River Cast: Part Two in the Tale of Lunarmorte (32 page)

“
Lost who?”
Jae whispered, her look of confusion trying to mask the one of fear
he knew was waiting in the wings. “What happened?”

Magnus shook his head in
deep concern. “Someone tried to take you.”

Horror flit across her
eyes before she could stop it. “Kidnap me?”

Ryder squeezed her hand
tighter, rage unlike anything he had ever known desperate to
explode and take everything with it. “We’ll find out why?” He
promised tightly.

“
I want to
know
who,
” Ella
snarled.

They fell silent, and
Reuben began to move towards the hallway, his head down, his
shoulders hunched in thought. Ryder’s head jerked up as the vampyre
muttered, “If it’s who I think it was, things are about to get very
interesting.”

20 - The
Politician

“
I don’t think
you understand how valuable you are.” Marita appeared to be
fighting to remain calm, her words hissed between clenched teeth,
“Forget even that you have trace powers leading us to every
Midnight in this world, there is not a witch or warlock on this
earth that has done what you did in Remnant Forest.”

She was allowing the Head
of the Coven to pace and bluster and lecture, sitting on the sofa
by Marita’s fireplace, waiting patiently for her chance to speak.
So far the witch was not taking the news that she intended to
return to the pack very well. Boo for her.

“
You haven’t
even touched some of the lessons in magik our advanced classes
teach. We have no idea what you will be capable of when you have
the knowledge and understanding of magik like that of my sister and
my own. It would be idiotic to let you walk out of here and go
home.”

Caia tensed at her tone,
her eyes narrowing as Marita spun around to glare at her. “Last
time I checked, madam, the Coven laws forbade coercion and
kidnapping.”

Marita chuckled
humourlessly. “So dramatic, Caia.”

“
You knew
when I got here that it was merely a visit. I’ve been helping you
quite well from my home with the pack.”

“
Your reports
are useful. However, your soldiering is invaluable.”

As the silence thickened
between them, Caia could see the witch’s eyes hardening with every
tick of the clock.

She really
had thought I would stay
, Caia mused
incredulously.

“
What have
you got to return to, Caia? Those people who don’t understand you?
And if the rumour mill here is correct your Alpha, the one man who
was keeping you bound to that pack, is now in a relationship with
Rose Bronson.”

The calculating gleam in
her eye, that smug smile, knocked Caia for six.

Son-of-a-Bitch
, she hissed inwardly.
“Rose... isn’t a friend of Phoebe MacLachlans, is she?”

Shrugging, Marita gave her
a saccharine smile, folding herself elegantly into the armchair
before her. “No, not really.”

She didn’t know whether to
be disgusted or pay attention to this woman’s tactics. After all,
if she was to convince the Council to ally with her and go up
against Marita, then she had better learn to be just as ruthless
when dealing with her.

“
Why?”

“
I need you
here.”

In other
words she had deliberately brought Rose here to separate Caia from
Lucien, to make her feel isolated from him and the pack, to give
her no other option but to call the Centre
home.
There was an absoluteness to
Marita in that moment. From the tip of her hair to the tip of her
toes she was determined Caia would remain with her, fight for her.
Did she really think Caia would agree to aid her in her experiments
with children?!

Time to change
tactics.

Caia slumped, a small sigh
escaping as she glanced up at the magik with a deliberate weariness
shimmering in their depths. “I don’t know what I’m doing,” she
whispered.

The magik tutted and slid
a cold hand across to her, patting it condescendingly. “There,
there, my dear. You’ve had an exhausting time of it. But there is
nowhere better for you than here. It will be better for you
emotionally and physically if you stay here. I thought you had made
friends here, people who understand you. And there’s always Marion,
who I know is extremely fond of you.”

She nodded, tucking her
hair behind her ear, making her fingers tremble noticeably. “I
just... don’t want to disappoint anyone.”

“
You mean the
pack. Lucien?”

“
Yes.”

“
He stepped
aside so easily, Caia, when I brought Rose in. What loyalty do you
really owe him?”

More than I owe
you.

With her young heart in
her eyes, she looked up at Marita as if a student to her tutor.“I
would like to stay here.”

A wide grin split her
normally dispassionate face. “Wonderful. I’ll take ca-”

“
But I have
to go back to say goodbye to everyone. To explain. I would... like
to see Jaeden, as well, before I return to the Centre.”

For a moment Marita’s eyes
washed over her, searching, suspicious. It took everything Caia had
to maintain the sincere facade of a young, confused girl looking
for guidance. Inside she was furious at this woman for putting her
in this position; this woman who was supposed to be the protector
of the Daylight Coven. How Marion’s great-grandmother would be
howling from the underworld at the way Marita had taken to running
things. She was an autocrat alright... she was just better at
hiding it than most. Finally, the magik seemed satisfied that Caia
was telling the truth; she nodded and stood up. “Very well. You
should leave today then. But I expect you back in two days
time.”

Caia forced a bright smile
and a sigh of relief. “Yes, yes of course.”

Restraining the urge to
run from the room, Caia sedately left Marita’s suite, surprised to
find Marion waiting inside the mahogany elevator for
her.

“
Well?” She
smiled kindly.

Oh how she wished she
could confide in Marion, tell her the truth. She abhorred lying to
the woman who had been more than just a mentor, but a solid
friend.

“
I’m
staying,” she managed weakly. “I’m going back to the pack with
Lucien to say goodbye, and then I’ll be back here in two
days.”

Marion’s reaction wasn’t
the one she’d been expecting.

“
Are you sure
that’s what you want?”

