The Rise of Ren Crown (29 page)

I thought of Raphael, who would have been taken about a decade ago, right after he graduated Excelsine. Kaine would have been eighteen at the time, maybe? My age.

“Was he there when Raphael was?”

“No one knows where Kaine came from. Whispered opinion is that he was raised in the secret testing facilities that don't officially exist.”

Horror filled me.

I had so many questions, but we had reached the top of the stairs. I disengaged my hand. No way was I walking out there holding Alexander Dare's hand. Though it would likely shift rumors away from other things. Still, I wasn't sure that I was up for the social repercussions. When he had sat with us at lunch for five minutes, I had fielded questions for
weeks
.

“Ready?” he asked out loud.

I nodded.

We stepped into chaos.

Chapter Nineteen: Connections of the Desired and Undesired Kind

The first floor of the Magiaduct was in an uproar in Dorm One, with students yelling and arguing over each other.

“They are demanding that we line up for review. That we wake up everyone who is asleep too. After everything else today—”

“There's no way the officials will let—”

“They can do
anyth
—”

“Would it be so bad to—”

“
Yes
.”

I certainly didn't want Kaine lining us up and looking for a wound on Dare that wasn't fully healed. I let myself be seduced by the steady reassurance of Dare striding next to me, looking unconcerned.

Dare's gaze was steady, but there was a little quirk at the side of his mouth. Something that I could only see now that I'd spent so much time with him. Before, he would have just looked bored or unreadable. Whatever he could hear through frequency or armband conversation from his combat group had reassured him.

Armband conversation...wait.

I touched the band, flipping it back on.

A flurry of voices immediately started yelling at me, their sweet, shouting voices a sure sign that they hadn't gone to Plan B. That they hadn't abandoned me when I'd told them to.

“Where are you, Crown?”

“What were you thi—”

“I'm going to murder y—”

“Tap once for okay, two for speaking under duress.”

“I'm fine,”
I sent back, jerkily tapping once, just in case.
“Stop talking. Why aren't you all on Plan B? We're trying to get through the gauntlet—”

“We almost
did
go to Plan B, Princess, regardless of our desire to stay the course. For the last twenty minutes, Legatus Shike, the head of The Legion, has been demanding that everyone in the Magiaduct be examined and questioned again. Provost Johnson has been working like mad to keep them out. And now Praetorian Kaine is backing the provost and telling Shike to back down.”

That...was worrying. I didn't want to be lined up again, but why would Kaine suddenly back away?

Whatever Dare was hearing was tightening the edges around his mouth too.

One of the students near us answered my forming question. “Mandatory curfew instead? Whatever.
Seriously.
I'll take it.”

I looked to Dare, and listened to the chattering in my ear. As long as every student returned to their rooms for the night in the next five minutes—or was running in the direction of their room—we wouldn't be subjected to interrogation. Students were yelling at each other to get going. Administration Magic started pulling at my stationary feet, the Administration was obviously backing this effort not to have the Department line us up again.

Students started streaming around us, some running.

The voices in my armband reflected the anxiety.

The edges of Dare's eyes pinched, and defying the Administration Magic urging us to
move
, he grabbed my hand, holding me in place, and raised my hand inches from his gaze. Magic dropped over his eyes—not like Kaine's, but with enough similarity that I tried to yank backward.

“Steady,” he murmured. He frowned as he examined every whorl. “It is the only thing that makes sense, but there is nothing there.” He looked over the rest of me, inch by inch, as people ran by us on both sides—a tiny island in the midst of the swarm. I looked around and saw the blatant staring from the students as they passed. Great.

I gave a lame wave with my free hand—as in, “Hey, everything's fine, nothing to see here.” It didn't quite go that way, though, as people interpreted my gesture as, “I'm going to mangle everyone and everything around you with zero regrets!”

They gasped and shrunk back—creating an even larger space between us and the crowd.
Crap
.

I balled up my fist and drew it so quickly against my chest that I hit myself, but a flurry of hands had already shot forth to defend themselves, and three bolts flew toward me.

