Divided: The Alliance Series Book Four (35 page)

I flushed. “Speak for yourself. Also, I want to kiss you, but I haven’t seen a toothbrush in two days. I’ll be quick.” I drew away from him, though God, it was an effort, and unlocked the door.

Once I felt vaguely like a civilised human being again, I came out of the bathroom, dripping-wet hair spilling from a towel. I was tired and starving and felt like I’d been run over by a lawnmower, but I was lucky the Stoneskins hadn’t done more damage when they’d hit me. I checked my room, but I didn’t expect Kay to have gone up there without asking me. I headed downstairs, bracing myself for a lifetime of questions from Nell.

“I’m sure it’s not irreparable,” Kay was saying, on his communicator in the hallway. “Mostly. Come on, Valeria has bigger things to worry about. At least all the prototypes weren’t destroyed.”

Ah. The invisible car. Some lucky person had to deal with that. But not us.

“Yes, I know.” He saw me and smiled. “Listen, I have to go. I’ll explain later.”

He hung up. “Simon,” he said, in explanation. “Your family are in the kitchen.”

“It won’t kill them to wait another minute.” I pushed open the door to the living room, and was kissing him before we were even through it.
I thought I lost you. I thought I killed you.
He backed up until we were on the sofa, holding onto me like I was the last thing left on Earth.

I pulled back to breathe. “So,” I said. Situations like this didn’t come equipped with ideal words. “I suppose I could say ‘thank you’ for crossing a dozen worlds to find me. And don’t say
it was nothing.”
I threw my arms around him again, squeezing tight.

“Jesus Christ, Ada.” His voice was uneven, almost pained.

I drew back and squinted at him. “You’re hurt.”

No shit, Ada.
I gently touched one of the bruises on his cheek. He didn’t say anything—just watched me. Like he couldn’t quite believe I was real.

“Was that from the Stoneskins? The first time? I thought they’d killed you.”

He rested his head against the back of the sofa, eyes closed. “Yeah… I got lucky. Xanet was still there. You know that girl who healed you?”

“Really? She… she saved you.”

“Yeah.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I thought I died. To be honest, I’m still not completely sure of it.”

My hands wrapped around his head. “You’re definitely alive. You should probably clean that swamp water out of your hair.”

“You’re probably right.” He shifted on the sofa. “I’ve had bloody enough of Cethrax.”

“Was it one of their monsters who did that?” I traced the scrape along his unshaven jawline.

“A chalder vox threw me around a bit.”

“Ouch,” I said. “Honestly, Kay, I leave you alone for a couple of days and you get beaten up… how many times? What are you like?” I ran my finger over his knuckles. He’d cleaned up the blood, but painful-looking cuts marked both hands. “How bad is it?”

He shifted into an upright position, and I caught the slight hesitation in his movement.

“Come on, let me look.”

I pushed up his shirt. Dark bruises patched the taut, scarred skin over his ribs.
Ouch.
I ran my hands over them.

“Nothing’s broken,” I said.

“If it was, I’d know about it,” he said. “How would you like it if I did this?” Next thing I knew, he’d stuck his hands up my top and
tickled
me. I half collapsed on the sofa, laughing and trying to push him away. “Stop it!”

The door opened. “What in the world is going—gah, my eyes!” Alber backed out into the hallway.

“Ah!” I said, jumping off the sofa and tugging my top down.

Alber shook his head. “I can’t even tell who was assaulting who, and I don’t really want to know. Anyway. Nell wants to talk to you.”

“Of course she does.” I grinned at Kay. “Come scrape me off the floor when she’s done with me. I reckon I’m in for a hell of a safety lecture.”

“If it’s any consolation, I’ve been ‘invited’ to a meeting with the Valerian police tomorrow.” He looked more amused than annoyed. “Probably about dangerous cross-world travel.”

“Ouch,” I said. “Oh well. It was for a good cause. Me.”

“Can’t argue with that,” he said. “I’ll wait out here.”

I tilted my head on one side. “You’re trying to avoid her, aren’t you?”

“It was you she wanted to talk to, not me. Suppose I get my lecture later on.”

“You better.”

Not if I had anything to do with it. Like hell was I letting him out of my sight in the foreseeable future.

I went into the hall. Nell was in the kitchen, elbows resting on the table. Jeth and Alber slipped past, leaving me alone with her, and closing the door.

I drew in a breath. She was as tense as ever, even with me back. I could hardly blame her. A lump grew in my throat. She’d nearly lost me to the very people she’d tried to protect me from all my life.

“You wanted to talk to me?”

“Yes,” she said. “I thought it would be a good idea to get it over with. If you don’t want to talk about what happened to you, I understand. But I imagine you have some questions.”

Well, yeah.
“For one thing, the StoneKing said the magebloods were
winning
the war, not losing. Is that true?”

She nodded. “These things change, and there are often long gaps between news—and to talk of winning and losing in a war on that scale is not as easy as you might believe. There are more factions in the war than just magebloods and nonmages.”

“Yeah,” I said, “but is it true about the other Royals? They’re all dead?”

A fraction of a second’s hesitation. “At last I heard… yes. But that doesn’t mean it’s true. There are places they can hide, and the methods the magebloods used made it difficult to know for certain. Few eyewitnesses escaped when they bombed the palace, for example.”

The palace. The place I’d have grown up, if things had been different.