“
What do you
mean? I thought you’d be happy.”

The witch threw her a sad,
knowing look. “It would make me happy if I thought that was what
you really wanted.”

Caia frowned at her. “It
is.”

They rode down the
elevator, got off at floor five, and rode that elevator up to
Caia’s suite in complete silence. Marion stopped her before she
could make her way to her room.

“
I still
believe that you can help us win this war even if you are living
with the pack. My sister doesn’t. That doesn’t mean you have to
feel pressured into staying. It would be against the law to keep
you here unwillingly.”

In that moment she wanted
to throw her arms around this woman and cry, beg, plead with her to
help her do what she had to do. But no matter how kind Marion was
to her, she would never betray her sister. Caia smiled determinedly
at her and lied, “I appreciate that Marion, but there’s really
nothing keeping me with the pack.”

“
Not even
Lucien?”

An ache rippled across her
chest and her smile tightened. “Lucien has Rose.”

“
And if he
didn’t?”

“
He does.”
she sighed and turned to leave. “I’m going to get ready. Maybe you
could tell Lucien that we’re leaving now. Rose is coming with
us.”

Instead of heading towards
her suite, however, Caia strode past it and got into the elevator
at the other end of the hall. Her heart was racing, hoping that she
would remain undetected as she made her way to visit the
Travellers.

Luck must have been on her
side. She found herself on the other side of the Centre with very
little trouble, and was immediately swarmed by the twins and a few
others. The rest of the Travellers watched shyly from the
background.

“
Oh my
goddess, Caia, Ophelia travelled to the top of the Pyramid of
Khafre in Giza this morning!” Desi tugged excitedly on her sleeve.
“We all told her not to because it’s like insanely dangerous... I
mean she could have missed the top by a millimetre and gone
crashing down the pyramid. But she didn’t!” She laughed, shooting a
look of pure pride at Ophelia, who blushed happily, “She totally
pulled it off!”

Caia chuckled. “Well done,
Ophelia. That must have been some view.”

She shrugged modestly.
“There was a lot of sand.”

Desi snorted, “I would so
be bragging if I were you now. I can’t believe Vilhelm missed it.
Did you hear, Caia? That he broke that girl out of prison, that
Midnight?”

“
I
did.”

Desi and a few others
shook their heads in amazement, “We knew he was like awesome at
travelling but we didn’t know he had the balls to pull that
off.”

Ophelia sniffed, “Well,
all I have to say is that he really must believe the girl is
innocent. Vilhelm would never betray the Coven.”

Oh that’s right, Caia
mused, Ophelia had a crush on Vil.

Desi grimaced. “Or uh the
girl put a spell on him.”

“
Impossible.”
One of the other male Travellers shook his head scowling at her.
“The girl was contained by magik. Vil did it of his own free
will.”

“
So weird, he
was always so quiet.”

“
It’s always
the quiet ones.”

“
Why did he
do it though?”

“
Well, I
don’t care why he did it,” Ophelia said loudly, cutting off the
chatter. “I’m just not going to treat him as a villain for
it.”

“
Ophelia.”
Desi sighed. “She’s a Midnight.”

Her sister shrugged. “She
came here for refuge.”

“
Midnights
are the enemy, remember.” One older woman sneered.

Caia watched them argue
amongst themselves, her confidence growing by the minute. It seemed
the younger generation in particular were more open to the belief
that maybe all Midnights weren’t to be condemned solely on heritage
alone.

“
I can’t
believe you would even suggest a Midnight could be innocent.” The
same woman spat at Ophelia and the others crowded around her. Desi
looked torn and she turned to Caia as if for reassurance.
Immediately, as her green eyes swept over Caia, her face brightened
and she whirled back to the others. “Why not?” She demanded of the
opposition. “Caia’s part Midnight and she’s awesome.”

Silence immediately
descended over the room as they all turned to stare at
her.

Great.

The older Traveller
stepped forward, and still scowling at Desi, said quietly and
authoritatively, “That’s different. Miss Ribeiro isn’t a
full-blooded Midnight and has proven her loyalty to the Daylights
thrice over. In fact, she of all people would be able to tell you
that all Midnights are evil.”

Her heart
thudded in her chest. She hadn’t come here to make a declaration on
that subject quite yet. She had only visited them because she
wanted to tell them that they could come see her anytime if they
needed anything at all. The Travellers were an important group to
her... and eventually she would need
them
.

As Caia gazed back at all
their waiting faces, she was loath to lie to them. If she did, they
would only see it as hypocrisy later and her hopes of getting their
support would be dashed. Sighing heavily, she shrugged, throwing
them a weary smile. “There are very few people in this world who
are truly evil. That the Midnights are our enemy at the moment is
all you need to know.”

Before the
surprised muttering could erupt into loud chatter, Caia moved
towards them carefully. “I actually came to tell you that I’ll be
returning to the pack for a few days.”
More lies
, she winced. “But that
I’ll be back.”
No need to tell them
when
. “And while I’m gone I want you to
know that you can come visit me, any time, if you need me. I’m
here.”

There was some gushing
from Desi and her sister, and a few others, but mostly just
grateful smiles thrown in with a little bit of hero worship.
Normally it would make Caia want to sink into the floor to avoid
such flattery. Her plans had changed all that.

As diplomatically as she
could, she made her excuses and returned to her suite with a
triumphant smile. Things were going very nicely. Just one last
thing to do. With her gaze fixed on the offending vase, Caia
practically stormed at it, upended its contents on the floor and
sifted through them with her toe.

There you
are.