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“So we meet again, Ross,” I say, “and my, what an interesting turn of events.”
He smiles at me, but there is no kindness in his dark eyes. “Call me Ruse,” he replies. “I’m sure you’ve heard of me, Silent Night.”
My stomach drops.
No. It can’t be.
“You’re lying. Ruse is just...”
“A legend?” He laughs. “Dear girl, I thought you of all people would know better than that. Ruse became a legend, because that’s what Sephtis wanted all of you to believe. He’s always pulling the strings.”
“And you’re totally okay with being a puppet?” I counter. “Wait... How do you know the Charger’s name?”
“Aside from the fact that Jenson told me a few days ago?”
“Yes, aside from that,” I reply, waving a hand. “You say it as though you’re comfortable with it.”
He shrugs. “Well, brothers should be comfortable saying each other’s names, don’t you think?”
If my jaw wasn’t attached, it would’ve hit the floor. “What?”
He grins maniacally. “Surprise! I bet you thought the revelations were over. Who would’ve thought? Nicolas Ross, the third Aeron brother? But it is nothing but the truth. Who else would Sephtis charge with such a task? I am paramount to his success.”
“It was you,” I say. “You were the one who told Anane where my room was.”
He smiles. “Good, you’re starting to catch on.”
“But why? Why bother?” I demand to know.
He shrugs. “Why not? It was fun, toying with you, trying to break you. This entire organization has been nothing but a game for years, and you, dear Jenson, were but a willing pawn.”
Ross—I refuse to call him anything else—looks down at Jenson, patting him on the head. Jenson tries to jerk away, but winces as if the action brings him pain. Ross strokes the side of Jenson’s face and I fight the urge to vomit.
“Shhh... It’ll all be over soon,” Ross croons.
“Don’t touch me, you traitorous wretch!” Jenson spits. Again he attempts to move away. Again he clenches his eyes tight in agony.
Ross clicks his tongue. “Touchy.”
“Let him go,” I say.
“Or what?” Ross counters. “Are you going to continue your bloody tirade and kill another uncle?”
My blood turns to ice. “What did you say?”
He smiles. “You heard me; you just don’t want to believe it.”
How would he know about Lincoln? How would he know he was actually Jean Ballinger, my uncle?
“Stop with the games!” I snap. “Tell us why you’re really here.”
“I’m here to tear the Resistance apart from the inside out,” he spits, “to kill Jenson, and to eradicate any hope of ever beating the Guild. You will all lose. Don’t you see? You never had a chance. Avery was a lie. I was a lie. A third of the agents here are actually mine. Whatever good you thought you accomplished, well, it was all a ruse.” He laughs at his own joke, but I’m done listening to him.
I pull my own gun out of its holster. “Step away from Jenson.”
He shakes his head. “Put that away or he’ll be dead before you can pull the trigger.”
I obey, seething with rage the entire time. I don’t want to follow this madman’s orders and I’m certainly not happy to be saving Jenson’s sorry ass, again.
He better be worth this.
“He misses you, you know,” Ross says softly.
“Who?”
“Your father.”
“He’s not my father,” I scoff, “and if you think playing at that is going to bring me over to your side... You’re more stupid than I thought.”
“He wants you to come home.”
“This is my home,” I spit, “and I don’t give a damn what he wants.”
“Good to know that Silent Night still has her fire.”
“That is not my name!”
“Leave her alone!” Jax growls.
“And what will you do, Forrester, that she can’t? You’re pathetic, the both of you. All this talk of love...” He turns back to me. “Yet, Sephtis is willing to forget all that, if you return.”
“I’m not going back to his enslavement,” I snap, “so you can save your breath.”
He shrugs. “It was worth a try. Well, chatting was fun, but I have a job to do. Jenson? Shall we?” He slings one arm around Jenson’s throat and presses the barrel of his gun harder into Jenson’s skull. His finger tightens on the trigger.
I take an involuntary step forward. “No!”
A gunshot rings out, cold and clear, but it is not Jenson who slumps to the floor, dead.
Ross lurches to the side, his eyes rolling back in his head. He hits the ground with a sickening thump and doesn’t stir. Jenson falls forward onto his face without Ross to hold him up.
Behind them stands Natalie, gun still raised, her entire body quivering.
I look at Jax and Blake. Both of them are in shock and I don’t blame them. I certainly never would’ve seen this coming.
I take a step toward her. “Natalie?” I ask softly.
“You... You don’t understand,” she gasps. “I h-had to. You were right, Assassin, I do care. And he...” She starts to cry. “He killed them all!” Her legs go out then and she collapses to the ground, heaving with sobs, gun still clutched in her hand.
I take a few more steps. “Hey, it’s going to be all right,” I tell her. “No one blames you. He—”
“Thank God!” a voice shouts behind me.
I turn to see Bast running our way, and an assassin creeping up behind him, club raised.
The world starts to move in slow motion.
“There you guys are,” Bast gasps out, stopping to catch his breath. “I thought I’d never—”
“Bast!” Blake yells. “Look out!”
