In the Wake of the Wicked (Veridian Empire #1)

33. Rose

33

Rose

I rushed across the room to the windowsill, brow furrowing at the shadow on the narrow ledge outside. An amaranth stem was already beneath my tongue and waiting as I slowly turned the bronze handle. A cold wind swept through the small space, the midnight air bleeding into my dark room, making my skin prickle.

A hand grasped the edge of the window pane, and I gasped.

“Sorry to frighten you,” a familiar voice said.

I let out a huff, my heart racing. “ Aris . What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doing? Making sure you’re not dead.”

Everything I’d learned in the last hour lingered fresh in my mind, Gayl’s final threat still ringing in my ears. If he caught Leo sneaking around the palace with all of his grand ideas of treason and dethroning…it wouldn’t take much to give the emperor a reason to strike.

“You shouldn’t be here,” I hissed, keeping the window cracked. Leo gazed back at me with mild irritation, his usual cloak pulled low over his forehead. My attention flicked down to where he crouched on the ledge, mere inches from falling three stories to the hard ground below. One corded arm rested casually on his knee while the other held the window open.

“How did you even get up here?” I asked.

He smirked. “You do remember I’m half Shifter, right?” As if summoned, his brown tail twitched beneath his cloak, coming up to swipe at the wrist I had firmly pushed against the window pane. “Let me in, Rose.”

I refused to budge, worry working its way through my system. As usual, my lips moved quicker than my brain, tossing out the first thing that came to mind. “But what will people say? The two of us alone at this hour. How scandalous .”

“Funny. Would you rather I throw rocks at your window all night?”

“Well, now, that sounds romanti?—”

“Alright, I tried being polite.” He flexed his arm and pushed against the pane, causing me to rear back as it banged open. But when he attempted to slide through the window, he slammed into something solid, as if an invisible barrier had appeared in the air. He let out a curse and a grunt of pain.

It was my turn to smirk. “Did I not mention my room is warded against trespassers?”

He growled something that sounded like “ Horace, ” and glared at me expectantly. “Are you going to let me in?”

I tapped my finger on my chin. These games with him were becoming more fun as time went on. He was so easily riled, and I welcomed the diversion after the conversation with Gayl. “What’s the magic word?”

“ Rose .” His face was practically apoplectic. When I simply raised an eyebrow, he rolled his eyes and said, “ Please, will you let me in?”

“That wasn’t so hard. Fine, you may enter.”

Gracefully, he pulled himself through the open window and unfolded into a standing position, towering over me. “Did he hurt you?” Leo asked, all annoyance and banter forgotten as his eyes raked over my form. It sent a wave of heat under my skin .

“No,” I said quickly. At his suspicious look, I added, “So sweet of you to care, though. Really, I’m touched. But you can leave now.”

He scrubbed a frustrated hand over his chin. “Do you ever take anything seriously?”

The smile wiped from my face. “I’m sorry, Aris, I guess volunteering for a tournament that could kill me while agreeing to spy on the emperor for your little rebel group wasn’t serious enough for you.”

Regret leaked onto his features. “That wasn’t what I—Rose, I’m sorry. I was…worried.” His jaw ticked at the admission. “I watched the west tower from the forest, waiting any moment for your body to go flying off the edge.”

I swallowed and turned away. I could see how genuine he was, and the idea that he’d cared enough to watch for me made something squirm in my chest. No matter what cheeky or defensive words I continued to throw at him, he still waited.

Grabbing my robe off the bed and striding to the bathing chamber, I quietly said, “I’m fine. I promise.”

I wasn’t fine. But I wasn’t ready to have that conversation with anyone.

The chamber was so silent for a few moments that I thought he’d actually left, but then the wooden chair by my bed creaked. He still waited .

I ignored him and the confusing emotions bubbling inside me, continuing to strip out of my clothes in the bathing chamber. I felt Gayl’s presence, my uncle’s presence, lingering like smoke over every inch of fabric. I wanted to be rid of it until I could figure out what the last couple of hours meant to me.

“You couldn’t bother to shut the door?” Leo asked, voice strained.

That made my lips twitch, momentarily knocking the meeting with Gayl aside. “Not exactly used to having guests,” I said, keeping my body out of his eyesight but making a show of tossing my worn clothes and undergarments onto the bed. I splashed cool water on my face and pulled on my robe, pinning my long hair back with a clip. When I entered the room again, I found him sitting in the chair, one leg propped atop the other knee, eyes trailing me.

“What do you want, Aris?” I asked, not unkindly.

He uncrossed his legs. “What do I want ? You just had a private meeting with Theodore Gayl .”

I tightened my robe around me. “Official business, then.”

He paused. “And to make sure you’re alright.”

There it was again. That flicker of concern. “Thank you,” I said softly. “I’m safe, though. He didn’t touch me.”

Leo nodded, but his lips were twisted, as if he didn’t quite believe me. “What did he want to meet with you for?”

