Court of Flame Read online

  I led the way up the front steps and stopped near the door. The front door to the building required fingerprints and a code to get in. I knew Sven had added me into the system—he'd given me the code and the address as soon as he had it—but I still held my breath as I placed my hand over the scanner set discretely to the side of the door, my palm a little clammy as it touched the smooth, cool surface. Instructions to input the code appeared. Mouthing it silently, I punched it in. Come on... The door clicked open. I let out the breath I'd been holding. Being locked out would have thrown a wrench into the works, and been pretty damn embarrassing to boot.

  Inside, the hall floor was tiled in a pretty beige, the walls done in a slightly lighter color, textured to add depth. There were only four units on the first floor.

  "You're at the back," Jacob said, leading the way down the hall. He'd already seen the place, which made things easier. I looked around as we walked, noting the shallow alcoves with artwork individually lit. Even in an expensive place like this, they didn't want to waste too much space on decoration. We stopped at a sturdy, black-lacquer door that looked like it would be able to take quite a beating before it gave way to an intruder.

  "Looks like a tank couldn't budge this thing," I muttered.

  It definitely wasn't the same door the other units had.

  "It could hold a tank, but the walls around it would probably give way, making it a moot point," Jacob said, eyeing the door.

  Huh.

  "How did you get an okay from the HOA to put in this door? Looks like you had to change the size of the doorway..."

  Jacob shrugged. "Money talks, like I said earlier. Sven was willing to shell some out to grease the right palms, with the promise that it would be returned to its uniform look if he resold it. I think it helped that the unit is in the back, so you don't really see the door unless you're specifically looking for this place."

  "I guess that makes sense."

  Jacob gestured at me to move forward. Here we go. I set my face in the retinal scanner, used my prints, and typed in the code. It felt like overkill, but what did I know? Maybe that was what we needed right now. Jacob opened the door and gestured me inside, but Reelin and Amna held me back.

  "We will go in first," Reelin said firmly.

  "Okay," I agreed.

  I didn't think anyone was waiting for us in inside. Not only did nobody else know about this place, I hadn't even decided to come to the city dome until a few hours ago. But I let Reelin and Amna do their job. This whole thing had them spooked too. Jacob and I followed them in, with the rest of the guards following us. They did a quick and thorough check of the place.

  Apart from the common areas, there were only four more bedrooms and bathrooms. It didn't take them long. Like the rest of the building, the condo was done in various shades of warm neutrals, with comfortable furniture in the same color scheme. The fluffy white rug on the floor of the living room cushioned our feet. Not the most practical, but it felt nice. I knew all the rooms were furnished in case multiple people needed to stay here at once, though I doubted Sven had envisioned this many would ever have to be accommodated at the same time. That was a minor inconvenience though. Sleeping arrangements were the least of our worries.

  Now that we were in a relatively safe location, I needed to think about what to do next. So I sat down in a cushy armchair, while Reelin and Amna gave the others orders to scope out the bedrooms and rest while they could.

  Jacob followed me to the living room, leaning against the wall beside me. Reelin and Amna weren't far behind, Amna sitting down on a love seat with Reelin coming over and holding the wall up on my other side.

  Nobody spoke.

  What were we going to do?

  I needed a plan if I wanted to get Sven out of this alive. If I wanted all of us to survive. If I wanted the phoenix race to survive if it came right down to it.

  The people on Emberich's side were short-sighted idiots. He was a ticking time bomb. I didn't think this was the worst he could or would do. There was no reclaiming what he had before. Even if he hadn't made too many enemies with the attacks on innocent flocks before he died, having someone reasonable like Sven as the Phoenix King, even for so short of an amount of time, had recalibrated people's expectations.

  He would have to beat the fight out of everyone all over again. When he realized that the days before the first civil war were gone for good, that his glory days could not be recreated... I did not think he was going to take that well. Not at all.

  Shit.

  I rubbed at my temples. This was too much for me to handle on my own.

  "What are we going to do?" Amna asked, breaking the brief moments of silence. "We can't just let Emberich have the throne!" she burst out, as if she'd been holding it back this whole time.

  "Amna," Reelin warned.

  She subsided, her jaw clenched. I understood her frustration. I shared it. They deserved the truth here.

  "I honestly don't know what we're going to do," I admitted quietly, not taking offense at the outburst. We were in a pressure cooker situation here. "This isn't exactly my field of expertise."

  I shook my head, at a complete loss. I didn't have an army. As large as this contingent of guards was when it came to guarding me, it wasn't large enough to take on even one flock, let alone multiple flocks. And I was no general to lead people into war anyway. That wasn't what I was good at.

  "With Sven taken..." I shook my head again, rubbing at my face. "I don't know."

  Silence descended again. But it didn't last long.

  "You are going to have to lead here, Adara," Reelin stated when I paused. "You are the Consort. We will not follow anyone else. Nobody else will, either. You are the only one people will rally behind if Sven isn't able."

  "He's right," Amna agreed. "Everyone will be waiting on you. You must at least try."

