Chapter 14

Rosabel La Rouge

Taylor was really Mud. Her family was really, really Mud. All of them—both parents and her brother and her sister. Mud. One hundred percent—it said so on the IDD registers everywhere I looked.

And I looked everywhere.

My head was threatening to explode when I closed my eyes to take in a deep breath. Part of me regretted having taken that bracelet from the Vault, and another part of me was glad that I did. But the biggest part of me was just pissed off that something like that even existed, and nobody knew about it. Nobody talked about it. Nobody even wrote it down—the bracelet was possibly the only thing in the Vault that didn’t have a folder.

I’d already decided last night that I was going to return it, put it back in that drawer where I found it, before the IDD found out it was missing, looked at the cameras, and found out it was me. I’d already decided it last night, but then today I’d stalled. When I woke up late, and decided I wanted to come to work for second shift—since nobody really cared about when I was here and nobody even gave me work to do, why not? When I decided to just take my time and wait for night to fall, for most of the staff to go home so I had less eyes on me—I stalled then, too.

When it was nine p.m. and all the people who worked first shift on the regular went home, and only a few teams were in the main cubicle area, I stalled by pretending I was making sure I was well rested, that I had energy, that I had a reason to go back into the Vault tonight. Cassie was out of the question—I would not risk her like that again. No, this time I was going in on my own.

I’d picked one of the old cases we’d been assigned as a team some four months ago, had printed out the file, and I was going to go down there with the pretense of double-checking that all items were checked in. Just some cursed objects we’d confiscated from the house of an old woman who’d made a hobby out of terrorizing the neighborhood kids for stealing her apples and ruining her orchard.

And once the guards let me through, I’d find the drawer cabinet, put the bracelet in its place, and get the hell out of there within minutes.

Goddess, so many things ran through my mind, Taylor at the very center with her wide, terrified eyes, and her hand full of colors as magic came out of her. She’d been so afraid—then excited. I’d been so afraid, too, and then more than just excited when I went back to my room and did what she did as well—used magic that had colors, plural. Exactly what magic wasn’t supposed to have.

If only I could speak to Taland.

Or—if only I could not speak to Taland, just be near him. That would be perfectly fine, too.

As it was, I took as much time as I needed to gather the courage to stand up, folder in hand, and make it all the way downstairs to the Vault.

I was going to be okay, I knew that. Nobody had reason to suspect anything, and the bracelet that was secured in the inside pocket of my jacket hadn’t let off any signal when I took it out. It wasn’t going to let out any signal now, either.

That’s what I told myself, and that’s what I repeated in my mind over and over again as I made my way down the stairs.

Coward, a voice in my head insisted. It came out of nowhere, and suddenly I had this conviction that I really was a coward for returning this bracelet into the Vault when I could keep it and use it and make colorful magic every single day until I died.

Fuck. Now I was having trouble breathing.

But that would be wrong, wouldn’t it? I mean, something must have been wrong with it. Something about it was off—this wasn’t normal. And I had no idea what the consequences of it would be, but…

Of course, you’re thinking about consequences. You’re always thinking about consequences—can’t just live in the moment. Always have to scare yourself into quitting any ballsy thing you know you want to do…

Yes, my inner voice could be a real bitch sometimes, but there were also times when she was right.

Good thing I had no more time to wonder or to listen because the moment I went through the doors which led to the maze of corridors before the Vault, I felt…uneasy.

It was dark in the corridors, always had been. But tonight, it was quiet. Almost too quiet.

I stopped, took in a deep breath and strained my ears hoping for a sound of footsteps, at least. Guards had to be around here somewhere, either in the corridors or by the big doors to the Vault reception room.

Right now, I could have sworn that there was nobody here.

Get a grip, I told myself because the thought of turning back and getting someone to check the security cameras made me feel even more a coward than before.

Coward, coward, coward— the voice just wouldn’t stop.

And it was right—this was the Vault. It was after ten p.m., so of course it would be this silent—no agent or staff member had any business down here at this hour. Not often, anyway. I wasn’t going to turn back, not now. And if something happened, I could protect myself. Not only did I have my ring that actually worked now, I had a gun in the waistband of my pants—and most importantly, the bracelet that enabled me to do colorful magic without an ounce of pain was in my pocket.

