I returned her hug, unable to help it, and I had no idea how long I basked in the unexpected affection. Eventually, Kit’s voice broke the spell, his tone all apology. “Hera, we need to get going.”
My mother pulled away, her eyes red, but even still, she said nothing. She didn’t apologize, didn’t tell me we’d figure things out.
Then again, what I’d gotten was already more than I ever had expected.
I nodded at my parents as my own goodbye before following Kit. All of this would be for nothing if I got caught here.
I took his hand, and he pulled me behind him, his gaze hard as he studied the room. His focus was unparalleled, and it reminded me just how capable he truly was. He guided me along the back wall of the upstairs, then toward a door near the south end. “There are a set of stairs near the back that lead out to the courtyard. We can scale the back wall once we’re there.” He didn’t look back at me, so I squeezed his hand in agreement.
We went through the door he indicated after he opened it with another twist of his hand that resulted in the crack of a lock.
When he pulled the door open, we froze.
On the other side of that door stood the one person I really didn’t want to see.
The Warden.
I took a step backward.
She smiled, her calm and collected expression making it seem that she’d planned this all.
Maybe she had. She’d proven herself remarkably calculated, and I wouldn’t put anything past her.
“Ms. Weston,” she said. “My advisors didn’t believe you would come here, that I was wasting my time, but after I saw the footage of you visiting your parents’ home, I knew you would come here. It was the look on your face, this wishful, wanting expression. I saw it from you before, back in Larkwood, and it made me have the camera feed at your parents’ house monitored—people who look like that don’t just walk away. No matter how smart or powerful a person is, sentimentality tends to get them in the end.”
Kit tucked me behind him and spread his arms wide in threat.
The Warden glanced at him. “You, however, have surprised me. I had assumed as a wendigo, you’d have easily outmatched a siren. Wendigos are known for their ability to bend any being to their will, and yet it seems this one little siren managed to do that to you. How pathetic. Where is Deacon?”
“Breathing, last I checked, but the gorge I threw him into was a rather long way. I can’t guarantee he still is.”
The Warden shook her head. “What a pity. He was a rather useful tool. Still, I thought you a better tactician than this. Are you truly willing to put this woman’s life above that of your daughter?”
I didn’t need to look at Kit to feel tension that ran through him. Her question had haunted me as well.
Yet, when Kit spoke, he did so without any hesitation. “I know you lied to me about my daughter all these years. Why would I trust anything you say?”
The Warden turned her gaze to me for a moment. “So you found out the truth and told him? You truly are troublesome, you know that? Fine, yes, I’ve had your daughter all along. That should make you more willing to heel rather than less, though. I have a very useful chess piece.”
“A wendigo isn’t a chess piece. That has been one of your mistakes, to think we are. If my daughter is anything like me, you won’t be able to control her for long, no matter what you do. We are creatures not suited for captivity.”
I thought back to the girl I’d met, and he was right. It was one of Larkwood’s biggest issues. They thought they could control us all, but that wasn’t how things worked. They weren’t as strong as they thought.
“I won’t let you take Hera,” Kit said. “Between the two of us, you won’t be able to do this quietly. Are you prepared for the collateral damage that will occur here, the political backlash?”
The Warden grinned. “Rest assured, I have no plans to turn this into a conflict if I can avoid it.”
I moved slightly out to look at her more clearly, to read her expression. My hands moved, and Kit glanced my way so he could translate.“Why not?”
“I like to hedge my bets and determine the best course based on the current circumstances. I’ve seen too many people fail because they let themselves follow things to an unfavorable conclusion, usually based on their own arrogance. I’m not so foolish. You’ve proven yourself more troublesome than I ever would have expected from a spoiled rich girl. I picked you because not only would your parents be useful, but I expected you to be easily controlled.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I will offer you a deal,” the Warden said. When I didn’t respond, she crossed her arms, her back straight. “I know when to cut my losses. You were useful because of your parents. I believe I can still salvage some that, but keeping you under control is far too difficult a task. Not to mention, if I caused a scene here, it would harm my case. So I propose something that will help us both. You turn around and run, just as you plan. Run away with your friends and do not return to this country. Go live your life out in whatever hole you wish. Just ensure I don’t hear a word about you. In exchange, I won’t come looking. I’ll tell your parents I captured you again, and everyone will move on.”
“Move on? You turned me into a shade, ruined my life, and you think we can just pretend none of this happened?”
“What I think is that you can have a life again. It may not be the same life you had before, but you still can have one. Isn’t that what you want? Isn’t that why you did all this? My having anything to do with how you ended up here doesn’t change where you go from here.”