“I will not endorse your mad plan without first speaking to Anna,” Samuel said firmly. “We do not even know if this plan of yours will work. This discussion is moot if it will not.”
“That’s fair,” Drake said. “I’ll need to get the lowdown from her on how to use her rarity anyway, and we’ll need to test it before I leave to pick up Sky. But now that we know what we’re going to do, talking with Anna is our next order of business.”
“Shall I fetch her, lord?” Lydia asked.
Drake loved that she hadn’t fought him on this. Once again, Lydia had his back.
“The maids should have delivered Robby to her by now,” Drake said. “I actually did have them make her doll a new outfit, so be careful not to reveal why we want to talk to her.”
“Understood.” Lydia exited the carriage and closed the door behind her.
Samuel turned his frown on Drake again. “Why are you so eager to save Sky?”
“Because we need her for the cabal, and because she’s a bad ass mother...” He paused and considered how Samuel, who took everything literally, might interpret that particular colloquialism. “She’s a strong warrior and a powerful manor lord.”
“So your desire to ride to her rescue herself is not simply because you fancy her?”
It took Drake a moment to remember that was old people talk for “you think she’s hot”, and then he could only chuckle. “No, Samuel. God. You and Zuri.”
“What does Zuri have to do with this?
“You both seem to think I’m constantly being led around by my dick.” Though Zuri, Drake supposed, had been compelled into thinking that.
Samuel’s expression hardened. “As your advisor, I would be remiss if I did not ensure you examined your motives in detail. Is what you say what you believe?”
“I’ve examined my motives plenty. We’re going to have to move fast and ride hard if we go after Sky, which will be difficult for Anna. If we get into a scrap with whoever took Sky’s mother, an assassin could pick Anna off the moment she shows up, which leaves us no way home. Yet no one in the enemy force will expect me to have a teleport rarity.”
“No. They will simply target you to eliminate the lord of Gloomwood Manor.”
“They’d do that anyway, which is why I have battle maids to protect me. And finally, I’m simply not ready to order a child on what could possibly be a suicide mission. That kid’s been through hell already. Whether we succeed or not, she deserves a good life in the manor.”
“So while you are not allowing yourself to be unduly influenced by your attraction to Sky Skybreak, you are allowing yourself to be influenced by your worry for Anna.”
Drake frowned. “Of course I’m factoring Anna’s age into my decision. I’ve told you repeatedly I’m not going to lead like an asshole. That doesn’t invalidate my arguments about them not expecting me to have a teleport rarity or Anna’s trouble keeping the pace.”
Samuel’s frown didn’t fade. Still, he also didn’t offer any more arguments. Drake was getting exhausted from dealing with the old man, but he had asked for counsel. If nothing else, Samuel continued to ask the hard questions others would not.
A knock from Lydia announced her return. After Samuel opened the door, she and Anna then entered the carriage together. Anna immediately leapt across it to throw her arms around Drake, and he only barely managed to catch her in time. What had gotten into her?
“I love it, lord!” Anna all but squealed. “His clothes! They’re perfect! You’ve made him so happy!” There were little tears squeezing out of her eyes.
Oh. Right. Robby. Drake gave her a moment before he cautiously disengaged her and sat her on the bench. “I’m glad Robby likes his clothes, but if you really like them, you need to thank Tamara and her maids. They’re the ones who made them for him.”
“I will, lord!”
“But that’s not why I called you to see me.”
She dabbed at her cheeks and settled on the seat beside him. “Of course. I may not be your blood thrall yet, but I’m going to be!” She sat up straight. “How may I serve you?”
“I have questions about your rarity.”
“Would you like to copy it, lord?” She didn’t seem alarmed about that.
“I’m thinking about it. First, I need to know how it works. Tell me how you use it.”
Anna now looked truly excited. “You know about the recall point. I have to cut my arm and drain the blood in a circular pattern. But I can show you, lord! It’s not that hard, I promise.”
That was a reminder this little girl had to literally bleed every time someone forced her to make a new recall point. Another reason to avoid asking her to teleport people as much as he could manage. “And then?”
“Once the recall point is ready, I can feel it. I can always feel it, even when I’m days away, though the feeling goes away the further I get. I only stopped feeling it once.”
“When?”
“A big storm washed away the recall point. I couldn’t get back to Daddy, and I was so worried they’d kill him. Finally, Captain Ro came to pick me up.”
