Elsa was determined not to feel, not to react, not to care.
The guards were expecting her. They sent her up the tunnel alone. On the other side of the chasm, the original bridge guards had disappeared and taken their cards with them. Their replacements were efficient and thorough. She watched with calm detachment as the bridge came out and never let the façade waver, even as she crossed.
Elsa reached the plateau. The guards immediately withdrew the bridge and secured it without fuss. They made her removed her coat and patted her down for weapons. They took her knife and toolkit. She watched her only weapon vanish with one of the guards and the first crack in her façade appeared.
Elsa followed her escort across the training grounds and her façade crumbled further. The area was deserted, which didn’t make sense. If Melker had summoned all available soldiers to the Darkzone, they should’ve been here now. Elsa should’ve seen dozens of them lined across the stone, preparing for the invasion of the Chimney and the Alley. Instead, she could count their numbers on both hands.
Her guide glanced over his shoulder and ordered her to quicken her pace. He took her deeper into the courtyard. There were no guards hanging around the sleeping quarters. There were no men milling beneath the mess hall’s canopies and the pool at the bottom of the step-well swirled on, undisturbed. Elsa had been determined not to react or care, but the absence of people worried her.
They reached the door to the officers’ apartments and her escort ushered her along the corridor to Melker’s private room. Inside, the fire blazed, but Hercules no longer slept in front of it.
“You came sooner than I thought you would.”
Melker stood in the doorway to his sleeping chamber, half dressed, a hand towel wrapped loosely around one arm. His black hair hung in wet strands against his bare shoulders and dripped onto the floor. Elsa went to speak, but he cut her off.
“You don’t mind if I finish dressing?” He said, raising the towel to dry his hair.
Elsa shook her head and Melker returned to his bedroom. She heard him shuffling around and felt awkward enough to move away from the sound and closer to the fire. Elsa noted the weapons on the wall were gone, so were the fire utensils.
Melker emerged minutes later, dressed in a black shirt and slacks. He buttoned the cuffs on his wrists and moved to the chair to put on the rest of his uniform.
“I hope you’re here to apologise,” he said, “and explain your behaviour these last few days.”
Of course, that’s why Elsa had returned to the Guardhouse, but the apology stuck in her throat and wouldn’t come out. “Why did you tell my mother I was meeting a lover this evening? You know that’s not what I was doing.”
Melker shrugged and pulled on his gloves. “I never said you were seeing someone. I merely presented your mother with the facts. She’s the one who jumped to conclusions.”
“You knew how it would look.”
“Would she have been happier if I’d told her the truth, that her daughter was a Bad Seed traitor running around with men from the surface?”
Elsa looked away at this accusation.
Melker snorted. “Oh, come on, don’t play coy. You weren’t exactly discreet. Who else would be misguided enough to steal a prisoner from beneath my nose? The guards I allow to enter the officers’ apartments are loyal to me, and the workers are too aware of the consequences of such an action to even entertain such a thought. You were the only choice. And if I’d been present and the prisoners’ escape hadn’t distracted my men, you never would have succeeded.”
“If you’ve known all along, why haven’t you arrested me?”
Melker tucked his shirt into his belt. “I hoped you’d come to me yourself. I gave you ample time, but I’m finished waiting. Where is the boy?”
Elsa cleared her throat. “Gone. That’s why I was at the abandoned port. Last I saw, he was headed back to the surface, back to his kind.”
Melker sighed. “This boy is important, Elsa. He’s the key to the future.” Excitement stirred in Melker’s dark eyes. “Imagine an army of men who are swift and strong. Men who feel no pain. The Black Guardsmen would be unstoppable!”
“Finn feels pain,” Elsa corrected. “What you did to him was despicable.”
“You’ve named it, I see.”
“Of course. He’s a child, Melker, not a monster.”
“You’re wrong,” Melker said. “He may look human, but he’s not like us. None of them are. They are little better than animals and there’s no mercy, no love, no loyalty amongst beasts.”
“I have seen them show all three qualities.”
Melker regarded her with pity. “Elsa, it’s all an act. They’re experts at pretending. Trust me, I know their type. They take many guises—an injured man, a crying woman, a lost boy—but at their heart they’re the very monsters that have haunted your dreams since you were a child.”
Elsa froze. “What do you know of my dreams?” She whispered.
“More than you think. Your mother often confided her concerns to me during those times you kept me waiting.” His eyes shone and the sight filled her with unease. “Lonely women talk, Elsa.”
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He touched her face and Elsa made herself still.
“I’ve been lonely too.”
He ran his gloved hand down her cheek.
“We are the same, you and I,” Melker said, his voice soft.
“We are nothing alike.”
“Are you so sure? Like you, I’ve been obliged to make a life in this dark place. I’ve been kept out of Haven, forced to maintain order over thieves and wretches while others less worthy grow fat in the luxury of the city. Surely you must see we both share a bond of the banished?”
He traced along her jaw and neck while Elsa stared into the fire. Even with the leather between them, she felt her skin crawl.
“I’ve imagined you in this room many times.”
He removed her scarf and ran a hand along her braided hair. “Firelight suits you, Elsa. You really are beautiful.”
No one had ever called her that, but the word sounded wrong coming from his mouth. He leant forward to kiss her and Elsa couldn’t do it.
