Chapter 37

Ellery

My head feltfoggy from all the drinks I'd consumed, and the rocking carriage didn't help as we traveled back toward the freedom of our home. I'd expected to be a lot happier about finally being free than I was, but a guillotine in the form of Ryker Locke now hung over my head.

"Are you okay?" my mother asked.

I was a little afraid I might throw up the sweet concoctions if I spoke, but I couldn't sit here and ignore her. "I don't want to help Ryker hunt for the Hooded Robber."

My mother blinked at me. "Why not?"

I gulped down the sweet juice burning my throat before replying. "The Robber is helping to feed the amsirah in The Hollows and other towns."

My mother's eyes hardened in a way they rarely did. "Doing good by doing bad doesn't mean his actions are right. Stealing from others is wrong no matter what, Ellery."

"The king does it with his ridiculous taxes."

When she gasped, I regretted my choice of words and the fifth drink I'd consumed.

"I know things in Tempest are far more difficult than they used to be, but your words border on treason, and I will not have it. King Ivan is our ruler, and we must respect that."

I didn't think being born into something made anyone qualified to rule, and King Ivan had already proven this, but I held back my words. I hadn't consumed enough alcohol to justify a fight with her and didn't want one.

We were completely different, but we'd always loved and respected each other. I'd lose a lot of her respect if she learned the truth.

It wouldn't matter to her that the amsirah I robbed had plenty of money to spare. Maybe I was wrong to take it from them, but weren't they wrong for not doing any good with it?

Or are you trying to justify bad choices and thievery?

I rubbed my temples as I closed my eyes. A dull throb started to form in my head as I admitted the truth to myself… I was trying to rationalize actions I never should have taken, but it was too late.

I couldn't change the past, and because of my choices, once Ryker arrived at our manor, I would become trapped in a torment of my own making. I bit back a groan as I rubbed faster at my temples.

My mother leaned across the space separating us and rested her hand on my knee. "This is a good thing, Ellery. I'd never let you go after that thief alone, but Ryker is another lightning bearer and will help keep you safe."

"I don't need anyone to keep me safe, and he can never know what I do."

When she grasped my arm, I lifted my eyes to hers. "No, he can't. Noone can."

She was as afraid as I was that they'd take me away and try to wed or breed me. I could fight them, but they could take me down, and if they succeeded before I escaped Tempest, my life would become a permanent living hell.

"You can't go off alone in the woods with only you and Scarlet anymore. Things are changing, Ellery, and not for the better. It's not safe anymore."

"The Revenant Woods were never safe."

"But now they're worse. There's more than ghosts and the monsters hunting them. There's the amsirah fleeing the towns and the Hooded Robber. They're just as lethal and a threat you might not be willing to destroy if it became necessary."

She was right. I could justify stealing, but I'd never killed anyone before, and while I would protect myself and my loved ones, I didn't want blood staining my hands.

The woods were gathering more and more amsirah beneath its trees. Driven from their old lives, they hid amongst the monsters as they tried to forge a new life.

King Ivan and the sheriff wanted many of them for not paying their taxes or stealing to survive. Some others had chosen to retreat into the woods, where they felt protected from the increasingly stringent laws of our once prosperous land.

"Ryker is a good man," my mother said.

"You don't know him."

"He's different from his father; I saw that when they stayed with us that night. He has a kind heart."

"That was many years ago, Mother, and things have changed. I remember him from then too, and he isn't the same man."

My mother sat back in her seat and turned to look out the window. "Wars and death have a way of changing men, but, at heart, he's still a good man."

"His heart's a lot smaller than it used to be."

"Perhaps, but he'll keep you safe in the woods, and we could use that carisle."

My eyebrows rose at this admission. Usually, she blew off my questions about how the manor was faring under the new tax laws. It was easy to see they were affecting us through the deterioration of the manor and our loss of workers, but she usually tried to keep me sheltered from the ugly truth of our lives.

"How bad is it?" I asked. "Are we going to lose the manor?"

"Of course not," she scoffed but didn't shift her gaze away in time for me not to see the uneasiness in her eyes. "That will not happen."

"Why didn't you accept his offer to pay me for my services? There's a chance we might not find the thief."

Her attention returned to me. "I didn't feel right taking his money in such a way."

I almost protested further, but how could I when I would have said no too?

"I'm sorry I failed in the labyrinth," I whispered.

She switched over to sit beside me. Draping her arm around my shoulders, she pulled me close, and I rested my head against her.

"No one could have won in that maze, Lery. Never be sorry for failing when you weren't meant to succeed."

"I was with Ryker when he made it to the middle. I was there. I saw the bowl of gold coins but didn't take one. It was too late by then, and I didn't want King Ivan to know how close I'd come only to fail."

"Of course you made it to the middle; if anyone was going to, it was my Ler Bear."

We didn't speak for a while, and as we sat in comfortable silence, I tried to ignore the nausea rolling in my stomach.

"Ellery?"

"Hmm?"

"Don't defend the Hooded Robber again; if anyone ever overhears you, it could get you killed."

"I won't."

My death would destroy her. She'd barely held on after losing my father, the love of her life, and I was the main reason she did keep it together. She'd give up completely if she lost me too.

The Hooded Robber had done a lot of good, but that hood was now retired. I couldn't think about all those who would suffer because of that; it would only make me feel worse.

I'd done my best, even if it hadn't been as much as I'd hoped. More amsirah in the towns would be maimed, driven out to live in the woods, or die, but I had to make sure my mother wasn't one of them.