Forged Absolution (Fates of the Bound Book 4) Read online

  “You’re confusing some silly teenage show with reality. Mr. Shaw would not have confessed unless he spoke the truth. I’ve met the man, Cecily, and you’re talking out of your ass. Word is that Ms. Randolph is one of the good ones. Not all highborn are crooks, just like not every oracle child wears robes all day and chants to the gods.”

  Cecily bit into her tortilla. “On this we shall have to disagree.”

  “Well, I heard they’re going to use the trials in the show during the next season,” Camille said. “The rumor is that one of the characters will be hanged.”

  “Spoilers,” Kenna warned.

  As the group chatted about the show, Lila nibbled on the migas, her mouth erupting with the flavors, the peppers and onions blended in perfect proportions. The meal was worthy of knocking on a cabin door in the middle of the night.

  Nico watched her as she ate.

  From time to time, Connell’s booming laugh cut through the group’s conversation. They’d quickly drifted away from The Estate and had begun talking about shows from their childhood, back when television was still good. Cecily and Camille had already gotten lost in the nostalgia haze, the shows too old for them to remember.

  Lila had no idea either. She’d not been allowed near a screen as a child. She’d been too busy reading and studying and learning about business. Instead, she focused on Dixon, who’d begun sneaking looks at Blair, a tiny blush creeping into his cheeks.

  Blair didn’t take peeks. She stared. Openly and unabashedly, her head cocked on her palm, her elbow resting on the table. Once again, she’d forgotten to eat.

  Nico caught Lila’s eye. He chuckled knowingly at the pair.

  Meals were so very different in the oracle’s home than how they’d been in the great house. There, the family played chess, her mother raking over any comment made, always trying to gain an advantage. One stray word, and she might send a spy to track you for a month. Guests played the same game. Dubois might take any comment said at the table, bartering it with other members of the senate or his own matron.

  People in this home filled their spoons with laughter. They dined on easy chuckles and refused platters of discord, not taking a bite.

  Everything here seemed easy.

  Perhaps that was why Lila shot off the bench first, spying Mòr’s eyes as they rolled toward the ceiling. Cradling the oracle’s head, she stopped it from striking the table, guiding her down to the floor. Connell appeared at her side a split second later and rolled his lover onto her side, pulling her away from the table so that she would not bang her legs or arms upon the wood. He fiddled with her bracelet as Nico shoved a pillow under her neck so that she would not injure her head.

  Connell watched as his lover shook and jerked and drooled on the floor. Half-chewed tortilla tumbled from her mouth as she mumbled. All he could do was check his watch and keep the time.

  Lila only caught a few of Mòr’s words here and there. “…serpents rising. The bishop lost in the golden house of the bulls… The Army of the Dead assembles under the same stars. Lila… Lila… Lila…”

  Nico grabbed a clean napkin from the table, passing it to his chief so that he could wipe Mòr’s mouth.

  Kenna stood. “Cecily, Camille, take your food into the kitchen and eat in the breakfast nook. You know Mòr doesn’t like being stared at when she’s like this.”

  The young women obediently took their meals away.

  Dixon and Blair followed.

  Nico also got to his feet. “I should leave for first patrol. If you don’t mind, I’ll take my breakfast to go this morning.”

  “No, it’s not right, Nico,” Connell said. “This is happening much too often. Kenna can stay with her sister this morning. I can’t—”

  “The oracle needs to be with her family right now, and I serve the oracle. This is part of it. I would do this every day for the rest of my life if duty called for it.”

  “Sixteen-hour days? You’re going to start making mistakes.”

  “Nonsense. The oracle had a good day yesterday, and I got a good night’s sleep, filled with very pleasant dreams.” Nico’s gaze flicked toward Lila. “I’ll be fine for days. I’ll take my breakfast and relieve Boyd. Stay with your lover. You ease her, and she needs it.”