Drake suspected Ro had known just how valuable his adorable teleporter was for abductions, and he had been bluffing about killing her father. Not that any of that helped Anna now. She’d still endured... all that.
“And how do you actually teleport? You just pick a door and walk through it?”
She nodded eagerly. “I convince myself the door goes to the recall point.”
“Convince?”
“I have to believe it, lord.” She leaned forward. “When I took you to see Captain Ro, I believed the door out of your manor would take us back to him. It did.”
“But you have to step through that door first.”
“Yes, though I don’t teleport right away. Everyone else who agrees to teleport with me has to step through the same door after I have... believed it, I suppose. And when the last person who's agreed to teleport with me steps through the door I believe will take us all to the recall spot, that's when I go too. I go at the same time as the last one.”
It sounded complicated, but everything Anna had just described matched what he’d experienced. As Drake considered the two times he had been teleported by Anna's rarity—first from his manor, and second from Sky's guest house—it all made sense. Easy enough. Now to ensure the other part of his brilliant plan was actually brilliant and not... suicidal.
"And the recall spot can move, correct?
Anna nodded.
“And how many people can teleport at once?”
“The most I’ve ever teleported is four.”
That was a lot less than Drake had hoped. “Is there any cost?”
“It tires me,” Anna admitted. “I only teleported four people one time, and I blacked out after. Captain Ro wouldn’t tell me for sure, but I think... I almost died, lord.”
So teleporting people consumed blood, just like other rarities, and the more people Anna teleported, the more blood she lost. Drake offered Samuel a meaningful glance. The man must understand what this meant.
If Anna tried to teleport Sky, her warriors, Drake, and his battle maids, she could literally die of blood loss. By comparison, if Drake burnished Anna’s teleport as he had all the others, he might not have a problem at all. If they wanted to use Anna’s teleport rarity to deliver Sky to the cabal on time, they really did have only one option.
“Are you going to save Lord Skybreak?” Anna asked hopefully.
This child was too clever by half. He could just lie to her, but that seemed unnecessary. “I can’t talk about our plans. I’d appreciate if you didn’t either.”
She nodded vigorously. “I won’t tell a soul!”
“Not even Robby. Can you keep a secret from Robby?”
She frowned. “Why would I need to keep secrets from my friend?”
“He might worry about me if I leave to go after Lord Skybreak. You’ll worry, won’t you?”
The little tremble of her lips assured him she would. She was so damn adorable.
“So let’s not tell Robby,” Drake insisted. “He might be your friend, but you keep him safe too. If he doesn’t know I’m leaving he won’t worry about me. So promise you won’t tell him?”
This time, Anna nodded vigorously. “I won’t!”
“Then I think we’re all agreed.” He glanced at Samuel and Lydia. “Aren’t we?”
Lydia nodded immediately. Samuel nodded, but grudgingly. Perhaps learning that Anna teleporting more than four people might kill her had finally convinced him to agree to Drake’s plan... or at least not fight it any longer.
Anna pulled a small hat pin from her dress pocket and then stabbed her own palm. She did it before Drake could speak, and so casually it made him blink. She must be used to stabbing herself and bleeding for others. Another reason to keep this poor kid safe.
She raised her blood palm and smiled. “Ready, lord!”
He ruefully withdrew his letter opener and stabbed his palm, then grimaced as the wound immediately sealed up. That would be a problem. His ability to physically regenerate so quickly was going to make swapping out his rarity a lot more painful than he’d realized.
He looked at Anna. “Because I can heal so quickly, I’m going to have to cut myself a lot more than you. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
While she looked a bit uncertain, she nodded. “All right, lord.”
Drake set his teeth and then jammed the point of the letter opener into the top of his forearm. It stung, but he knew it wouldn’t be nearly enough. He growled and dragged the sharpened edge down, blinking as the pain speared his arm.
He couldn’t stop. Not if he wanted to salvage their chances at the coming cabal. He gasped when he finished slitting open his arm. Anna immediately slapped her bleeding palm over the large gash.
Dammit. His skin was already starting to heal up despite the length, so Drake cut his arm again and again. Anna moved her hand to the new wound, and after several very painful minutes of constantly savaging his arm, he’d had enough.
Gasping, Drake eased Anna’s hand away. She looked to be on the verge of tears, but he smiled to assure her it had all been necessary. That had fucking hurt.
“I’m fine. I’ll be fine.” The last of his self-inflicted wounds were already sealing over, and he moved his arm to show her. “See? Not a scratch left.”