With a flick of Dare's finger, the bolts fizzled in the air. He never turned around.

Someone screamed.

“I'm out of here through the other door. No way. No how,” a boy said.

A number of people sprinted after him, away from us.

Wow. Just, wow.

Only a few stragglers—those with the sharp, considering gazes—walked more slowly past, gazes switching between Dare and me.

“Clean.” Dare let my hand drop and frowned at me.

I swallowed and looked around us. Administration Magic tugged me harder. “Are we really going back to our rooms?”

“Yes.” Dare's mouth twisted. “Kaine is up to something, but there is nothing we can do while the Administration Magic is supporting curfew.”

“Break it?”

“A one-way ticket to expulsion in this environment.” He was already turning me and herding me toward the staircase. “And the Department will process and take you before you get a foot from the wards.”

The voices coming through my armband and into my ear were echoing the same thing, some of them forming the same questions.

It didn't take long to reach our floor or rooms. The dorm hall was a wasteland.

Dare looked me over. “You need to sleep.” Something passed over his expression—a fleeting emotion. “If you can't sleep...” He touched my cheek. A thin thread of magic remained when he removed his fingers. “That will tell me and I'll help.”

I stared at him. Administration Magic was tugging
hard
now.

“I'll see you in the morning,” Dare said, opening his door and handing me my bag, which I'd left just inside. His hand brushed mine. “
Don't do anything
. Just sleep.”

I stiltedly walked down the hall.

“Ren—”

“I know,” I said tiredly, without looking back. Sleep, I got it. I stared at Bellacia's door. It was mandatory curfew. I had to spend twelve hours with her anyway. Hesitation was dumb. And painful.

Magic yanked.

But...a night in the room would cement some sort of roommate bond. One that I didn't want.

No. I was looking at this stupidly. Emotionally. This was not giving in. This was a strategic move that would lead me back to Olivia. I needed the recharge. To untwist my horrific magic. I needed to do nothing more than relax for twelve hours and rejuvenate. Get back on track so that when Marsgrove came back with Olivia, we would be ready to go. To resume Olivia's plans for world takeover. To continue my experiments. To get back to having a great time at school.

I opened the door. I heard Dare finally stepping inside his room—having watched me the entire time.

Magic zipped over me as I stepped inside—recognizing me and welcoming me back. There was a less organic feel here than in my room with Olivia, but still powerful. Likely to do with whatever Bellacia had done to secure me as her roommate.

“Had an interesting night?” her lilting voice came from the left.

Bellacia was in her work room. The door was open, so I stepped forward and looked inside, curiosity being one of my fatal flaws.

Her work room was half a movie den—with deep, leather chairs and a number of viewing devices—and half a communications studio. Devices and enchantments of all sorts were issuing news releases in multiple ways, information was streaming along the walls and through the air, and banners were swirling around her, waiting to be plucked forth and examined.

In the midst of the barrage, Bellacia was stretched out in a leather recliner in casual night clothes of green and gray, and she was holding a fully colored and textured hologram—rotating it in the air and carefully manipulating the edges, poking around the corners, trying to uncover secrets only she could see. It looked like a miniaturized room rotating above her palm.

“Welcome back. Have a nice midnight adventure?” Bellacia asked lightly, eyes focused on the image.

“Down to Medical? It was a blast.”

She laughed. It was patronizing and sweet and I hated it. “Whatever you say, dear.”

I had no idea what Camille Straught might have told Bellacia about tonight’s activities. With Dare involved, I couldn't believe that it was too much. Camille Straught seemed pretty loyal to their group, but she was a magicist whose nouveau family was working its way up the ranks of the Old Guard.

Bellacia's hand flicked and the news streams surrounding her parted for a three foot span—skipping over the space she'd opened in the air, so that no visual magic lay between us.

She touched the image she held, nudging it casually—
just so
—so that it turned to the side to be easily viewed by both of us. Then she flicked her fingers and it bloomed fully on the opposite wall—a 3D full size vision. My eyes focused, and my breath stuttered.

