14. Chapter Fourteen

I absolutely loathed dealing with the Lord of Embers.

If my random encounter with Arken at the bakery had been the highlight of my day, this was essentially the very opposite. Another child had gone missing, this time from Pyrhhas, and the figurehead of Atlassian leadership had just arrived at our doorstep to discuss the matter.

Fucking phenomenal.

I had several bones to pick with Lord de Laurent, leader of the Atlassian Courts and the House of Embers, but first on my list was how he’d just strutted into the Elder Guard headquarters today like he owned the damn place.

It was true that Sophrosyne was embedded right within the heart of Pyrhhas. His territories touched every edge of our borders—but we were still an independent entity. The Courts ruled over every square inch of Atlas except this city-state, and yet he still waltzed in here, carrying himself with that same presumptuous authority that he always did, demanding to speak with High General Demitrovic.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Milord,” Commander Ka replied. “General Demitrovic is en route to Ithreac to speak with the Lord of Clay about their disappearances.”

“Unfortunate,” de Laurent replied. “Is there anyone else I can speak with on the matter? I would like to know the latest details. Anything that I can brief the Pyrhhan Guard about to help tighten security would be appreciated.”

“Our Scouting Captain is probably the most knowledgeable on the current state of things, sir,” Hanjae explained, and I blanched. “Vistarii! Come, brief Lord de Laurent on the latest we have on Jerricks and Gillespie.”

Oh, godsdamnit.

Even from the second floor alcove where I currently stood, I could see de Laurent’s lip curl with disdain. That motherfucker hated me.

The feeling was mutual.

“Certainly, Commander. I’ll be down in just a moment.”

As I came up behind de Laurent and his attendants, I shot Hanjae a dirty look. Commander Ka didn’t like the leader of the Atlassian Courts any more than I did, and this was definitely his way of avoiding spending any more time with him than necessary.

I ran the High Lord through all of the latest information my men had gleaned about the disappearances, keeping things mostly surface level and taking care to avoid revealing any of our sources that might draw suspicion to just how deep my network of spies ran across the continent. Still, the intel I was providing would be of use to his men. I had no interest in seeing the people of Pyrhhas suffer, regardless of my personal feelings about their lord.

To his credit, he and his men asked clarifying questions and managed to keep things respectful, despite their obvious discomfort as tension crackled between us.

That was, until we wrapped things up in the war room and I prepared to take my leave. As his assistant began to gather up their maps and notes from the meeting, the pale, regal looking man turned towards me and leaned in close.

“Oh, and for the record, Captain,” he hissed under his breath. “I’m well aware of the state you and your men left one of my citizens in before his release. Whether Corvus is convicted in the future or not, it would serve you well to know your place.”

My palms prickled, eager to show the arrogant asshole exactly where my place was, should we ever go toe to toe again. But I kept my temper in check, not in the mood to get flayed alive by my commander for assaulting an honorary High Scholar of the Arcane Studium… especially considering he was arguably the most powerful man in Atlas. Even if he was an over-privileged little prick.

The whiplash between my serendipitous encounter with Arken and my less-than-fortunate foray with the Lord of Embers left me feeling vaguely unmoored for the rest of the afternoon. There was a strange taste in my mouth. A familiar restlessness. An urge to escape.

Fuck it. You’ve got time to kill.

Sometimes, it was a comfort to simply slip back into the Shadows. I had a number of quiet, hidden places throughout the city where I could easily disappear and observe, and I often chose to do so whenever I was feeling... off, like this.

One of my favorites, though, was not a place that I had discovered, so much as one that I had created—and had done so before I ever became a guard. Back when I was still studying at the Arcane Studium, my brother and I used to climb an old, gnarled oak tree. It just so happened to be near the Elder Guard’s headquarters, but tucked away snugly against one of the city walls. The ancient oak was tall enough that you could see nearly half of the Administrative Quarter, if you knew where to sit.

