In Between

Chapter Thirty-five: A Lifelong Promise

"What do you mean she 'wasn't found?!'" Kieran asked furiously.

"What I mean," Queen Aurielle began patiently, "is that we have sensors that can track warm bodies inside the Dark Forest. The prisoner was recorded entering the forest, but now she is gone. There is no longer any reading of her."

"How can you sense bodies?" Kieran asked, seeming irritated.

Apryl understood why he might be confused since advanced technology was something that most Inbetweeners were unfamiliar with; they likely wouldn't understand something as complicated as radar, infrared, or anything similar that humans had invented to detect living bodies.

"I cannot explain how it works. You must trust me when I tell you that she has disappeared. I'm sorry."

"You don't seem sorry," Draven snapped at the queen.

"You'll be sorry since, unfortunately, this means that I am unable to help you with this particular demand. It is simply impossible to send a search party for somebody who no longer exists," the queen explained with a dismissive wave of her hand. "However, I will meet your other demands to the best of my ability."

She turned to the council and gave an order to the first person who looked her in the eye. Lorcan was careful to keep his face trained downwards so that she wouldn't call on him again, and Apryl felt the impulse to laugh because it reminded her of how children avoided their teacher's gaze so they wouldn't have to answer a question.

"Jiao, send word to the Warriors stationed at the prison and have them release General Dalhart and his team. Oh, and please notify Ivan that his title will be reverting to Lieutenant Blake," she added as an afterthought.

A nervous man in blue robes quickly stood and bowed in the queen's direction before hastily leaving the room. Apryl happened to meet his eyes and was startled by a sense of recognition. He had long raven-colored hair that must have been pulled back the last time she had seen him, because the wavy locks were now his most dominant feature. Before, she had focused on the color of his eyes—burnt sienna like the crayon. That's the man who saw me in the Market and followed us to the alley, Apryl told Draven. He looked at Jiao with recognition sparking in his eyes as well.

I remember him. He sold us out to my father—Draven cut his own thought short. After a brief pause, he added, I mean, he sold us out to Ivan.

It's alright to think of him as your father, Apryl told him cautiously.

He isn't though...not really. I don't know why I said that, Draven told her, shrugging.

It doesn't matter why. Anyway, I should ask if you care that I got him fired as the general. I mean, Ivan did help us all—we wouldn't have gotten out of the jail if he hadn't left his pass card, and you all would certainly be dead if he hadn't ordered the Warriors to escort the Inbetweeners outside before they burned down Gilda's house. Oh, and he also let us use his car and even ordered the guards away from the gate so we could get into the hall.

That may be true, but his actions don't change how I feel about your decision. We owe Gabriel a lot more than we owe Ivan, or I do at least. He's always been like a father to me, and besides, we were the ones who got him fired in the first place, so it's only fair that he gets his job back, Draven reasoned.

Apryl remembered how awful Ivan had been and knew that even if he had helped them, she still wouldn't be able to help thinking that he didn't deserve theirs in return. All of those years he had known about Draven and had never reached out to him. Of course, Draven had been doing fine by himself which only made it worse because Ivan hadn't known that. The man had spent thirteen years thinking that his son was living on the streets, and he still hadn't offered his help or told Draven the truth. Apryl could never forgive him for that, and just thinking about it made her furious and sad at the same time—furious at Ivan but sad for the son who he had abandoned.