I busied myself with going through my pack of herbs, if only to give my hands something to do. What could I tell him? That Gayl was my uncle? Absolutely not. I wasn’t prepared to touch that revelation yet. The idea of revealing that I was related to this man we were actively working against made me feel…shame, for some reason. As if there must be something wrong with me . I’d already had my entire province view me in a negative light, and I didn’t want to ruin what I’d potentially found with these strangers. I still wanted to work with them, and I needed time to sort through my feelings.

Could I tell him the real story of the night he and Rissa were born and how the Somnivae curse was cast? Could I fling those truths at him now? How Leo had to?—

No, I needed to sort through that , too. If Gayl had been lying, I didn’t want to send Leo hurtling toward some self-sacrificing suicide mission. Even though I hadn’t known the man before me for long, I knew that was something he’d do without a second thought.

But if Gayl wasn’t lying…if Leo did need to die to end the curse…

I shut down that line of thinking. What was I going to do, stab him in my bedroom and see if thousands of people all over the empire woke up?

My fingers twitched, imagining for just a moment what might happen. Freezing him with a compulsion spell, watching those dark eyes widen in shock. Holding my dagger to his throat, so close my chest would brush against his, feeling the strength of his heart beating to mine. The tip of my blade scraping that rough stubble. His strong jaw flexing, hands fighting the magic, veins in his neck straining.

One second. That’s all I’d need to end this curse. A dagger across his throat, warm blood coating my fingers, rivers of red flowing and coalescing down my arm.

My father’s face appeared in my vision, causing the edges to go gray. I rubbed at my temple and took a deep breath. There had to be another way. A way that didn’t involve another innocent man dying.

I just needed time .

Leo was still waiting for me to respond. I poked and prodded through Gayl’s tale to see what little information I could offer. Some shrapnel of the truth, if only to keep the Sentinels off my back while I figured things out.

“Gayl is originally from Feywood,” I said, picking nervously at a small burlap pouch. “Did you know that?”

“No, we didn’t.” He went silent, giving me space to continue.

“He grew up there. And he—he knew my father.” I swallowed hard, fighting to tell the entire story. “They were friends, I think. He said he recognized me when he saw me the day before the first trial, and he wanted to meet me. See if I was really who he thought I was.”

Leo’s eyes narrowed. “That’s all he wanted? To chat about old times ?”

“He didn’t give me the secret password to his hidden lair of Grimoires, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“You’re deflecting again.”

I threw my hands in the air. “I don’t know what he wanted, alright? Maybe he missed an old friend. I don’t know what else to tell you, Aris.”

Perhaps I am not the monster you have been so eager to believe .

We both went quiet. Tension filled the air, but not the same kind I’d felt with him before, with a spark of warmth that pushed at my chest. This tension was cold and empty. A chasm widening between us, any hint of our growing rapport siphoned from the space.

I shifted uncomfortably on my heels as Leo ran his fingers through his dark hair, causing a strand to fall and curl against his forehead. “Rose, I—” He let out a sigh. “Can we start over?”

I stared at him, lips parting in surprise.

He rose from his seat. “I don’t know what I did to make you dislike me so much?—”

My eyes widened in disbelief as I let out a soft snort.

“Alright, fine, I said some things I shouldn’t have. Things I didn’t mean. Rissa is always telling me…” Shaking his head, he took a step forward. “I’m sorry. It’s easy for me to get caught up in what’s at stake and what I could lose. My entire life has been focused on protecting those close to me, and it’s made me…” He trailed off, his eyes roving the air as if searching for a word.

“Obstinate?” I offered dryly.

“ Determined . I know we didn’t get off on the right foot.”

I crossed my arms. “Are you referring to when you tried to choke me, or when you called me a joke?”

“You’re not so innocent in all of this, either.” He took a step closer. “Might I remind you how you cast a compulsion spell on me, then tried to attack me, then outed me to my sister for sneaking around the palace?”

My lips twitched, the cold strain from the room beginning to soften. “That last one might have been too far.”

“Not everything has been bad,” he said, quieter this time as he stopped right before me. “I did save your life in the forest. And healed your injury.” His eyes fell to my side, his stare burning a hole through my thin robe.

“I suppose that’s true,” I murmured back.

“I want us to work together. Not only out of necessity, but because we want to. I may have been bitter at first about Lark and my sister giving this task to you, but that’s only because it’s something I’ve been working toward for so long. Bringing Gayl down…it’s personal to me. After everything he did to my father, everything he took from us, this isn’t just another mission.

“But I know now that it’s personal for you, too. Your uncle is under the curse. I see how resolved you are, and I think Lark chose well.” His voice was intent, focused, as he gazed down at me. He was always so intense . So powerful. It pulled me to him, like I was caught in his orbit. “Forget what you heard me say before. I was an idiot. You’re the furthest thing from a joke, Rose Wolff, and you’ll never catch me saying it again.”

