Born of Fire (The League #2)(56)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

She turned to leave.

“Wait,” the overseer said, stopping her.

Shahara turned to face her.

“You have proof of his innocence?”

Crossing the floor to stand before the desk, she reached inside her pocket and pulled out the chip. “This proves his innocence conclusively, as well as the guilt of the Merjacks.”

“You have reviewed the chip?”

“Yes, Mistress of Justice.”

The overseer took it from her hand and placed it in an airtight container. Positioning it carefully before her, the overseer studied the tiny chip that held Syn’s entire future.

Shahara held her breath, praying for a miracle.

Finally the overseer looked up at her. “I can get him a fair trial, but that’s all. If our court finds him guilty, then I’ll do nothing to stay his execution.”

“That’s all I ask.”

“Very well. Where is he being held?”

“Ritadaria.”

She tilted the container so that the chip fell into one corner. “I’ll send an escort with you to have him transferred here for incarceration until his trial.”

“Thank you, Mistress.”

Silence fell between them. Shahara could tell the overseer wanted to say something more, but doubt hovered in her eyes while she continued to study the chip. “Tell me something, seax,” she said at last.

“Yes?”

“Really, is he a decent man?”

“Yes, Mistress. I’ve never known a more noble one. He does you proud every day he lives.”

She smiled.

“And may I ask you a harsh question?”

“Why did I leave them?”

Shahara shook her head. “Why did you try to kill him when he was an infant?”

The color faded from her face. “What?”

“Digger told me that you tried to kill him when he was an infant.”

Her cheeks darkened with anger. “That’s a lie. Talia had wanted to bathe him and I let her. She’d allowed him to fall beneath the water and drown. I was the one who revived him, but Indy wouldn’t believe me. I never hurt my children.”

“But you left them.”

Unshed tears glistened in her eyes. “I had no choice. Indy would have killed me had I stayed. I kept hoping that I could convince my parents to take them in. After awhile, it just got easy to live without them.”

“And when he came to you when he was twelve?”

“He caught me by surprise and I didn’t know what to do. I would have lost everything I had if anyone ever learned that I had been married to Idirian Wade. I panicked when I saw Sheridan and overreacted. By the time I came to my senses, he was gone.”

Shahara shook her head. “You see how easy it is to be misjudged when you don’t have all the facts?”

“Don’t lecture me, child. You have no idea what I’ve been through over these years.”

“And you have no idea what your son has had to face alone because of what you did.”

The overseer didn’t speak as those words hung between them. After a few seconds, she glanced up. “Do you know whatever became of his sister, Talia? Is she all right?”

Shahara swallowed at the desperate longing in the woman’s voice. “No, Mistress. Talia killed herself a long time ago to escape her father.”

The overseer took a deep breath. “And what of you, seax? Why do you defend the son of Idirian Wade with such vigor?”

She answered with the one single truth she couldn’t deny. “I love him. Deeply.”

“Does he know this?”

“I’m sure he doubts me.” Especially given the way she’d been forced to act in the hotel, yet had she shown any weakness, Merjack would have killed them both. “But I intend to make sure he believes in me again.”

The overseer nodded. “We all make mistakes that torture us the whole of our lives. Unfortunately, fate doesn’t always allow us a second chance. I hope you get yours, Shahara.”

“Thank you, Mistress.”

The overseer smiled sadly. “He must truly be a noble man to inspire the loyalty of a seax.”

“He walks with nobility and honor.”

She nodded. “Now go, seax. See to his safety.”

Numb to everything except the throbbing pain in his skull, Syn sat huddled in the corner of his icy cell. He swung his chains at one of the rodents that had strayed a little too close for his liking.

At times like this, he really cursed his eyesight. He was able to see every tiny crawling, slithering creature that eyed him as either a meal or a host.

But worse than the insects and rodents was the deadly chill that caused his broken jaw to ache unmercifully. He wasn’t exactly sure when it’d been broken. There had been so many blows as he was interrogated by Merjack that he could barely recall which one had caused what injury.

If he didn’t hurt so much, he’d have laughed at Merjack’s panic as the man had tried to find out what Shahara had done with the real chip.

He really had to give her credit. She’d betrayed them all. First she’d turned him in, then she’d run off with Merjack’s money and the chip.

She was some piece of work.

He closed his eyes and let the agony of betrayal ravage his soul.

How could you have done this to me? He would have given her his life had she asked for it. But to have it taken like this . . .

He wanted to kill her.

The door to his cell opened, ushering in another stinging wind. Syn mentally prepared himself for the beating to come. Maybe this time they would finally succeed in killing him.

He listened to the footsteps approach and, though his first instinct was to fight, he didn’t move. He just didn’t have it in him anymore. His fighting days were over. Now he just wished his life would end, too.

Instead of rough hands seizing him, something incredibly soft and warm was draped over his shoulders. Stunned, he looked up into the golden eyes that had haunted him every moment since Merjack had taken him.

“Hi,” she said with a smile.

Rage clouded his sight. He tried to speak, but his jaw and the cold made it impossible. Disregarding his pain, he reached for her, intending to tear her lying tongue out.

Shahara noted the hatred in his eyes as he sprang at her. “Syn, please don’t. You’ll only hurt yourself.”

As he lunged toward her again, Nero appeared to pull him back. “Easy, buddy. You don’t want to do any more damage to yourself.”

