Page 52 of Renegade Queen

“You’re a sight for sore eyes, Aly. I didn’t think we’d see you back here. Let alone already staging some kind of revolution.” He peered at her then. Like he was trying to see the truth of what she was hiding.

Rather than correct him, Alyssa turned to the rest of us. “Guys, meet Rhidian. Rhidian, this is Tank, Dean, Maddox and Ryder.”

“Fizzle filled me in,” he told her, pulling a sack from his shoulder and crouching down as he rummaged through it.

Pulling out blankets and bottles, he wandered over to the fire, taking a moment to care for the others in our midst that we still needed to figure out what we would do with. After he’d sorted out the woman and her children, he turned his attention to The Endless we’d… saved?

“Never thought I’d see the day,” he murmured as he wedged a blanket under the unconscious man’s head and held two fingers before his face to ensure he was still breathing. “How did you do this?”

“It’s… complicated,” Alyssa said, evading the question. I had a feeling it was more because she didn’t want to spill all her secrets to him than she didn’t actually know.

“Isn’t it always when you’re involved,” Rhidian quipped before laughing when he saw the look of shock on her face. “I always knew you were special, Aly. But your secrets were well and truly blown when you ran from here. They might be rumours to some, but I knew you well enough to fill in the blanks and see the truth. Gotta say, I’m a little hurt that you didn’t think you could confide in me. I seem to remember braiding your hair more than once, and cashing in my man credentials like that has got to earn me some respect, surely.”

He sounded hurt. Clearly, there was history between them, but whatever he was talking about was just one more thing on the pile of stuff we didn’t know about Alyssa.

And it seemed like I wasn’t the only one who didn’t like that.

“Alyssa keeping secrets? Well, join the club sitting in the dark,” Dean snarked as he turned to walk away from her.

Only Alyssa’s hands snapping out and grabbing his bicep stopped him in his tracks.

“You’re right. You deserve to know the truth... my truth,” she told him quietly, looking around at the rest of us, so we knew she also meant us.

Rhidian squinted up at our group as he seemed to make a decision about the dysfunction shown in front of him. It didn’t really look good; all of us stood there arguing in a dank cave, while a traumatised woman and her children cowered quietly behind us.

“I’ve got a boat outside for our friends here, and you seem to need a conversation. I’ll give you some time to talk,” Rhidian said, helping the woman and her children to their feet.

We were shit rescuers. But there was so much that we didn’t know about this place and what was happening here; we were quite literally bumbling around in the dark. This conversation needed to happen, and hopefully, Rhidian could make sure they got the help they needed.

The rescued woman frowned thoughtfully as she started to move through the cave, keeping her children protectively huddled close. She didn’t look afraid of us, but the trauma they’d just been through was sending the fear off them in waves. And the animal inside of me perked up at the sensation.

Not wanting to risk anything, I moved away, backing into the cave to give them some space.

As she reached Alyssa, she stopped, reaching out one hand to clasp her forearm.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “You didn’t have to do that, and I am so very grateful that you did. I won’t tell anyone that you’re here. But… please. There are so many others who need you. Is there… can you…?”

She didn’t finish whatever she was going to say, but Alyssa clearly knew what she meant. Meeting her eyes, Alyssa slowly nodded, and the woman’s shoulders sagged in relief as she went back to clinging to her children.

I had no idea what she’d just agreed to, but the significance of this moment wasn’t lost on me, and I could already tell everything was about to change.

Chapter 24

Alyssa

I should have realised Fizzle would get Rhidian. What else would he do, stuck out here with traumatised prisoners? They needed somewhere safe to rest, which wasn’t with us.

But bringing Rhidian into the mix meant my past came screaming into the picture. I couldn’t avoid explaining it to the others any longer. It was stupid to even think I wouldn’t have to in the first place.

Being here in Nymeria changed everything. I didn’t know if leaving was part of the plan anymore. Or even what the plan was anymore. Not that we’d really had one, to begin with.

With a sigh, I sat down in front of the fire. It was never warm here, not even in the height of summer, but something about how Nymeria was now made it feel colder. This wasn’t the same land where I’d spent my faeling years. So much had changed. I didn’t need to see the ever-present fear in the people’s eyes to know that. I could feel it. It was like the vibration of the land was slightly off-key, and it grated along my nerves.

The guys had taken up similar positions around the fire, waiting quietly for me to start talking. But where to start with a story like this?

“Alyssa should be queen,” Fizzle blurted out, shocking me that he, of all people, would be the one to spill secrets. I looked at him in surprise, and he just shrugged. “You looked like you were struggling to find a place to start.”

“Well, that didn’t make it any easier,” I accused. Finding the courage to look up and see what the men around me thought, I was surprised that none of them seemed particularly shocked.