Perhaps if she’d never kissed Noak—so she didn’t know the power of a real kiss, freely given—she could have faked it. Perhaps, if she were better at turning herself numb, she could have closed her eyes and let it happen. But Melker’s lips moved close to hers and she couldn’t hide her revulsion. She retreated, only an inch, but the damage was done. Melker’s shadow face returned.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He frowned. “Everywhere I go, women throw inviting glances in my direction and find reasons to be near me, but you can’t even look at me. I walk into a room, you move to the other side, I turn towards you, you turn away and light forbid I should try to touch you! I thought maybe you were wary of all men. Yet, you jump to aid a stranger even as you shirk from a man you’ve known almost a decade.”
His voice turned soft.
“I can offer you so much, Elsa. I can wipe clean the taint surrounding you. I can offer you a home, here in the Guardhouse. I can give you respectability and security. Your mother too. There’s no need for her to suffer.”
Melker reached for her.
“Look, even now you recoil. What is it you see inside me that repels you so? If there’s darkness there, surely your love can defeat it. If there’s a fault, surely it can be changed? What will it take for you to care for me?”
“I don’t know,” Elsa said honestly.
His face darkened further. “I could have arrested you at any time, even without proof. I didn’t. I covered your tracks; I gave you time. Surely this warrants some softening?”
Elsa knew this was the moment to lie. This was the time when she should pledge herself to him and whisper sweet promises to soften his mood and hold him here in this room. A simple lie would ensure her mother’s comfort and help her uncle. It would protect those she loved, maybe forever. Elsa opened her mouth to tell Melker what he wanted to hear…and nothing came out.
Melker’s patience faded. Elsa saw it, in the tensing of his jaw.
“You may not care for yourself or your mother, but perhaps you care about your uncle?”
“You can’t do anything to him,” Elsa said with a confidence she didn’t feel. “My uncle didn’t help the boy escape; I did that all on my own.”
“That’s not true though, is it?”
His intense black eyes studied her.
Elsa swallowed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Melker sneered. “I knew you’d run to him for help. And I knew your uncle would step in to protect you. So typical.”
“I already told you; Finn escaped the underground on his own.”
“Stop playing games, Elsa! You don’t have it in you to win. You think I wouldn’t notice your uncle at the council chambers, spying on my plans and getting two permits?”
He started to crowd her. She moved away until her back hit the wall.
“We’ve been planning this trip for a while,” Elsa said. “My birthday…the second permit is for me.”
His gloved fist landed against the wall, close to her face. Elsa froze.
“Stop lying! You took the boy, you hid him away in your uncle’s cavern, and now I want him back.”
Melker was frightening her. He was too close. His expression was wild, his face red. Melker’s hand wrapped around her neck with just enough pressure to hold her in place.
“Tell me now, Elsa, or darkness help me, I will force it out of you.”
She couldn’t think clearly. He was going to hurt her. She didn’t have her knife. There was nothing she could use. She couldn’t move. Her hands were empty.
You have your nails, girl. Her uncle’s voice pushed through the panic. You have your teeth. Find your nerve, Elsa. You. Must. Fight!
Her uncle’s voice hardened her resolve. Elsa wouldn’t let Melker hurt her. She’d fight him to the very end. She’d—
A knock on the door distracted Melker from his anger. He took a few deep breaths and stepped away from her. “Enter.”
Cadet Maxim marched in. The young boy’s cold gaze skimmed over her, where she stood pressed against the wall with her chest heaving.
“Go on,” Melker said.
“You were right, Captain,” Maxim said. “Junker Amos has left the Darkzone.”
“Good. We leave immediately.”
He dismissed the cadet. Maxim closed the door behind him and Melker turned to face her. “It seems your uncle’s time is fast running out.”
Elsa found her voice. “What are you going to do?”
Melker collected his boots and pushed his feet into the shiny leather. “The moment your uncle reaches the entrance he’ll be detained and brought back to the Guardhouse along with the boy.”
Melker put on his coat. He took his time and buttoned it right to the top. “I am the only thing standing between your uncle and Bad Seed status…or worse.”
Melker tied his hair back. “I suggest you use the coming hours to think of ways to convince me to spare him your fate. Otherwise, things could go quite badly for him.”
“Don’t do this,” she begged. “You’re angry at me, not him.”
Melker ignored her. He disappeared into his room and retrieved his rifle. He slung the weapon over his shoulder and returned to loom over her. He grabbed her face and forced her to look at him.
“You might be tempted to put your lock-picking talents to use and further explore my Guardhouse, Elsa, but it would be in your best interests to stay in this room. You want me in a good mood when I return.”
He headed for the door.
She yelled out to him, “Don’t hurt him, Melker, I beg you.”
He slammed the door shut. The noises outside quietened. The fire inside the room popped. Elsa retrieved her scarf from the ground and scrunched it between her hands. Worry gnawed at her insides. She wished she’d taken the time to find her pocket watch. She needed it now. She needed to find her calm.
“All my fault. This is all my fault.”
Elsa had brought the Blood Wolves into their lives and all for what? A power she would never possess! Elsa imagined her uncle toiling in the plantations or down some dirty mine pit, the darkness overwhelming the bright flame of his soul as quickly as it did one of Sunny’s surface birds. The image left her heartbroken.
How stupid she was. What a mess! In seeking to erase her fear, she’d only made it worse.