Blake and Bast’s eyes meet for a fraction of a second.
My heart leaps into my throat as Bast dodges, but not enough.
The club smashes into his shoulder and he goes flying, hitting the wall with a booming sound that echoes in the small space. He collapses to the floor, unmoving.
Blake screams his name and throws her axe at the assassin. It lands square in his face, going in a good two inches. Blood sprays and the assassin drops like a stone.
Time speeds up again as Blake runs over to Bast, falling to her knees beside his lifeless form. Not only can I hear her sobs, but I can feel them.
Behind me, Natalie falls silent.
I can’t move; I can't think. All I can do is listen as Blake starts to speak.
“No,” she gasps through the tears. “No, Bast, you can’t go. There are so many things...I never got to say. I shouldn't have held them back, but I was afraid, so horribly afraid. I always have been. You were the one who taught me courage. You’ve never been afraid of anything. Bast the fearless... I always wished I could be like that. Maybe that’s why I fell for you, but I was too afraid to let it show and now it’s too late... I’ll never know what we could’ve had, if you liked me enough to have anything. God, I’m such an idiot for not saying anything.”
She stops and looks to the ceiling.
“Is this my punishment?” she screams, voice raw. “I love you, Bast. God, I love you so much and I’m sorry... I’m so sorry for staying silent... I’m sorry...”
Her voice cuts off as she slumps against his body, sobbing.
I sink to the floor, my legs unable to support me in the face of such tragedy.
No. No, it’s not fair! Not after everything...
Silent, unbidden tears blur my vision.
Why is there no mercy in this Godforsaken world?
And then...
Then Bast coughs.
My lungs take in a shattered breath.
Blake sits up.
Oh my God.
Bast’s eyes flutter open and he grins weakly at Blake. “Aw, Blakey,” he rasps. “I’m touched; never knew you cared. Oh, and for the record, the feeling’s mutual.”
I can almost hear Blake’s heart stuttering as it tries to keep up with the influx of emotions running through her. For a moment, she just stares at him.
I hear Jax crying as his best friend returns to the land of the living, but I can’t tear my eyes away from the scene in front of me to comfort him.
Finally, Blake finds her voice. “You...” she gasps. “You idiot.” Then she brings her tear-streaked face to his and kisses him.
I’ve never smiled so wide in all my life.
Bast wraps one hand around the back of her neck and kisses her back with the enthusiasm of a love-starved man. It’s like they’ve never seen each other before. I feel like I’m intruding, like I shouldn’t be witnessing this moment, but I don’t think they care, let alone remember that the rest of us are here.
Bast pulls her closer and sits up so that Blake is practically in his lap. I’m going to tease him about that later, but right now I’ll give them their moment, God knows they’ve earned it.
Apparently, Jax doesn’t have the same idea because a few seconds later he coughs and says, “Oh honestly, get a room if you’re going to go at it like that.”
Bast pulls away with a sigh and glares at Jax. “Way to ruin the mood,” he mutters.
“You’re one to talk, bud,” Jax retorts. “After the amount of times you’ve interrupted me, you had it coming.”
Bast rolls his eyes, but he smiles.
Blake peels herself away from him long enough to stand and help him to his feet as well.
He reaches out and wipes beneath her eyes with his thumb. “There,” he says, “no more tears.”
She wraps an arm around his good side. “I’ll feel much better when we get you looked at.”
“How’s the shoulder?” I ask him.
“Never been better.”
“Oh, I’m sure...” I reply, knowing full well he’s putting on a brave face for Blake. His shoulder must be on fire and he would probably collapse without Blake’s support. His condition reminds me of the other two.
I look behind me. Jenson is in shock; he literally dodged a bullet. A few feet back from him, Natalie lies unconscious.
“We have to get everyone to the hospital,” I say, “without any more near-death experiences.”
“Agreed,” Jax replies. “I’ll get Natalie.” He turns to me. “You good with Jenson?”
I nod.
“And Blake has Bast, so that’s everyone covered,” he finishes.
“I can walk just fine on my own,” Bast protests.
Blake elbows him in the ribs lightly and says, “You try it, and I’ll make sure you’re laid up in the hospital for a week.”
“Okay, okay,” Bast says, “please don’t hurt me.” He gives Jax a look. “So, this is what it’s like?”
“Oh, it gets better,” Jax assures him, “and by better, I mean worse.”
“You watch it there, Ajax,” I retort.
“See?”
“Come on, don’t we have a hospital to get to?” Blake urges.
Jax walks over to Natalie and pries the gun out of her hand before lifting her into his arms. A spark of jealousy flares inside me, but I stamp it out. Natalie doesn’t even stir.
I help Jenson to his feet and pull his one arm over my left shoulder.
“What about Ross?” Jenson mumbles.
“We leave him,” I reply.
“Ross?” Bast asks.
“We’ll explain later,” I reply. “Right now, getting to the hospital is more important. You guys lead the way.”
Blake nods and our little procession begins its trek.