Page 73 of Wicked Enemy

I rested my cheek against his hard chest. Exhaustion washed over me, threatening to pull me into its dark depths. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

For a few seconds, I didn’t answer. Just lay there in his arms as he carried me down the street. Then I managed to whisper, “Everything.”

I could feel Levi glancing down at me. But before I could hear his reply, I was dragged into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Chapter31

“We need to always have at least one battle mage with the lookouts here,” I pointed towards a building on my metal map, “here, and here,” I finished as I shifted my hand towards two more buildings.

Around the table, Tyler, Chris, and Shinji studied the map intently while nodding. “Yes, sir.”

“What about the area around the Black Rose?” Tyler asked, motioning towards the neighborhood around the cabaret that was under my protection. “If the House of Stone decides to make another move, they will start by trying to take over that area.”

I ran a hand over my jaw while considering. “I know. But we can’t spare the manpower. Since Onyx and Lightning have apparently negotiated a ceasefire, we can no longer count on them keeping each other busy. Both of them will set their sights on me now, which means that we can’t spread ourselves too thin.”

“They’ve really formed an alliance? All three of them?”

“Yes.”

Chris blew out a long sigh and shook his head while looking between me and Shinji. “I can’t believe you’ve managed to keep them back while also dealing with a worldwalker, and while also trying to break us out at the same time.”

“It has… not been easy,” Shinji replied carefully.

“And we’re not in the clear yet,” I said. “Which is why—”

“Sir,” a voice came from the open door to my strategy room.

We all turned around to find Anna standing there on the threshold, gulping down air as if she had sprinted far.

“Ralph and two more of the civilians who were hiding us are on their way to the Court,” she said between breaths.

Since White was no longer a threat, I had been able to bring back all of the people who had been hiding with the civilian volunteers, which meant that my runners were finally able to carry information back and forth across the city again. And thank hell for that, because otherwise I would never have known that Eve was stumbling around an alley last night, drunk and high out of her mind.

My gaze drifted in the direction of the room farther down where she was still sleeping it off.

Then I forced my attention back to Anna and nodded. “Alright. Show them into the throne room.”

“Yes, sir,” she replied before taking off down the corridor again.

Brushing my hands together, I smoothened over the markings on the buildings again so that no one would be able to read the map without my permission. Then I jerked my chin at my three elite mages. “Come on.”

They followed me out the door and into the black and gold corridor beyond without hesitation. As we left my private wing, I glanced at the closed door to Eve’s room. Pain shot through me at the memory of what she had looked like last night.

I had never seen her cry like that. Never seen her look so… devastated. But part of me was furious with her too. First getting wasted and then smoking dreamcore on top of that? What the hell had she been thinking? And all alone too. What if my runners hadn’t spotted her? What if I hadn’t been the one who showed up? She would never have been able to defend herself if it had been anyone else.

But as I stalked down the stairs and through the halls towards my throne room, the anger died again as those broken words she had sobbed echoed through my mind.I’m a horrible person and I don’t deserve to be happy.

What the hell had happened yesterday that drove her to this? Had they found out that she was the one who had freed my people? Had she been punished for it?

Before I could get lost in that tangled web of thoughts, we reached my throne room. All of my other battle mages turned towards me and bowed their heads in a show of respect. Since I didn’t know when the next fight would come, I kept them all here and ready at a moment’s notice. After sweeping my gaze over them, I signaled to the ones at the door.

A few seconds later, the doors were opened to reveal Ralph and two more people. They looked around nervously as Anna motioned for them to step inside. I walked forward to meet them while they carefully moved across the threshold. Shinji, Tyler, and Chris flanked me, but stayed a couple of steps behind.

“Ralph,” I said, meeting the restaurant owner’s nervous gray eyes.

“Mr. Arden,” he replied as the three of them closed the final distance and then stopped a few steps in front of us.