  Nico chugged his orange juice and dumped a few more spoonfuls of migas and an extra tortilla on top of his plate. Then he covered it with a napkin. “It was lovely to see you, Lila. Knock on my door tonight if you want more of my cooking. Cabin twenty-four. And go see Dr. McCrae about that bump on your face, will you? I don’t like seeing you hurt.”

  “It’s just a bruise. Besides, I’m heading back into town to see my doctor tomorrow morning.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.” Nico marched from the dining room, whistling as his footsteps retreated through the parlor.

  Connell brushed Mòr’s hair from her eyes as she finally stopped thrashing. “Nico likes you. He can be a little aggressive in his pursuit sometimes. If you want me to talk to him, I will.”

  “I’m more than capable of handling blunt men.”

  “I imagine you are,” he said. “Your reflexes are faster than I thought.”

  “I just happened to look up at the right time.”

  “You might not be able to fight worth a damn, but I suspect that will come in time. I could use someone with your talents, and I understand that you’re in need of a job.”

  “What does Mòr think about that?”

  “She’s not a matron. I don’t need Mòr’s approval or permission on security matters. I did run it by her, though. She likes the idea of keeping you close. What happened last month keeps us both up at night. Think about it.”

  With that, he picked up the oracle. “Kenna, send Dr. McCrae to our bedroom when she arrives, will you?”

  Connell trudged from the room, Mòr in his arms.

  Kenna rearranged the pitchers on the tables. “Mòr has seizures all the time. It can be a bit nerve-racking to outsiders.”

  “To insiders as well.”

  “They usually aren’t this bad. Most of the time, she just spaces out. Sometimes she doesn’t even drop whatever she’s holding. She’s had them at the temple before, and most of the time, pilgrims don’t even notice. I catch her up in her earpiece when she gives me the signal. She’ll even carry on for the rest of the day. Lately, they’ve been different.”

  “Because of the thrashing?”

  “And what she sees. Death, destruction, blood. Whatever it is this time, it’s big. Big as in conferences with your father. We’re lucky, really. The prime minister might want to interfere with us, but he listens when we speak. It’s more difficult to warn someone when they do not yet believe. It’s why there are factions within our numbers who wish to return to the old ways.”

  “When the oracles controlled the government?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you?”

  “Sometimes I believe it would be better than the system we have now, but there aren’t enough oracles who wish to rule. We prefer our oases away from the rest of the world.”

  “She keeps saying my name.”

  “She’s trying to work out what she’s been seeing, conferring with other oracles who might be seeing the same things, or perhaps the other pieces of her vision. Sometimes it’s a group process.”

  “She said she wanted to talk to me after breakfast. Should I stay?”

  Kenna shook her head. “It might take her a few hours until she’s well enough for a visitor. She just wanted to check in, make sure you’re still getting what you need. Gossip about Blair.” She snorted. “She also wanted to give you a chance to interrogate one of the mercs.”

  Lila’s mouth hung open. “You still have them?”

  “You bet your ass we still have them.” A darkness spread across Kenna’s eyes. “Dr. McCrae keeps them half drugged. Connell has came
ras trained on them day and night, keeping them locked in their cells. They aren’t going anywhere, not until we find this mole.”

  “I’m not sure what I would ask. I read the transcripts. Your sister and Connell asked some rather blunt and pointed questions. If they didn’t know anything then, they won’t know anything now. They aren’t going to tell me anything different.”

  “Maybe we didn’t ask the right questions.”

  “Maybe I don’t know the right ones yet, either. Tell Mòr that I don’t have much of an update, with you? I’ve culled a few interesting files from the logs, but I need to fetch some programs back at Dixon’s apartment to investigate them further.”

  “You’re leaving?”

  “I need a few things back at the shop.”

  “You’re uncomfortable here.”

  “No. It’s very nice. It’s very inviting. Very easy.”

  Kenna studied her. “That makes you nervous, doesn’t it?”