“My… parents?” I had to force the words out. If the StoneKing hadn’t forced me to face the world I’d never be part of again, I would have left the issue in the past, like Nell had always told me to. But given what had happened, I needed closure.

I knew the answer before she spoke: “Presumed dead. They were in the palace when the bombs went off, and I’d know if they used the escape tunnels, because I’m in contact with the people who were watching them at the time. I’m sorry.”

I shrugged, torn between disconnection and the nagging sense I should feel something—but at the same time, I’d never known those people. They’d let me be injected with adamantine, and they’d wanted me to be their assassin.

I refused to start thinking about the life I’d have led if things had been one degree different. Because every decision made a difference, however small. If there was one thing I knew for certain after my time with the Stoneskins, after walking within an inch of my own death, it was that. Any moment I could have died, and everyone left behind would have had to deal with the fallout. Maybe I could have prevented the others’ deaths. But if I hadn’t been there, the StoneKing would have killed them sooner or later. I wouldn’t forget them, but I couldn’t undo the past.

I hesitated. “The StoneKing… he said something about me being a
nexus.
He told me every world has some kind of main source—the ones with magic, that is. But—he was lying, wasn’t he?”

Nell was silent. My heart beat fast, my hands went cold.

“No,” I said. “It can’t be true. It makes no sense. The—the source of all magic has to
stay
in that world, doesn’t it?”

A pause, the longest five seconds ever. Then she breathed out. “It’s not true,” she said. “The source you were implanted with was a small part of the main deposit on Enzar. If it
was
true, there would be no more magic on that world.”

I breathed out, too. Of course—I’d seen the level of magic on Enzar myself. Seen the destruction.

“But the other part—he said the magebloods would believe it if he told them. They wouldn’t, would they? They’d know it was absurd.”

This new silence had a different feel. A shiver ran up my back. “It’s true? They’d believe it?”

“Ada,” said Nell, slowly, “there are a great many people who would believe anything in order to bring an end to the conflict. You’re the last surviving Royal—as I heard, anyway—with the magic implant. Of course there will be rumours. It doesn’t mean they’re true, but belief doesn’t require the truth, does it?”

“No,” I said. “Guess I get why you wanted me to stay away from there. They’d make me into a weapon or a martyr.” I shuddered.

“Yes,” said Nell, “but it’s no different to what I told you already.”

I swallowed. “Guess not. You always said we could never go back. But I can’t pretend it isn’t a bit creepy. A whole nation would believe that about me.”

“To the magebloods, the Royals’ powers have always been a mystery. They never knew why they suddenly came to be dominated by the ones they’d once ruled. As recent as thirty years ago, they used to stage public executions via third level magic, and when they caught one of the Royals trespassing in mageblood territory, they wanted to make an example. They were far from prepared for their attack to simply bounce off, killing several of their own. That event triggered the Royals’ dominance—until nine years later, when the magebloods retaliated with a weapon of their own.”

I didn’t even know what to say. “It sounds like the magebloods and Royals were as bad as each other,” I said. “I suppose I understand why the Alliance wanted to leave them to kill each other.”

“Don’t say that,” said Nell, her eyes flashing. “Perhaps Enzar is beyond saving, but there are decent people left there. You know that.”

“I know.” I heaved a sigh. “It’s just… it feels like I should do
something.
And I can’t. Even with my… power. It’s not enough. Hell, it’s what caused the war.”

“Not just that,” said Nell. “The hostilities go back to the dawn of the Royals’ arrival on Enzar, after they left their old world. It’s the way things are. They were originally the outsiders, but they made themselves gods, in their own eyes.”

“Yeah, they sound as deluded as the StoneKing,” I said. But it wasn’t that simple. Once you crossed one bridge, it was a slippery slope with no clear division between good and evil. In this picture, everyone was a villain, except those too innocent to know any better. And if I’d stayed, they’d have corrupted me, too.

The thought made me sick.

“Enough,” I said, aloud. “I don’t want to talk about Enzar anymore.”

Nell nodded. “I thought not. I wanted to make sure…”

“I know,” I said. “But we can deal with that later. I’m just… really glad to be home.”

A rap on the door. “Can we come and see our favourite sister?” Alber asked.

“Of course,” said Nell.

I yelped as my brothers piled on me in a bear hug. “Guys! Having trouble breathing here.”

Alber let go of me, while Jeth loosened his hold.

“Can we skip over the safety lecture?” I asked, before anyone could speak. “Lesson learned, et cetera. I just wanna lie on the sofa and eat takeout and watch Al’s crappy ninja films all evening, okay?”

“Deal,” said Alber.

My communicator buzzed in my pocket. I’d forgotten I carried it, and my heart dipped a little as I flicked the touch screen. Central were contacting me.
Why? What happened?
My head spun with images of emergencies, or more attacks, or the Stoneskins rising from the abyss. Maybe we hadn’t sent them away after all.

I breathed out. It was from Ms Weston, helpfully titled, “This is not an emergency.” Couldn’t be bad news, right?

***

KAY

I stared at the message, frozen in shock. Horror and disbelief locked me to the spot, and a roaring sounded in my ears, drowning everything else.

Get out.
I stumbled forwards.
Calm down, Kay.

But the words of the message were imprinted in my head.

“The Alliance have finished negotiations with the Republic of Thairon, and all representatives have since returned to Earth to report to the council. We expect a positive outcome to a conflict that has lasted almost twenty years.”

Thairon had opened its doors, which meant only one thing.

My father was coming back to Earth.

***

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