So, I went ahead.

The closer to the gate I was, the more that feeling intensified—something was wrong here. And when I finally reached the doors to the reception room, I knew for a fact that I wasn’t just being a coward.

There was no guard in front of those doors, and there was always a guard in front of those doors.

Not to mention the one on the right was slightly open, just a tiny bit, like someone had left it like that on purpose so it looked closed, but anyone could get through without a badge.

My gun was in my hand the next second. My heart beat steadily and I was no longer afraid. It was instinct—I smelled danger and my body automatically calmed down, primed me for a fight, just like I’d been trained to do before I became an agent.

With my breath held, I went to the door and pushed it open with the barrel of my gun.

Empty.

The reception room was empty, and the doors to the Vault across from me closed.

At first, I was relieved—maybe the guards had gone on a break or something. Or maybe the Vault didn’t work at this hour? Maybe now they closed it after six, and I just hadn’t heard because I hadn’t been working with a team since I’d gotten back?

Maybe they’d made new rules because old ones said that guards had to be at the Vault doors at all times, and now…

“Hello?” I said, not too loud but not too low, and I went closer to the reception desk, gun raised, finger on the trigger.

No answer.

The reception desk was equipped with a large book where guards had to record the names of the people who came in and out, and when; their devices—these X-ray wands that were magically enhanced, as well as a ball that was extra sensitive to magical energies and read it with perfect accuracy; as well as a computer screen.

Behind the reception desk was a single door to the left that almost melted into the white wall so perfectly that you could miss the cracks if you didn’t know it was there. It had no handle; it only opened if you scanned the right access badge on the small panel to its side. I had never been to that room so I had no idea what was in there, but I was pretty sure that that’s where the guards would be, because where else ?

“Hello?” I called, this time louder, and I knocked on the reception desktop three times, just to make sure they heard me.

Any second now, they’d come out that door and apologize and explain to me why they’d left the Vault doors unattended. Any second now they’d come out here with a perfectly good excuse.

And a moment later, a door did open, except it wasn’t the one behind the reception desk. It wasn’t even the one I’d come through—it was the left door of the Vault that slid back soundlessly, and a head peeked out from the edge of it.

A head I knew well, with dark eyes and messy hair and that smile on his face that had my knees shaking and my fingers frozen around my gun.

No way.

Impossible.

Absolutely no fucking way…

“You might want to keep it down, sweetness. I’m not really supposed to be here,” Taland Tivoux said.

My legs gave and I fell against the reception desk on my side.

He was there, right there, and I saw him; I saw his dark eyes sparkling with mischief, the dimples that decorated his smooth cheeks, those lips that were a perfect heart at the top, now stretched into a smile that was one hundred percent him. Exactly like I’d seen him in the Iris Roe. Exactly like my memories, my dreams of him insisted that he was.

Taland was here, inside the IDD Vault.

No—Taland was out of the Vault, in front of me, hands on the sides of my waist, steadying me so I didn’t fall to the floor.

Taland wasn’t smiling so big anymore and his eyes were just a tiny bit darker now.

Taland is in front of me.

“Steady, baby. Steady,” he said, and my brain fucking malfunctioned.

Two things crossed my mind, two instincts that were equally powerful and they divided me, tore me apart. One part of me wanted to scream and shout and drag him out of there with my own hands until he was away from Headquarters, from the city, from the entire fucking country. The other part wanted me to jump him, wrap my arms around his neck and breathe in his scent and kiss his lips and never ever-ever-ever let go, to hell with the IDD and the city and the country. To hell with everything and everyone, to life that was so damn exhausting when he wasn’t near me—to hell with it all.

All that mattered was him.

Except my body was unable to move, and the best I could do was stay on my feet, not fall on my face in front of him—or on his chest. And Taland took his hands off me, which was a shame.

“What-what… what?” That’s all I was able to say, that one word— what . That’s all I had.