  Very helpful. Way to up the pressure. But I didn't think they were right. I was Sven's Consort, yes. But that was far from being the King. I had doubts that people would follow me even if I had an excellent plan. I wasn’t Sven. Their loyalty was to him at the end of the day.

  My watch dinged.

  I opened the message, feeling like it was a reprieve from my morose thoughts. It would give me some time to think of what my next words should be. It seemed like a bad idea to ignore any message right now anyway, when they could hold vital information. But when I opened it, I realized the message wasn't from a phoenix. Well, maybe that wasn't completely true.

  Mia had some phoenix blood in her or Emberich wouldn't have been so set on killing her. Why was she sending me a message? She'd already sent me one after our visit...

  Adara,

  Just got word that Emberich is back, but I don't want to believe it. Then we heard that Sven's been captured. Is it true? I can't get a confirmation on anything, which only made us worry more.

  Please answer this. I'm starting to think the impossible has happened. What is the plan? What are you going to do?

  We want to help.

  -Mia

  Chapter Eleven

  Okay, first things first.

  "I need to figure out the scope of what we're dealing with first," I said, feeling like that was a good place to start. The more information we had, the better our strategy would likely be.

  Reelin and Amna nodded, Jacob a silent presence by my side. I didn't know what he was thinking, but I needed to put one foot in front of the other here, and this seemed like a good first step. Whether or not I was equipped to deal with something like this, something on such a massive scale, the truth was that nobody was going to come take over for me. Everyone was looking for me for answers I didn't have. I was it in terms of leadership, at least for now.

  So I did what I always did when a problem felt too overwhelming. I broke down the things I had to get done into more manageable tasks. The first order of business was figuring out exactly how many flocks Emberich had managed to wrest under his control. That was simple enough.

 
I sent out messages to all of my contacts and then waited. My phone started dinging with incoming messages less than five minutes later. I didn't get replies from everyone. For those that didn't respond, I had to assume they were already controlled by Emberich's people. Some responded letting me know their flocks had surrendered rather than fight, too battle weary. A few others were able to let me know they'd been defeated by forces too strong for them to counter, not prepared for an all-out attack out of nowhere. Still others admitted their flocks had surrendered after the video Emberich had broadcast, thoroughly disheartened by Sven's capture.

  I didn't blame them. Just seeing Emberich alive had felt like the world was tilting off its axis. And then seeing he had Sven... It had been like a one-two punch, not allowing any recovery time between. I was still reeling from it. I knew I'd remember that moment for the rest of my life, no matter how this ended.

  But I needed to hold on to hope. Jacob was right: the fact that some flocks had surrendered as soon as they’d seen Sven had been taken prisoner was more evidence that this was as much a mental effort as it was a physical one. I'd hold on to hope so everyone else could as well.

  I kept notes as the messages came in, tallying up the numbers and any details that I thought might be pertinent later. The picture of what we were dealing with began to form, slowly but surely. It didn't look good. I counted again, but came up with the same number.

  "What news do you have?" Reelin asked.

  I looked up to see him, Jacob, and Amna all watching me. I swallowed, my throat dry enough that the clicking sound of it was clear. I coughed, trying to ready myself.

  "We have about a quarter of the flocks still holding out," I reported, wishing I had better news. But they needed to know the odds.

  Reelin cursed, Amna paling at the news.

  "A quarter," she murmured, looking properly shaken. "How are we going to take the rest back? We don't have the numbers..."

  She was right. It was a numbers game at this point, and we just didn't have them. Unless... An idea started to percolate at the back of my head. If we didn't have the numbers...maybe we needed to change the game. Take a tactic that wouldn't be dependent on numbers. It was a long shot. But any option we had at this point was a long shot.

  "Maybe we don't need to defeat everyone," I said slowly, frowning as I thought it through. "Some of the flocks surrendered after they saw Emberich had Sven. But if we got him back..." I looked up at them. "If we get Sven back, that will give people hope again, give them the will to fight again. What do they have to look forward to if they drive off Emberich's forces? He'll just send more, and there's nobody to stop him. But if we give them something to believe in..." I glanced at their faces, trying to see how they were taking this option. "We need to get Sven out of the capital. And we need to take back the capital as well, though that will have to be done after. Sven is the most important, but both are symbolic. We need that, need to show that we aren't defeated in order to help rally everyone. If they get their heart back, we have more potential numbers on our side."

  "That's suicide," Reelin objected. "Sven is being held in the heart of the capital."

  "It's our best shot," I pointed out. "And a lot less suicidal than the alternatives.” I paused. “I’m open to other ideas. Does anyone have anything better to offer?"

  I waited expectantly. I wasn't joking. A better idea would be welcome, but I just couldn't come up with one. Reelin and Amna looked at each other, but stayed quiet.

  Jacob cleared his throat gently. "Looks like your plan is it," he said, his eyes glinting with amusement. "I think you're doing the best with what you have, which is all you can do."

  He was right about one thing. My plan was all we had.

  Well, fuck.