A man wearing the green and gold uniform of an overseer’s guard stepped between them. “C.I. Syn, born Sheridan Digger Wade?”

His breathing labored from his pain, Syn stopped moving and eyed all of them warily.

When he didn’t answer, the man looked to Shahara to confirm his identity before he continued. “C.I. Syn, you are being remanded into overseer custody pending a full investigation and trial of your case.”

Confused, he stared at the guard. How?

“I went to her,” Shahara explained as if she’d read his thoughts. “She’s agreed to hear everything.”

Oh, that was f**king great. He’d be lucky if his mother didn’t have him offed two seconds after his arrival.

The guard who’d spoken knelt down to release his chains while Nero handed Shahara his clothes.

“We’ll wait outside while you get him dressed.”

Shahara looked at Syn, who still hadn’t moved from his crouched position on the floor. “Thank you.”

He appeared so defeated and hurt that it choked her with remorse. His wounds were so much worse this time than they’d been before. It was obvious Merjack had been a little ticked off over her subterfuge with the chip.

She couldn’t imagine how Syn even managed to breathe, let alone move.

“Here,” she said, closing the space between them. “Let me get you dressed and—”

“I don’t need your help,” he snapped between clenched teeth as he shoved her away with a strength she found shocking given his physical condition.

She wanted to argue but was afraid to try. The last thing he needed was a struggle that would only injure him more. “Here’s your clothes.”

Syn snatched them from her and tried to dress by himself, but with one broken arm and all the other brutal injuries, he could barely move.

It was useless; he couldn’t even raise his arms high enough to pull on his shirt.

This time when she came near, he didn’t push her away. Without a word, she dressed him with gentle hands that only seldom hurt his injuries. But that wasn’t what really hurt, anyway.

The external injuries he could take. It was the wound she’d given his heart that crippled him. That was the one he couldn’t get over.

How could you . . .

When she finished, she took his good arm and placed it over her shoulders. “Just lean on me, Syn, and I’ll walk you out of this hell.”

“You’re the one who put me here. Twice,” he snarled through his broken jaw.

Shahara’s conscience screamed its own condemnation over his condition. He’d been here less than a day and Merjack had done all but kill him. “I know, baby. I know.”

Nero took over once they were outside the cell and helped Syn the rest of the way to the bay.

As soon as they boarded the overseer’s shuttle and launched, one of the escorts brought her a first aid kit while Nero moved up front for the launch. “I don’t know how much help this will be. But I think there’s some stuff in it to help dull the pain.”

“Thank you.” Shahara took it from his hands. She dug around until she found the pills. “Do you need water?” she asked Syn.

He shook his head before he roughly ground out, “They . . . broke . . . my . . . jaw.”

“Oh,” she whispered, knowing he’d never be able to open his mouth wide enough take the pills.

No wonder he’d been so silent.

Shahara looked down in shame and replaced the bottle in the kit. Once more she searched the contents for something that might ease his pain.

There was nothing.

“Sorry. There’s no injector in here, or anything else to give you.”

Syn said nothing. He just laid his head back against the wall of the craft and closed his eyes.

Wanting desperately to help him, Shahara got up, moved around the steel partition that separated her from the pilots and asked the two escorts, “Is there someplace where he can lie down until we get there?”

The man who’d brought her the first aid kit spoke up. “We could make a pallet on the floor with some of our emergency blankets.”

At the frown on her face, he turned contrite. “I’m sorry, seax. This is a prison shuttle, not a luxury class cruiser. It’s the best we can offer.”

Well, at least the pallet would be better than his trying to sit up. “Where are the blankets?”

He led her and Nero to the storage compartments and helped her pull them out. Together, she and Nero made a semi-soft bed and helped Syn lie down.

Shahara sat beside him while the escort returned to his station. She watched Syn try to swallow and she hated herself for leaving him to Merjack. If only she could go back and change things.

But she couldn’t do that.

The least she could do now was try to explain herself, especially given the fact that, for once, he’d no choice but to listen.

“I know you don’t believe me,” she said, stroking his bruised cheek. “But I never meant to hurt you.”

His glare turned lethal and she could read his thoughts as easily as if they were her own.

“You’re right. I did turn you in, twice. But it’s not what you think. The first time we met, I thought you were guilty of all those crimes. Then I was approached by another seax, Warden Traysen, from your prison. He’d been investigating Uriah Merjack for years and when he learned about the chip, he decided not to prosecute Merjack for the human rights violations in the prison, but wait until he could prosecute him for murder. The only way he could prove his case was to get your chip.”

She brushed her hand across his fevered brow. “He was the one who suggested to Merjack that he contact me, and then Traysen told me what my real duty was. I was afraid to tell you my mission because I didn’t think you’d believe me. Now that I know who your mother is, I know you wouldn’t have trusted me. Ever. You’re too stubborn for that and I can’t blame you.”

She sighed and brushed his dirty hair off his forehead. “You don’t know how many times I’ve regretted my bargain with Merjack.”

He looked at her and his eyes were so sad, so betrayed that it brought tears to hers. “I know you think I betrayed you, but I really do love you, Syn.”

In desperation not to lose him forever, she added quickly, “By the time I saw the real you, it was too late. Everything had been set into motion and I couldn’t stop it. That last night, I was going to lie to Merjack and tell him you were dead so that he wouldn’t hunt for you anymore. Then I was going to hand you and the real chip into overseer custody.”