  “I’m not nervous. I just need a few things. So does Dixon. Things were left a bit unfinished between him and his brother.”

  “Dixon’s leaving a few things unfinished here as well. He kept staring at Blair all through breakfast.”

  “You don’t approve?”

  “I don’t know him well, but I can’t possibly imagine what he did to deserve her as a punishment,” Kenna said. “My heart weeps in sympathy. Blair is aggravation personified.”

  “I think she amuses him.”

  “Some people are amused by cobras. Perhaps he should keep her in a basket.”

  Lila tried not to smile.

  “I’m guessing he doesn’t wear that scarf for fashion.”

  “He likes purple.”

  “He likes Francois Bisset, too. I recognize the designer. That’s an expensive scarf. I’m guessing it’s a gift from you.”

  “We’ve been friends for a few years now.”

  “Just friends?”

  “Not anymore. He’s moved up in my esteem lately. We’re contemplating becoming best friends. I’m sure there’s a greeting card or a secret handshake involved. I’m a bit rusty.”

  “Best friends with a man who cut out his slave’s chip?”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Lila said.

  “I’ll tell you exactly what I’m talking about. He’s not workborn, from his bearing. He comes from money and power, but it all slipped through his fingers. I can see that plainly enough. There’s guilt in him. Pain, loneliness, and sadness, too. He’s just starting to come into his own as a man, figuring out the sort he wants to be.”

  “I think time away from his brother will help him do that.”

  “It better not come at the expense of my little sister. I might not like her, but I love her,” Kenna said. “It is times like these that I wish had the vision. I’d touch Dixon every time I saw him.”

  “You care a great deal about your sisters. You pretend frustration, but you worry over Blair a great deal.”

  Kenna played with a napkin. “I’m the eldest. It is my job to worry. The seizures took our mother too early, just like they’ll take Mòr in the end.”

  “They’re adults, Kenna. You don’t have to play that role anymore.”

  “Don’t I? Given Mòr’s illness and Blair’s refusal to participate in the world, someone has to take care of them.”

  “Where’s your lover?”

  Kenna looked up, not expecting the question. “Some people can’t handle responsibility.”

  “It sounds lonely.”

  “Not so lonely as busy. Cecily and Camille help when they aren’t preoccupied. Achille did as well. That might have put on a strain on their relationship. I just hope it wasn’t the reason why he left.”

  “I sincerely doubt he left Cecily because he occasionally had to remind a grown woman to wear her jacket and gloves,” Lila said. “If he couldn’t handle that, he didn’t deserve her.”

  “Damn straight.”

  “Connell seems to help.”

  “Yes, he does. Connell is a good man. Is Dixon a good man?”

  Lila nodded.

  “Well, I hope he’ll return with you, and I hope he’ll figure out things here. Maybe you both can. I see in your eyes that you’re lost too. Stay here as long as you wish. You’ll always have a place with the oracles.”

  Dixon entered, his lips and cheeks a touch redder than before.

  Kenna snatched up her breakfast plate. “I need to eat and help the girls clean up. Drive safely. I’ll see you both soon.”

  Lila left her plate where it sat. Nico had cooked excellently, but she’d lost her appetite after Mòr’s seizure. Instead of lingering, she and Dixon walked back to their cabin, with Lila sneaking peeks at Dixon’s face.

  “We both need to retrieve things from the shop. If you’re going on vacation, you need to do it properly. Also, it would be helpful if you and Toxic could help me go through some of this data.”

  Dixon paused mid-step, as though he might refuse.

  “Take me back, Dixon, and I won’t bug you for details about last night or what just happened in the kitchen. At least, not yet.”

  Dixon’s cheeks turned a darker shade of pink.

  Chapter 14

  Lila watched the cars and shops pass by the truck as the pair sped through New Bristol, the skyscrapers growing larger the closer they drove to downtown. They’d only been a few dozen steel peaks in the distance for the last two days, barely visible above the oracle’s stone wall. She’d nearly forgotten them, as though their influence decreased with their size.