Though my brother and I were no longer on speaking terms, I still came back here from time to time. Something about it helped clear my head—and godsdamn, did my head need clearing right about now.

My mind was a seasick, swimming cocktail of frustration and temptation. Lord de Laurent never failed to raise my hackles.

It would serve you well to know your place.

The urge to wring his pale, pedigreed neck had yet to fade, so I focused on the lesser of two evils: The temptation.

After discovering that the freshling from the Wyldwoods was the godsdamned Light Conduit, I had resolved myself to leave her the fuck alone. Hanjae had made himself clear: A new Light Conduit in Sophrosyne was a big deal. There hadn’t been one in over twenty years, and some scholars had even started to fret that Light Resonance was a dying gift. Shadow Resonance was rare, too—but not like that. There were at least a handful of new Shadow Resonants who turned up every year to take their entry trials. But Light Resonants? Practically unheard of in my time here. It was no wonder the Elders themselves had requested we keep an eye on this one.

If only she weren’t so easy on the eyes. Gods, she was gorgeous. I had tried to forget it, honestly. But then I had to go and run into Arken at the bakery this morning. And the moment I was in that woman’s presence again, I forgot all about my endeavor to avoid her. I had been drawn in yet again, and that string of profanity she let loose when I startled her? Source be damned.

Arken fucking Asher.

It was far too much fun to tease her. Watching that pretty, filthy mouth of hers twist in irritation was just…

The musky scent of wyldweed drifted past, distracting me from my wicked reveries before they could even begin. That was probably for the best. I really, really needed to leave that poor woman alone.

A pair of younger guardsmen had just strolled up to the tree at a lackadaisical pace. I didn’t recognize them, which meant they weren’t in my unit, so I resisted the urge to bark at them both when I realized they were the source of that dank stench, exchanging hits off a joint, clearly attempting to remain unseen.

“Pretty ballsy if you ask me,” one of them was saying with a smirk, in between a deep inhale. As he spoke again, wisps of blue-green smoke bled from his mouth. “I’d expect that shit from a more tenured student, not a pair of bright-eyed, pretty little freshlings.”

I rolled my eyes. They had better be on break.

“So they were just up on the fuckin’ roof of the Biblyos?”

“Drunk off their asses, apparently.”

The pair chuckled, and I raised a brow. I wasn’t sure why either of them found this to be newsworthy information. It was an unseasonably nice day, with half of the Studium already running off to the beach for the week’s end. It was hardly a surprise to hear that those who remained were getting up to some nonsense. Although, the Biblyos? That was kind of impressive.

The massive library was probably one of the tallest structures in the city. How the Hel did a couple freshlings manage to get up there?

“Oh, wait, fuck—you missed the best part, Kent,” the guardsman crowed. I pocketed the name away in my mind for reference later. “You’re not gonna believe this, but according to Andrea, one of the culprits? The brunette one we saw? That was the fucking Light Conduit.”

Immediately, I sat up from where I had been leaning lazily, shifting myself forward. Arken had done what now?!

“No shit? Girl’s been here for what, a month? Sounds like trouble, that one.”

They had no idea.

In one fell swoop, I leapt from my perch in the tree, landing gracefully to the left of these idiot gossips and startling the ever-living shit out of them both. They recognized me on sight and immediately started scrambling to hide the joint.

“Hello, boys,” I said with a wolfish grin.

“Shit!” Kent muttered. “I mean, uhh—Greetings, Captain Vistarii!”

“Greetings,” I parroted, letting my eyes narrow for show. Just to make them sweat a little bit.

“I don’t think that I need to remind you two that smoking in uniform is strictly prohibited by the code of conduct, do I?”

“No, sir,” the other man stammered out. “Apologies, sir, it won’t happen again.”

“Consider yourselves lucky that you’re not one of mine. I’ll cut you both a break this time,” I said evenly. “Under one condition.”

For whatever reason, that offer seemed to make them even more anxious, and my grin widened.

“Err, what’s that, sir?” Kent asked uneasily.