“We’re going to have to talk later, sweetness. I’m in a bit of a hurry. Be a good girl and wait for me a moment, will you?”

He said all those words together and I envied him because he could. Because his brain worked well enough to speak and his jaws weren’t stuck and his body had no trouble moving at all while I was paralyzed in place, worse than I had been when Whitefire magic had taken control of me in Night City.

But Taland was perfectly capable of bringing his hand to my face and touching the tip of my nose, then walking backward to the doors of the Vault again and disappearing behind them.

Taland is here.

Suddenly, it clicked.

Suddenly, my memories of the Greenfire challenge were perfectly vivid in my head, and I remembered what we’d talked about, how he’d offered his help in exchange for mine when the Iris Roe was over. My help to get into the IDD Vault. This Vault.

Taland was here to steal the veler.

The thought shocked me, and I felt that shock vibrating down to the tips of my toes. After it, my body came alive and my blood rushed again and my jaws moved and my legs moved, and before I knew it, I was in the Vault, too, ready to scream my guts out for him to get the hell out of here— now, before somebody came and shot him and then I’d have to set the whole fucking building on fire.

But when I pulled the door open and stepped inside, my voice refused to come out. It was dark in the Vault— dark like it had never been before. I could hardly see the glass surrounding me, and the only reason I could even make out the walls was because of the Led lights around the pillar in the middle, and the glass boxes and the marble reflected it everywhere. That’s where Taland was, and if I really screamed for him now, who would hear us?

And if I didn’t scream but dragged him out of here, what if there really was a chance that nobody would see or know because this place was so dark and the cameras would hopefully be off somehow?

Yes, yes, there was a chance. Because if Taland could shut down the blinding lights of the Vault, he would have surely turned the cameras off as well, and he obviously had found his way through the wards because he was already here.

Heart in my throat, I put my gun away and went deeper into the Vault, toward that smaller source of light on the side of the wide pillar, this one coming from a light-ball the size of my fist, hovering over Taland. I saw his silhouette kneeling on the floor, crouched over something—what could have been a glass box, and I thought, I can’t let him take that thing, I can’t let him take the veler—too dangerous, too obvious, too dangerous!

It didn’t occur to me that he was on the right side of the room, not the left, where the veler was. Where I’d seen the veler with my own eyes twice now.

No, it didn’t occur to me at all until I was close and Taland saw me and stood up. The ball of light hovered in the air near his head, and he had something in his hands that I barely saw before he put it away underneath his jacket—this square piece of what could have been marble, as thick as two fingers together, with a smooth white surface and engravings on either side, the entire thing no bigger than fifteen inches. I knew perfectly well what it was—a script, one of the old ones they used to cast wards and shields and spells— and curses over a big number of people or an entire place, an entire town. The fact that it was here in the Vault, confiscated from who knew what place, said that it was a very dangerous thing, but…it was not the veler.

And that threw me off completely.

“What…what the hell, Taland?” I finally choked. “What the hell—what are you doing?!”

Taland was still smiling, the light from his shrinking ball of light dancing in his eyes. I still saw him with perfect clarity because the pillar with all the Led lights was right to our side.

“Just taking a stroll through this room. It’s quite big,” he said, waving a hand around, but at least he was whispering, too.

And my body was not paralyzed anymore at the sight of him— yes, it was definitely him —and my blood was rushing so I was perfectly capable of going closer until I could touch him, until I could see more of him, more of the box that was on the floor near the wall, the spot where it had been now empty.

“ This room is the Vault!” I hissed, just in case he missed it. “You’re in the Vault, Taland. What the hell are you doing—you’re going to get yourself killed!”

If somebody killed him, didn’t he know that I’d be all alone in the world? Didn’t he know that I’d follow him—right after I ruined this entire fucking building with my bare hands?

Goddess help me, I wasn’t even exaggerating here.

“I’m perfectly alive, as you can see,” he said and stepped a little closer. “You look good, sweetness. Much better than when you entered the Iris Roe.” His fingers were under my chin and he slowly raised my head, and that little ball of light came closer to me as if to enable him to see me better.