I opened my mouth and then closed it, pressing my lips together. This man kept surprising me. “I’m sorry, too,” I finally said. “I haven’t made it easy for you, attacking you every time you tried to talk to me. Defensiveness is second nature to me at this point.”

“Because of the people back home?” he asked, that crease at his forehead deepening. “And the things they say about you?”

He remembered. I’d forgotten about that part of the conversation on his horse. Nodding, my eyes fell from his and onto a spot on the wall behind him.

“I’m not like them, Rose.”

I gave him a half-hearted smile. “I used to think you were. But maybe I was wrong, too.”

“So what do you say?” he asked, so close his breath warmed my cheeks. “Can we start over? Be friends?”

I met his penetrating stare, remembering all too well the sense of anger and retribution I’d had toward him after discovering Branock Aris was his father. The frustration at his enormous ego, at the way he seemed to have so little faith in me, at those backhanded comments that masked his own pride. It’s not like I didn’t have pride of my own. To an unhealthy degree. I knew he hadn’t meant those words, just as I knew the man before me was not his father.

This grudge I’d held, this vengeance for a man who was long dead, was a bitter excuse to keep Rissa and Leo at arm’s length. To do what I always did and drive people away. To protect myself from giving too much to someone, only to lose them in the end. My mother, my father, Beth, Ragnar, even Aven—perhaps not him personally, but every boy who’d seen me through the eyes of our town. A wicked little secret, a social outcast they could hide in their bed and discard when better options came along. When they found someone they could build a life with, once they had their fun with me.

I didn’t have this . I didn’t have…friends, outside of my family and Beth, whom I only saw several times a year. The fact that Leo wanted that with me sent an unfamiliar light through my chest, stretching my walls.

Searching those deep pools before me, I tried to let that misplaced, molten well of revenge against him go.

He wanted to start over. I did, too. If I could only turn that part of me off and release this vendetta.

But I couldn’t tell him everything. I couldn’t tell him his life was the key to ending the Somnivae curse. I couldn’t tell him I was related to Theodore Gayl. What if he no longer trusted me? What if he thought I was on Gayl’s side the whole time and was going to betray them?

And I couldn’t tell him that maybe, just maybe, I’d started to believe Gayl wasn’t who we thought he was.

What was one more secret? One more lie?

We see dark, hidden secrets, a deceitful tongue. For in the wake of the wicked, your poison will come.

Let it come. I’d deal with that later—right now, I wanted to take something for myself.

“Yes,” I said. “I think I’d like that, Leo.”

His answering smile tore through me, stealing the breath from my lungs. I don’t think I’d ever seen him smile—not like this, not like the sun breaking through the clouds, those dazzling eyes sparking like a jewel in a flame.

“That’s the first time you’ve said my name.”

I bit my lip, holding back my own smile. “That’s the first time you’ve earned it.”

He huffed out a soft laugh, right as his hand came up to brush an escaped tendril from my face. I froze, the rough pads of his fingers like a searing trail of heat against the sensitive skin at my cheek.

His arm fell away. “I’m glad he didn’t hurt you.”

The words triggered something in me, and my spine stiffened even further. The idea of Gayl hurting someone…

“There’s one more thing,” I rushed out. “He knows about the Sentinels. When I followed him the first time, he and his advisor mentioned it, but I forgot about it with all the chaos of the first trial. He asked if they’d received any word about the Sentinels and to keep an eye on them. He wants to know when you make a move. But it didn’t sound like they had any more information.”

The fabric of his shirt strained across his chest as he flexed his shoulders, slowly taking in my report. Then he sighed heavily, backing away with a curse. “We’ve been afraid of that. And you’re sure he didn’t say anything else? About who his informants are, maybe?”

I shook my head. I genuinely wished I had more for him. The last thing I wanted was for any of the rebels to be hurt.

He gave me a grim nod. “I have to go and tell Rissa, make sure we let the rest know they could be tracking us.”

“Just—be careful,” I blurted. “He knows you’re up to something. He told me as much tonight, and that he won’t hesitate to punish any one of you if he catches you.”

His lips gave a small tick. “So sweet of you to care,” he said, mimicking my earlier words. His gaze lingered on me a moment longer before he made his way to the window, his tail caressing my ankle for a split second as it collected itself under his cloak.

“Thank you,” I said quickly, my cheeks heating. “For checking on me.”

His eyes flicked down to the top of my parting robe, then back up my face. “You don’t have to thank me, Rose. It’s what friends do.”

Without waiting for a response, he pulled the window open and slipped into the night. I ran to the sill to catch a glimpse of him crouching at the ledge before he lunged and landed soundlessly on the one right below. He repeated the action down one more floor, and then to the ground. The flickering candlelight from the outer courtyards of the palace illuminated his face enough for me to see him look back up at me with a wink. He turned on his heel and disappeared into the darkness.

I couldn’t stop the smile that pulled at my lips. Monkey boy, indeed.