General Telgent, the leader of the Peacekeepers' Troop was seated in a chair at the center of the image, cuffs binding his wrists to metal armrests. I clenched my fingers into fists. There had been evidence to suggest that he might have been involved—the interaction I had observed with “Emrys” had possessed me to tell Isaiah and the others to be wary of him.

Telgent's fingers twitched and flexed.

I took a step closer automatically. It was not a static image. It was an animated feed.

“What is this?” I demanded.

“Telgent's third interrogation.” The hooded, amused way Bellacia sent my way was telling. “Recorded after the events, while we were all settling in back here.”

“Where is this place?” I couldn't help taking another step closer.

Bellacia shrugged lightly. “That is the secondary question, isn't it? I've already been through both of his interrogations that took place here on campus.”

That admission was more than mildly concerning—that she had been able to access recordings or memories of what had surely been secured information.

Bellacia's gaze was serene. And it said—
I can get anything.

I pressed my lips together and looked back at the image.

Telgent looked like he had been dragged through hell and hadn't made it back in one piece. I couldn't be too unhappy about that fact. I hoped Marsgrove had given him a good work over.

Telgent looked up as five mages appeared. His eyes skittered over Stavros and latched onto one of the women. “I have nothing further to say. I've said it all. I was blackmailed and I went along with it and allowed the terrorists access to Excelsine. I am guilty of that. I am not part of their organization, though, and you
know
it.”

“Do you think that will matter to anyone? Twenty-six students and three staff are permanently dead. One of our most secure facilities breached. People want your blood. It is up to us how much we allow them to shed.” She smiled. It was creepy. “Tell us what we want to know.”

“They still have my family. You are crazy if you think I'm going to do anything to jeopardize that. My silence earns their survival.”

She hummed a little as she tinkered with a small machine near him. “Of course.”

“What are you doing?” he asked, obviously unnerved by her nonchalance and steady actions setting up the odd machine. “What is that?”

“Nothing to worry about, General Telgent. Nothing for you to worry about at all.”

The feed went dark.

I stared at the wall. “What happened after?” I asked, unnerved.

Bellacia didn't answer. The twist of her mouth said she didn't know, though.

“Where did you get the recording?”

Bellacia shrugged. “Where does any good journalist get her sources and material from?” She smiled.

Telgent's family was being held hostage—that fact focused my rage elsewhere. “What was the machine?” They expected Telgent to answer the questions even though he had no intention to do so—that didn't indicate anything good.

“That's the primary question, isn't it?” Bellacia rubbed her lower lip, looking at the feed. “You've never seen it?”

“No. But that's hardly surprising.”

It wasn't like I had to conceal the fact that I was feral anymore. Origin Mage, yes. Feral, no. That secret had flown the coop and was never returning.

“Mmmm. I suppose not. Still, you've seen far more things and far fewer things than many mages, have you not? You aren't exactly stable or normal.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. “Ditto.”

She gave a tinkling laugh, and leaned back. “Coming from you, that is wonderfully sweet. I know how you love collecting the
interesting
mages on campus.”

“You mean the strays?” I said, stepping back, not willing to play this game.

She leaned forward. “The powerful.” There was something greedy in her gaze for a moment, before it turned cajoling. “The
interesting
.”

“You've been here for, what, two and a half years now?” I said, unimpressed. “You could have made friends with any of those people.”

“But no one trusts
me
, kitten. They just see my father.” A forlorn expression appeared.

I narrowed my eyes. “No, I think they see
you
just fine
.
” I looked around us. “You love this. This
is
you.”

She laughed, and the forlorn expression dropped, leaving real humor in her eyes. “It's true. I do love Daddy's business.”

“Your setup is pretty great,” I allowed, looking around the dynamic room. I could appreciate it. If it wasn't Bellacia, I'd be insanely curious about all of the gadgets and gizmo magic. As it was, I needed to become as lightly ensnared as possible in the traps she was surely setting for me.