Page 75 of Wicked Enemy
“But we kind of don’t want the north side to reclaim the south.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“We don’t want them to impose their… morality on us.” He grimaced and then shrugged. “We like the freedom here. The… sinful side of it.”
A soft chuckle escaped my throat. “I see. We’ll make sure to keep it that way then.” I inclined my head. “Thank you for the information.”
All three of them bowed their heads before turning and disappearing back out the doors.
“Well, that was unexpected,” Chris commented.
“Not really,” Shinji replied. “You should have seen them when they volunteered to hide everyone from the worldwalker.”
On my other side, Tyler shrugged. “Regardless, it makes our job easier.”
Before anyone else could say something, one of the side doors opened and closed. I turned towards it. As did everyone else. Unnatural silence descended on the room full of dark mages as Eve Sterling walked into the throne room.
Her gaze flitted quickly across the crowd before she started towards me. My battle mages moved too. As one, they began drifting closer to her. To us. But Eve didn’t comment on it as she stopped in front of me.
“Thanks for…” She trailed off for a few seconds before finishing with, “Last night.”
“Yeah.” I studied her face, trying to read the emotions in her eyes. But as opposed to last night, her features now betrayed nothing. So I asked, “What happened yesterday?”
She brushed her hands down her now slightly rumpled black and red leather outfit before clearing her throat. “My mentor was forced into retirement because I freed your people.”
Alarm shot through me. “They know it was you?”
“No. But my department was responsible for the prisoners. And my mentor was responsible for our department, so…” She trailed off and shrugged. Hesitation blew across her features for a few seconds. Then she charged on as if trying to get all the words out before she changed her mind. “They’re planning a massive attack on the south side soon in retaliation. So just… be careful.”
“We—”
“I should go,” she interrupted. Indecision flickered in those warm brown eyes of hers. Then she straightened her spine and took a step towards the door. “Goodbye, Levi.”
But she only managed two steps before she realized that there was now an impenetrable ring of dark mages around her. Trailing to a halt, she looked around at them while her shoulders tensed.
“Eve,” Tyler said.
She turned towards him in surprise. I did too. This was not something that I had ordered, so I was very curious to see what they were doing.
“You freed us,” he said, his voice echoing between the metal walls. “You saved our lives when we were just days away from execution. And we’ve been told that you’ve also saved Levi’s life. More than once.”
“I, uhm…” She glanced around at them all again, confusion and hesitation on her features. “Well, yes.”
Clothes rustled as all of my previously captured dark mages bowed to her. Actuallybowedto her.
Shock crackled across Eve’s face, and she stumbled a step back. With wide eyes, she stared at the men and women around her as if she couldn’t believe what was happening. To be fair, I barely could either.
“Thank you,” Tyler said, his head still bowed. Then he straightened and met her gaze again, holding it with serious eyes. “You might be a white boot, but you’re one of us now. And we take care of our own. If you ever need anything, just say the word.”
A smile pulled at my lips, but I forced myself not to show it.
From a few steps away, Eve was staring at Tyler with her mouth hanging open. Then she swept her gaze over the others, taking in the sincerity in their eyes as they gave her a nod to confirm that they meant what Tyler had said.
I kept my eyes on Eve, and I wondered what her friends on the north side were like. Wondered if they had never told Eve that they had her back.
Because as I looked at my usually so confident and collected spitfire, I swore that I could see tears glistening in her eyes.
Chapter32