s okay. Go.”

“Zayden, don’t—”

“Don’t worry. Just go. It’ll only be a minute.”

Adele’s hand slid down from holding my arm and she slowly started to part from me, stepping towards the door. Her eyes never left mine until she had no choice but to turn away and Ruby and Jaylyn followed.

“I suppose I must thank you, Zayden.” General Balwin said as he stayed behind. “She can sometimes be unsettling as I hope you can forgive me for making her that way.”

“There’s nothing to forgive.”

The General nodded but didn’t let his gaze last long and his eyes moved over to the other couch while he spoke. “I’ll keep them distracted as long as I can.”

He turned away, following the girls and there was definitely something going on here. That was a very scheming look he shared with Trever and I was ready to know what it was. I thought I could trust him but I guess I had doubts.

It was quiet. Breaths couldn’t even be heard and Trever seemed to wait until the General was completely out of sight before speaking. “Well, gentlemen, there seems to be a little problem.”

“Problem?” I’ve heard this before. We fully turned to them and I reached to my side while Troy put his hand on his sword next to me.

Ryon sighed to the assumption that this would turn into a fight. “Not that kind of problem. Pull that out and the problem will be your own.”

Trever sighed and hit him in the arm. “You said you’d be on your best behavior.”

“I am!”

Kole laughed. “You are aware that even his best still isn’t very good.”

“Yes, thank you.” Trever sighed again, turning his attention once more to us still on our feet. “Please, you’re our guests. Have a seat.”

Troy and I lowered our hands from our weapons and we all sat down on the adjacent couch with our eyes carefully on the lookout.

“You have a very unusual way of going about things.” I said.

“Yes, as I hope you can forgive me for the delay. This had to be done alone.”

“What’s the problem then?”

“Besides the fact they let you live?” Ryon said in a low disturbed voice.

“Enough!” Trever snatched.

Kole laughed again, trying to keep it to himself. I couldn’t even believe these three were friends. They were so different from each other then again, maybe they weren’t friends at all and this was just some kind of business arrangement.

“We seem to be in need of your help but there is also the issue of trust that has come up.” Trever went on. “We need to know that we can trust you before we go ahead and tell you what needs to be done.”

“Don’t hold your breath.” Ryon muttered. “And limit the use of the word we.”

“Only you can be the one to decide that you can trust us.” I said. “Who are we to tell you who to trust?”

“I need to hear you say it. What you’re about to hear is highly classified information that only four people know about and three of them happen to be sitting right here with you.”

“Their word isn’t good enough.” Ryon cut in. “You can’t trust a traitor.”

“Our options are limited on such short notice. We don’t really have a choice at this point.”

“Well, if you don’t have a choice, why would we have to say it?” It should have been a pretty obvious statement.

Ryon sighed that showed he was getting frustrated and stood up. “How about we forget it? Can’t send a bunch of kids to do a man’s job. I’m going.”

“I agree.” Kole replied as he stood up too. “I really want one of those drinks with the little floating thing in it. You can only find them there. It’s heartbreaking. Who decided that? We should kill him.”

“You want to go because of a drink?” Ryon seemed confused by his reason. “Are you insane?”

“You both are.” Trever said, pulling them back next to him. “And you’re not going. We have something else to do.”

“We do?” Ryon asked.

“Yes.”

“That could be rescheduled so we could go.”

“No. They’re going so they’ll do it.”

Curiosity finally struck me about something said. “What exactly will we be doing?”

“It’s about this mission. Let them worry about the test the General has given them and you just worry about keeping them alive.” It seemed odd to me. That was what we needed to do? “This will be one of those missions where they’ll require undercover aid for that reason.”

I looked at Darius and Troy and they seemed just as disturbed about this news as me.

“But they’re the Kalu Assassins.” Troy said. “They wouldn’t need aid.”

Laughter filled the room but I didn’t think his statement was funny. It was the truth. Wasn’t it?

“So you’d think.” Kole replied. “But we know those girls better than you. One slightest distraction would compromise any mission.”

“They don’t know about this, do they?” Troy asked.

Trever laughed. “No, but it was done in their best interest, I assure you. It’s one of the reasons they’re still alive today.”

“So, that’s it?” I asked.

“Well, before we allow you to leave with them, there is something particular you should know about your destination. They’re going after someone named Chan Doe at the pier. This is a very uneasy town as is why the requirement for aid. Never let them go anywhere alone. They are fully capable of handling it themselves if they are together but never let them go anywhere alone.”

Kole laughed while pulling his glass away from his lips. “Unless you want them falling victim to your initial plan of them.”

My eyes narrowed to the thought that they knew everything that happened during our meet because someone was watching. “Of course not.”

“Then just watch them.” Trever said. “Women are only seen as objects in that town.”

I already knew we wouldn’t allow rape to become an issue on this trip. I would never have Adele fall close to the risk again and we nodded, complying with the terms of the kind of aid that was requested of us.

“Good. Now remember not to say a word to them about this conversation and if anything happens to any one of them, physical or emotional, the outcome of this test will not matter and we’ll happily be your personal escorts back to Seni or be just as happy to deal with it ourselves, understand?”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that.” I smiled, glancing briefly to my sides. “They’re bringing us along for a whole other reason.”

Ryon laughed under his breath. “Yeah. To protect you from us.”

Kole laughed too and Trever tried to hold back his but a quiet laugh came out and he sucked it back in quickly by clearing his throat. “Yes, well, have a safe trip, would you? It’s going to be a long ride and you’ll need to save all of that strength.”

“Well, gentlemen, I hope you’re done.”

The General walked out before anything else could have been said and Trever answered like nothing was wrong. “Just finished, General.”

“Good. Join me for a moment, would you?”

“Of course.” Trever, Ryon and Kole got up and started to follow him into the back.

I watched Adele’s eyes lift while Ryon passed her but he didn’t even look.

“We need to talk.” Jaylyn had stopped Kole from continuing after them and they just stood in front of each other, eyes locked.

Kole’s eyes shifted back when he heard us rise to our feet. “Not with an audience.”

Jaylyn took his arm before he could turn away and jerked him back to her. “Nice try.”

“I already know Ellie went to see you this morning about her birthday, okay, Jay? It’s just too bad you won’t be there.”

“Not that I don’t want to be.”

“Who said I was disappointed? I always knew you’d cast her aside like you eventually do with everything.”

Jaylyn’s mouth dropped. “That’s not what I did!”

“Please. It’s only a matter of time anyway so think of this as just making your separation easier.”

Adele and Ruby both gasped lightly at the same time, drawing Jaylyn and Kole’s attention to them.