“The freshlings you two were talking about. Which holding cells does Andrea have them in?”

“Uhh, they’re at the Eastern Gates, I think?” Kent said, looking confused. “Why?”

“Don’t you worry your pretty little head about that, Kent,” I replied easily. “Now put the godsdamned joint out and get your asses back to post.”

“Yes, sir!” the pair chanted, looking both shocked and relieved as I took my leave, headed towards the Eastern Gates.

Ten minutes later, I was breezing down the stairs of the eastern city walls. I had no good reason to be here, honestly—except the errant hope that our little criminals had not been released quite yet. Even so, this was a direct contradiction of my resolution to stay away from Arken…

It might have been a weak resolution to begin with.

We had a number of temporary holding cells scattered throughout the city, intended to quickly and safely remove threats from the public eye when necessary. In all likelihood, the two Conduits had already been released with a firm slap on the wrist and maybe a note on their student records, but on the off chance they weren’t…

I nodded to one of the guards as I passed through, rounding the corner, and then I heard a vaguely familiar voice.

“This is such bullshit,” a woman who was decidedly not Arken was moaning. “Since when is having a nice little picnic in the sunshine against the laws and regulations of the Studium?”

My lip quirked when I saw Andrea cough, attempting to mask her snort of disbelief.

And that’s when I heard herlaugh—sparkling, melodic, and sweet.

“I think when the ‘picnic’ is really just several bottles of wine, and the ‘sunshine’ in question is acquired via breaking and entering, Laurelena,” Arken replied sarcastically. “Namely the breaking and the entering. We did climb up some questionable scaffolding.”

Gods, I liked her snark.

Andrea saw me out of the corner of her eye and began to turn, but I shook my head in silence, pressing a single finger against my lips. I was enjoying this banter of theirs.

“I think certain laws should have exceptions when the weather’s this nice,” Laurel responded. “Can they really blame us for wanting to take advantage of the heat wave?”

“Oh, brilliant, Ansari,” Arken laughed. “Have you considered going into politics? I think you might have a knack for sensible policy-making.”

“And I think you might have a knack for getting yourself into trouble, Little Conduit,” I purred as I made my overly-staged entrance.

It was an effort to keep a straight face as I caught Arken’s eye through the bars. The utter disbelief on her face was hilarious.

“Go ahead and release Miss Ansari, here, Andrea,” I ordered smoothly. “And escort her back to the Student’s Quarter.”

“Yes, sir. And the other?”

“Oh, I would like Miss Asher to remain for some additional questioning. I can take it from here, though. You can return to your scheduled post.”

Andrea shrugged, knowing better than to question a superior officer, and proceeded to unlock the cell and guide Laurel Ansari towards the exit. She handed the key off to me after closing the barred gate again, and once her back was turned, I couldn’t help but flash a smirk. Arken’s eyes narrowed.

I waited for a few moments, simply staring back at the little Conduit in silence until I was certain Andrea was out of earshot.

“Well, well, well,” I finally said, leaning up against the bars. “Somebody’s got a rebellious streak.”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Arken groaned. There was that tongue again, wicked as ever.

“Additional questioning? Really, Vistarii?”

“Captain Vistarii,” I corrected. “And it’s just protocol. You are a criminal, after all. You could be dangerous for all I know.”

“If you don’t already know, I have to question whether or not you have the skills to support your title, sir,” Arken spat.

I had to disregard the way hearing that last part of the sentence made me feel if I had any hopes of remaining coherent.

“My, my, Miss Asher. A filthy mouth and sharp teeth? I do like that in a woman.”

“And would you like to know what I would like, Captain?” Arken asked. Her voice was excessively sweet and delightfully saccharine, tilting her head with wide eyes—false innocence. Oh, she was so annoyed with me already.

“Absolutely, I would,” I replied with a grin.

In more ways than one.

“I would like to not be stuck in a holding cell for some arrogant bastard’s amusement. Pray tell, what sort of stupid questions do you need to ask me before I can return to my previously pleasant afternoon?”

