Prisoner of Chaos (Redemption Book #4)

Chapter 3

Rift

"Start at the beginning," I tell Scenna, motioning toward my sitting area. "How did you come to hear about it?"

Scenna sits down and takes another sip of her wine. "I'm not sure where to begin. I guess I began suspecting when I went to see Cynthia."

"Cynthia?" I think of the late Dirk the Cruel's daughter. The woman Kyla had brought to Underland City authorities in association with her father's dealings. "Why would you go see her? Don't you hate her after--"

"Oh, I hate her, and I wanted revenge in some way," Scenna says, not at all apologetically. I don't blame her. "They sentenced her to three seasons in prison because they couldn't get anything on her besides assisting a robbery. But I just wanted to see her stupid face in there. See how she liked having her freedom taken away from her."

"Only eighteen months, huh? What about your testimony? I'm sure you had plenty on her." I say.

"My testimony isn't worth much," Scenna grumbles. "I was under the influence of a Fe Collar. And as everyone knows, by my own free will I chose to put it on. Anything I did under the Collar while being in their service is not punishable. In some ways I'm lucky I'm not imprisoned myself."

"Ah," I say, nodding in understanding. Fe collars are such tricky things when it comes to the law. "So, tell me what Cynthia has to do with the trap Kyla is supposedly headed into?"

"I was down there to gloat, but Cynthia wouldn't have it, she muttered something about how it didn't matter and that all of Underlund would fall and she'd be free soon enough. She said something about the Cursed blood her father had been smuggling out of Underlund," Scenna says. She takes another drink of her wine and gets quiet.

"And--?" I prod her on.

"She said her father's father also had been smuggling it out of Underlund," Scenna states cooly. "And that for years this has been going on."

I'm already connecting the dots. "Is it possible that this blood is going to someone who is building an army with the same abilities Queen Lucy has?" I see where Scenna is getting her conspiracy theory. "An army that cannot be burned by Cursed fire? That can heal by Cursed blood."

"That's what I think she's referring to," Scenna says. "Although, I wasn't sure about who they were giving it to until I investigated further in Assassin's Den. I flirted with some of the guys there and got them to talk. I learned they've been smuggling it to Erlund."

What are they going to do about the fact that they can't kill a Cursed even with their abilities to not die in a fire? Do they have someone descended from my own ancestor? I wonder. Even so, a shiver of anticipation runs through me at the thought. Something like this is exactly what the Dark Lord wants.

So much dark energy I would pull from this. This is the calm before the storm. And once that storm starts, I can claim everything as mine.

"Why do you care so much about Kyla and I?" I crook an eyebrow at Scenna. "Why are you even telling me about this? If you talked to Father Ryland, you'd know I'm not safe to be around."

"Why wouldn't I care about you? You saved my life!" Scenna says, conviction and determination in her features. She leans forward her eyes wide. "And do you know what? I've always liked you, Rift, right from the start, when everyone was calling you the Dark Lord as the title your mother gave you. I liked you because I knew you weren't as evil as everyone thought. You never used me like the other men and women who had dealings with Dirk, and it's not because you don't have a taste for women either. Besides all that, it was you and Kyla who removed the Fe Collar from my neck."

"You're one of the few left who likes me," I tell her. "Just give me some time though. I'm sure I'll--"

"Rift," Scenna says, shooting me an annoyed look. "Just stop. You are the only one I know who has the abilities to save Kyla, if what we suspect is true. That's why I came to you."

"Assassin's Den," I say the name of the place, recalling my mother's favorite haunt to pick up people eager to do her bidding. "Was it Loper you learned about it from? I know he was one of Hassan's old crew members involved in the smuggling of Cursed blood."

Scenna nods. "The man, Loper."

"Truthfully, I'm not sure I can help Kyla," I tell her. "She never wants to see me again. I don't blame her, either. I did something horrible to her." I close my eyes and shake my head. Seeing her would only worsen my own pain too. "I--I don't want to see her either. I could end up hurting her... again."

"Coward," Scenna snorts and I give her a glare for the insult. "I thought you loved her, Rift. And you have my permission to ahead and destroy the Dark Lord with yourself, but first stop them from killing her."

"You don't know what has happened between Kyla and I since you joined the guard and went into training with them," I tell her. "You also don't know how tight a hold the Dark Lord has on me. He's here right now. Waiting for his next opportunity to use me for his advantage."

Scenna frowns. "Father Ryland says you got Kyla pregnant."

"He doesn't keep secrets, does he?" I grumble. Thanks, dear Dad.

"Look," Scenna says, "I don't care, about what sort of messed up thing went on between the two of you and I'm not telling you what to do. But if I go to the King--"

"You mean King Kalvar?" I ask her, rolling my eyes at the thought of Kyla's twin brother and his oblivious ways. He's put Kyla through so much. I swear, that man has no balls. "Don't go to him. He wouldn't do anything. In fact, he might make it worse. You were right to come to me."

Scenna sighs and finishes her wine. "So? What do you say, Dark Lord?"

"Stop," I tell her with grit teeth. "Saying his name around me seems to give him power. Don't call me that."

"Fine, simply Rift then," Scenna says, "Are you going to come with me or not?"

"You're going?" I ask her, cocking an eyebrow and unable to help a smile at her insanity. "You know, Kyla wouldn't think you owed her anything, right?"

"I don't care," Scenna snaps. I notice how she's chopped her straight blonde hair since the last time I saw her, and how she dresses like an Underlund guard, the colors of a blood red and pitch black. She wears a light talisman to fend off dark magic too. I wonder if she got it from Father Ryland.

I smile at her and use magic to summon my cloak from where I'd tossed it on the floor. By wearing a light talisman, Scenna protects herself at least from my magic in case the Dark Lord were to take control.

"Alright, let's go then, but are you truly prepared to--"

"To die protecting, Kyla?" Scenna asks, getting to the point.

"It is possible I may try to kill you half way through this journey," I say with a shrug.

"Then I'll have died trying to save the life of a person who saved mine. Kyla deserves a better future than this. She needs a future where she can see past the monster she thinks herself to be," Scenna says, and she tilts her chin up at me. "Besides, if Father Ryland is right, the Dark Lord will only gain power if there is an army with fire blood."

"Let's go then," I give in, "Maybe it's a good thing you're coming with. I'll need someone to keep me away from Kyla."