  They might not have existed at all.

  Dixon exited the highway and turned toward Shippers Lane. The familiar path spurred an unfamiliar reaction in her chest, and her mood thickened the closer they came to the shop. When they stopped at the last light, her chest had become so heavy she could hardly breathe, and her throat had closed so much that she could barely swallow. The grin Blair had gifted Dixon had long faded, and his fingers clenched the wheel at the last light.

  “You want to drive past,” Lila guessed, fumbling for her mesh hood.

  Dixon shrugged.

  The light turned green. The truck didn’t budge.

  “I don’t want to go either, but there are things I need in your apartment. Besides, you can’t wear the same thing all week. Blair wouldn’t notice, but washing your clothes every morning would get tedious. I don’t care how much you like that pink robe.”

  A car honked behind them.

  Dixon finally lifted his foot off the brake. The truck limped into the shop.

  Lila donned her hood, annoyed that she must wear the damn thing.

  Did she really have to anymore? She was an exile, wasn’t she?

  On the other hand, why flash her identity if it wasn’t necessary? She only had to wear it one more time, for although Tristan had insisted for years that he needed her expertise, he’d not asked for her help on his current case. He hadn’t even told her what it was about.

  It seemed she wasn’t so important after all.

  Surprise, surprise. More lies. More empty words.

  “This is the last time I come here,” she vowed over the softly screeching brakes. “Should your brother ever require my assistance for anything again, he’ll have to seek me out elsewhere.”

  Dixon put the truck into park.

  “I’m tired of playing with a hood.”

  A wrinkled knuckle wrapped sharply on Dixon’s window. “You two getting out or aren’t you?” Shirley asked, her voice muffled through the glass. Her assistants rolled up on tiptoes at their places, peeking into the truck.

  Dixon and Lila disembarked, handing over the keys.

  “Boss man’s upstairs.”

  Lila trailed upstairs behind Dixon. He peeked into the apartment, craning his head in both direct
ions before making a beeline toward the heater, then the kitchen. Snatching up the kettle, he started a pot of hot chocolate, metal clattering against metal.

  Lila shoved her hood into her coat pocket.

  The door to Tristan’s room opened. He emerged wearing a pair of pajama pants and a scowl. “Where have you been?” he asked his brother, ignoring Lila altogether.

  She wouldn’t have answered anyway. This was the chest she’d wanted to see yesterday evening, not Nico’s, but she didn’t want to see what Katia had made of it. She’d been a little rough the night before, leaving a red mark across his back. Lila couldn’t help but wonder what they’d been doing.

  Had she ever left marks?

  Dixon flipped to the back of his notepad, remembering at the last moment that no fresh pages remained. He tossed it on the counter and abandoned his kettle, retreating to his bedroom.

  Tristan gawked at the abandoned notepad. His eyes slid to Lila, his expression sullen. He didn’t say a word about the nasty bruise on her cheek. Perhaps she only merited concern when they slept together.

  That hurt.

  She should have grabbed her bag and her laptop. She could have retreated from the apartment and returned downstairs to wait in the truck.

  Instead she plopped down on the leather sofa chair, trying to not look at her ex.

  Why had she ever laid a finger on Tristan? She’d known how it would play out. She’d only been wrong about how she’d feel about it.

  Dixon returned with a fresh pad. I’m on vacation. I just came back to get some clothes.

  “Came back from where?”

  The oracle’s compound. I’m helping Lila.

  “You’re working the case without me? So much for a vacation. You didn’t even tell me where you were going.”

  You’re not my boss. You’re my brother. Besides, you’ve been busy. Dixon’s gaze flitted toward the bathroom. The shower turned off, and the apartment grew quiet.

  Lila hadn’t even noticed. Perhaps she hadn’t wanted to notice. Reluctantly, she slipped her hood over her face once more.