I bit down on the inside of my cheek in an effort to avoid laughing out loud.

“Give me a moment to think,” I mused, tapping my chin.

“A moment to think? About what, exactly?!”

“What sorts of stupid questions I should ask you, of course,” I replied.

“Are you serious right now?”

Good gods, she was easy to rile up.

“What’s your favorite color?” I asked, pretending not to hear her.

“I don’t have one,” she groaned, tossing her head back against the limestone, eyes rolling toward the ceiling.

“Pick one.”

“I don’t know, black?”

Unexpected, but I could work with that. Being irritating was one of my many talents.

“If we’re being technical, black is not a color. It’s the absence of color.”

Arken just stared incredulously for a moment, blinking as if she wasn’t certain I was real. Surely she wasn’t that drunk.

“Green, then,” she said, finally.

“Phenomenal. While we’re on the subject, do you prefer green grapes, or red?”

“I’d prefer you to be at the bottom of the godsdamned Western Sea right now.”

So fiesty.

“Please answer the question, Miss Asher,” I said with faux seriousness. “This is simply protocol.”

“I don’t like red grapes,” she said.

“Just red wine?”

“It was strawberry wine, thank you very much,” she replied primly.

A vague flash of irritation passed through my mind, prompting my next question.

“And what, pray tell, gave you and Ansari the genius idea of getting drunk on the top of one of the tallest buildings in Sophrosyne? Do you have a death wish?”

“Errant impulse,” Arken said with a shrug.

“There are better ways to feed your reckless streak, you know,” I informed her.

“Just as I am sure there are better ways for you to be spending your time this afternoon, Captain,” she replied coolly.

“Oh, I’m not so sure about that,” I chuckled. “I’m having a great time. Did you enjoy the croissant earlier?”

“No. It was terrible.”

I could tell from her posture and the slightest shift in her expression that Arken was just being stubborn now.

“Oh, you’re an awful liar, Little Conduit,” I crooned through the bars. “It’s kind of cute though. Does your nose always scrunch up like that when you lie?”

She let out a heavy, exasperated sigh, rubbing at her temple.

“Headache?”

“I’m fine.”

“Please tell me that you ate more than just that damned croissant before downing a bottle of wine on a rooftop,” I groaned.

“Unfortunately, I’ve just been informed that I’m a bad liar, so... can’t help you there, Cap.” Arken muttered.

My gaze darkened.

“Look, if you’re going to be a degenerate in my city, can you at least use some common sense? Alcohol, heights, and an empty stomach don’t play nice together.”

“I was hardly even tipsy,” she argued.

“Yeah? How’s your head feeling right about now?” I countered.

“Funnily enough, this headache only began when you showed up.”

I couldn’t help it, I had to laugh. I would have to let her go soon, because the woman clearly needed to go get some food and water in her system, but I found myself hesitating. Selfishly craving just a little bit more time in her presence.

“What’s your favorite number?”

“Thirteen.”

Interesting.

“Oho, you answered that one quickly, Miss Asher. Any particular reason?”

Her expression clouded for a moment, and then hardened. She clearly knew the answer, but she wasn’t going to tell me.

“Nope.”

Thought so.

“Well, for what it’s worth, that’s my favorite number, too.”

“Congratulations,” she muttered sardonically.

I leaned over and unlocked the cell door, offering an exaggerated bow as I swung it open, allowing her to walk free.

And it took damn near all of my willpower not to offer her an escort home—if only because it would be far, far too tempting to watch her from the Shadows afterwards. After that whole exchange, I couldn’t trust myself to behave.

Arken glared at me as she pushed herself up from the bench, though she held my gaze even as she started to walk away.

“Behave yourself, Little Conduit,” I called out, smirking as she turned to take her leave.

Arken simply tossed her hair, the dark brown waves swishing past her shoulder blades, and offered me a smirk of her own.

“No promises, Captain.”

Trouble, indeed.