He analyzed every little inch of me while he licked his lips, and goddess, I couldn’t look away from the perfection that was his face. I couldn’t move away, didn’t want to—I didn’t even want to breathe for fear we’d have to then move on to the next moment.

His hair was trimmed shorter than in the Roe which was also a shame because it looked better on him when it was a bit longer.

He chuckled, and the sound warmed me to my bones. “You’ve always looked best when you spent time close to me, I suppose. My presence nourishes you.”

Yes, yes, it absolutely does, I wanted to say, and because it was the truth even if he was just teasing me right now.

But before I could tell him that he was spot on, that his presence fed my soul and made me come alive, those words he said made me think of something else—something I had just been thinking about.

He looked exactly the same as he did in the Iris Roe in the beginning.

Before he walked through the Drainage with me in his arms.

Everything came to a halt—my thoughts, my breath, even my heart. I grabbed his face in my hands before I even realized what the hell I was doing.

“You-you-you…” I shook my head. “You walked through the Drainage.” What I was thinking was a lot more colorful than my words were able to describe right now— what the hell were you thinking when you knew and you saw those bones and you saw what being Mud did to me and how dare you put me before you and how dare you not take care of you first— these things I screamed on the inside, but I couldn’t even begin to bring myself to say them out loud.

“I did,” Taland said, his hands on my wrists as he held my hands to his cheeks and closed his eyes with a sigh.

“Taland, you walked through the Drainage. Can you do magic? Were you drained?” I barely choked out because that was the most important thing. Tell me, tell me, tell me, please ?—

“ Yeeees… ” he said, and I died.

Then his eyes turned up to the ceiling as if he was thinking about it.

“And no,” he ended, and I came back to life again.

“What? What? How ?” He made no sense and I needed him to make sense about this so desperately.

“Hard to explain something I don’t understand myself,” he said, pressing my hands onto his cheeks harder until his lips plucked out. “But, yes, sweetness, I can do magic, as you can see.” He looked up at the small light hovering near our heads.

Goddess, he could have put the world in my hands right now and I wouldn’t have been happier. More relieved.

He could do magic. Taland could do magic. He wasn’t drained. The game had been just a game.

Something took hold of me, and I was well aware of where we were and the fact that we had very little time to get the hell out of this place, but I forgot about everything for a second—because Taland can do magic !—and I kissed him. His face was already in my hands. I pulled him to me and rose on my tiptoes, and I slammed my lips to his.

We both froze like that, not breathing and not moving, our lips touching and our hands on one another.

I wanted to laugh and cry and dance and shut down all at the same time, but kissing him was better than all the above. Kissing him was proving to myself that he was here. He was okay and I hadn’t cost him his magic and his life—I hadn’t . He was okay.

And just like that, so was I.

Until I heard footsteps somewhere far away.

My instincts took over. There was no need for me to even think at all. I just heard noise that sounded like footsteps somewhere outside the half open door of the Vault, and I moved.

I grabbed Taland by his jacket, and I basically threw him behind the pillar with all my strength—which was a lot. In moments like this, it was enough to even carry him all the way out of here if I had to, and Taland was too surprised, too shocked to even try to stop me so he stumbled back with his eyes and mouth wide open.

Heart in my throat, I turned to the door.

I had heard right. A guard wearing his black uniform was pulling the door open all the way, blue light dancing at the tip of his wand, a big gun in his other hand, pointed at me.

It was over, I realized. It was over—he’d caught us.

And strangely I wasn’t even afraid.

Goddess, I wasn’t afraid, but I was thankful—so thankful and relieved for a lot of things. That Taland could do magic. That Taland was alive and well and not at all like the Taland he had been while he’d carried me through the Drainage.

That I was here for that guard to catch and not him. That I could take the fall while he hid and then got out the moment this guy took me away.

“What the…” the guard said, blinking his eyes slowly as he took another step into the room. He whispered under his breath and the light at the tip of his wand grew bigger, brighter, and it separated from the wood and hovered in the air, much like Taland’s light was doing, still near my head.