  Chapter Twelve

  We're in the dome.

  Where are you?

  -Mia

  I stared down at the message I'd just received. I had replied when she'd messaged me. Told her that I didn't want to involve the dragons if I could help it, that Emberich was our problem. That we were re-grouping in the city dome. I'd thought that was that.

  Another ding from an incoming message. I opened it.

  We're already here.

  You might as well tell us.

  -Ashur

  "Mia just asked for the address," Jacob informed me. "Can I send it to her?" he asked carefully. I knew he'd respect my wishes despite Mia’s being his close friend. I appreciated that.

  At the very least, I could bounce ideas off of them if they came. Ashur led his own skein, and he and Mia together had helped bring Emberich down in the first place. I could have worse advisers to choose from.

  "I'll send it," I decided.

  We continued throwing around ideas as we waited, but it wasn't long before they got there. The dome wasn't that large, it was just extremely dense in every square block. What were the chances they would be at the dome already? I supposed not that low since it was the closest dome to Ashur's territory, and I knew he had a place here as well. I just hadn't thought of it. Maybe because I never came here of my own volition until now.

  As soon as I opened the door to let them in, Mia hugged me hard.

  "I'm so sorry," she said, leaning back to see my face. "The news was coming out all jumbled and I didn't want to believe it..."

  "I know. I'm sorry too," I said, patting her shoulder.

  Ashur pulled me into a gentler hug, cognizant of his size and strength.

  "What can we do to help?" he asked as soon as he let go.

  "Some advice would be appreciated," I admitted, gesturing them inside. "I'm not sure if I'm making the right move. Or exactly how to make it."

  I led them over to the living area, where four more guards had appeared to border the room. They obviously saw the Dragon Lord and Mia as a threat. And they were right, according to their training, but of course I wasn't worried about the couple hurting me.

  They sat down in the vacant love seat after greeting Jacob and nodding at the guards, not reacting to the show of force.

  "All right. What are you thinking of doing?" Mia asked after the niceties were over, leaning forward to prop her elbows on her knees, her attractive face focused.

  I took a deep breath. "We can't take on all of the flocks that Emberich has already taken over," I explained. "We only have about a quarter that have held out—not enough to take on Emberich's forces."

  "You probably lost some because Sven was taken. You're leaderless," Ashur murmured, his blue gaze piercing. "Makes you vulnerable."

  I nodded. Exactly what I was thinking.

  "Yes, I think so," I agreed. "He gutted our morale before we even knew we were under attack."

  It was smart. But Emberich always had been. Smart, paranoid, and ruthless. All the reasons he'd been able to hold on to power for so long when he obviously wasn't fit to rule.

  "So what are you thinking then?" Mia asked, frowning. "If you don't have the numbers..."

  "I'm thinking we need to restore that morale we lost. Give people something to hope for, something to fight for," I said. "We've all been trained to fear Emberich, to bow down to his will over the decades of his rule. It's difficult to shake something like that off. I know my immediate emotional response to just seeing his face was that we were done for, even before I realized he had Sven. I can understand the urge to just give in to him, especially when it seems like he's too strong to fight."

  "You want to rescue Sven," Ashur said, guessing where I was going with this. He leaned back in the seat, bringing his hand up to rub at his chin. "Could work," he said consideringly.

  "Yes," I agreed. If the best course of action for the phoenixes had been to leave Sven as a prisoner, at the mercy of Emberich, I don’t know if I could have done it. The fact that this made the most strategic sense just meant that I wouldn't have to go rogue to get him out. I wouldn't have risked anyone but myself, but I would have done it all the same. Because I knew myself—even if it had been in the best interest of my people, I didn'
t think I would have been able to stand leaving Sven in Emberich's hands longer than necessary. But I could keep that to myself now. "Save him. That will remind people Emberich isn't the boogeyman—he's just a person. That will help stoke resistance against him. As will taking the capital back, but that's the next stage."

  They both absorbed that.

  "What can we do?" Mia asked. "Sounds like a reasonable avenue to take right now."

  I hesitated. "I don't want to involve you in something that isn't your problem—"

  Mia interrupted me before I could finish, holding up her hand.

  "Emberich was my problem before and will be again," she said in a low voice, her face and tone serious. "If you remember, he was doing his level best to get rid of me before he even went apeshit on you guys, right? Don't you think he'll turn his ire back in my direction as soon as he's done getting the phoenixes back in line?"

  When she put it that way, it did seem like she had a vested interest in the matter. Emberich had lured Mia to the capital using a fake messenger job back when she still hadn't known she was his daughter. That had been a lot of trouble to go through. I doubted she wouldn't still be on his list of things he needed to get done.

  "After Adara, he'll come for Omari," Ashur added quietly. "We want to stop this almost as much as you do. Trying to keep us out of it won't be serving us or you well. You aren't in a position to refuse help where you can get it. Let us help you."

  That was fair.

  "Okay," I agreed. "You're right. I didn't think of that aspect of it."

  All right. I factored them into my options and realized it would give me one advantage I didn't have without them.