“Busted,” I said, slowly raising my hands in the air, perfectly calm. Not nervous in the least. My hands weren’t shaking, I wasn’t sweating, and I wasn’t even thinking about how I could make it out of this alive—my instincts were not to protect myself at this point. I could do that later. Right now, I just needed to get this guy out of here so Taland could run away.

“You caught me,” I added, while the guy looked around the room as if to make sure I was alone, and the sound of my voice guided his eyes back to me. “You caught me. I am all alone. I came down here to steal something, and I turned the lights and the cameras off, and I was going to just walk out, but you caught me.” I stepped closer. “What I took is in my pocket—you can search me yourself.” And once he saw that I was telling him the truth, that I had, indeed, taken something from the Vault—the bracelet—he would have no reason to suspect I was lying.

“I won’t resist. You can take me upstairs right now.”

The guard shook his head. My stomach fell all the way to my heels—what if he didn’t believe me? What if he called for his colleagues, for a lot more guards to come search this entire room before he even let me out?

Goddess, no, I thought. I would never allow it. So, I took another step toward the doors as spells went through my mind—which one could I use against this guy right now? Which one could I use if more came running any second?

Now I had sweat on my brow, but…

“Is it just me or are you trying to sacrifice yourself to the IDD on my behalf, sweetness?”

Just like that I was back to wanting to scream my guts out again.

Instead, I grabbed my gun and pointed it at the guard, cursing under my breath. “What the hell, Taland?!” I hissed because he was out of his fucking mind. He was going to get us both killed in this room right now—he was out of his damn mind!

I was moving toward the guard slowly, and I was going to shoot him in the face the moment he moved, but…

“It’s okay, friend. She’s with me. I’m almost done.”

I blinked.

The guard shook his head again, looking at me like I was the crazy one here.

Like I was the one out of my fucking mind.

And he said, “Just move it. You only get ten minutes.”

Then he turned around and walked out of the Vault and closed the door behind him.

Just like that.

The guard walked away, left us—me, an agent who’d just admitted to theft, and Taland, a wanted fugitive—he left us in the Vault and walked out.

My gun was still in my hands. My magic was at the ready, the spell to call up a shield around myself at the tip of my tongue, and my eyes were glued to the door still. I couldn’t blink, couldn’t look away.

Then Taland stepped in front of me, in front of my gun, so that the barrel kissed his chest right in the middle. Right where I knew his tallarose tattoo was.

He was smiling just a little. “I want to devour you like the big bad wolf,” he whispered, running his hand over the top of my gun and up to my hand. “Too bad I don’t have the time right now. Drop the gun, sweetness. And get out of here—now.”

I shook my head, but my body had a mind of its own when Taland was around, and it always obeyed his every word. So, my hands lowered and I was already putting the gun away, and my thoughts were still a bloody mess in my head as I watched him putting the empty box in its place, then zip his jacket all the way.

“You bribed the guards?” I wondered in half a voice.

“I did a little bit more than that. Come, sweetness. Let’s go.” And he was walking backward to the doors now, both hands raised toward me, that smile on his face—such a beautiful smile.

I was walking, shaking my head, trying to make sense of this—and failing.

“But the veler,” I whispered because he hadn’t taken the veler. I could see the veler—it was right there in its box as it should be. But he’d tried to steal the veler at our school that night that cost us both everything.

“I’m not here for the veler,” Taland said. “Come on—hurry up.”

I did.

Taland stopped by the doors, a hand raised toward me, waiting, and I grabbed it without thought. Yes, none of this was making any sense right now, but he was here and that was enough. I didn’t care about sense or how s or whys —just Taland.

“Let’s go.”

He intertwined our fingers together, winked at me.

He turned around and pushed the door open, and we walked out into the reception room—empty.

He led us to the doors on the other side of the room, and I was mentally preparing to run as soon as we were out in the corridor, but the night was not done surprising me yet.

Because when Taland opened the door, he stopped walking, stopped pulling me behind him. That’s because he saw the three guards with their guns and wands pointed at us, while the one who’d just been in the Vault with us was on the floor, unconscious.

That’s how I knew that we were screwed.