Next time, it might be easier to place Anna's blood in one of the vials Zuri had given him instead of trying to swap it with her in real time. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to do this often. Drake also decided he'd gather a sample of Samuel's blood to take with him if worst came to worst and he had to switch back to regeneration. Best to be prepared for every outcome.
Lydia moved to Anna’s side and wrapped her hand in a handkerchief before Drake could ask, then pulled out one of her white healing gloves. As she put it on, Drake smiled in relief and approval. Unlike him, Anna wouldn’t heal so quickly, but Lydia could fix that.
“Okay.” Drake looked up. “So last time, how long did Hugo say it took for Samuel’s rarity to replace flutterstep?” That was the blood thrall whose rarity allowed him to keep precise time.
“Just a little under an hour, lord,” Lydia said as she mended Anna’s cut.
Drake looked to Anna again, and then, against his better judgment, opened his arms. She hopped forward once more. He gave her a firm hug to calm her down after all that blood.
He soon eased Anna back. “I’ll see you as soon as we call get back,” he promised. “But now, I need you to do one more thing for me.”
“What’s that, lord?”
“I’d like you and Robby to sleep with Tamara and the maids tonight.”
She nodded immediately. “So Robby won’t know you’ve left.”
“That’s right. We don’t want him to be sad.”
“I like Tamara,” Anna said. “And I can thank her for Robby’s clothes.”
“Make sure you do that.”
She offered the cutest little curtsey. “Is there anything else, lord?”
Drake kept a straight face with great effort. “That’s all, Anna. You’re dismissed.”
With her features as serious as a heart attack, Anna bowed, rose, and then hurried out the door of the carriage the moment Lydia opened it.
Drake glanced at Samuel. “Seriously, Samuel. Tell me you’d send that adorable little girl out on a dangerous mission. I want you to mean it.”
He sighed. “I would prefer not to send either of you.”
“It’s good to know you care. But trust me, old man. I’ll be back before you know it.”
“I will not endorse your mad plan without first speaking to Anna,” Samuel said firmly. “We do not even know if this plan of yours will work. This discussion is moot if it will not.”
“That’s fair,” Drake said. “I’ll need to get the lowdown from her on how to use her rarity anyway, and we’ll need to test it before I leave to pick up Sky. But now that we know what we’re going to do, talking with Anna is our next order of business.”
“Shall I fetch her, lord?” Lydia asked.
Drake loved that she hadn’t fought him on this. Once again, Lydia had his back.
“The maids should have delivered Robby to her by now,” Drake said. “I actually did have them make her doll a new outfit, so be careful not to reveal why we want to talk to her.”
“Understood.” Lydia exited the carriage and closed the door behind her.
Samuel turned his frown on Drake again. “Why are you so eager to save Sky?”
“Because we need her for the cabal, and because she’s a bad ass mother...” He paused and considered how Samuel, who took everything literally, might interpret that particular colloquialism. “She’s a strong warrior and a powerful manor lord.”
“So your desire to ride to her rescue herself is not simply because you fancy her?”
It took Drake a moment to remember that was old people talk for “you think she’s hot”, and then he could only chuckle. “No, Samuel. God. You and Zuri.”
“What does Zuri have to do with this?
“You both seem to think I’m constantly being led around by my dick.” Though Zuri, Drake supposed, had been compelled into thinking that.
Samuel’s expression hardened. “As your advisor, I would be remiss if I did not ensure you examined your motives in detail. Is what you say what you believe?”
“I’ve examined my motives plenty. We’re going to have to move fast and ride hard if we go after Sky, which will be difficult for Anna. If we get into a scrap with whoever took Sky’s mother, an assassin could pick Anna off the moment she shows up, which leaves us no way home. Yet no one in the enemy force will expect me to have a teleport rarity.”
“No. They will simply target you to eliminate the lord of Gloomwood Manor.”
“They’d do that anyway, which is why I have battle maids to protect me. And finally, I’m simply not ready to order a child on what could possibly be a suicide mission. That kid’s been through hell already. Whether we succeed or not, she deserves a good life in the manor.”
“So while you are not allowing yourself to be unduly influenced by your attraction to Sky Skybreak, you are allowing yourself to be influenced by your worry for Anna.”
Drake frowned. “Of course I’m factoring Anna’s age into my decision. I’ve told you repeatedly I’m not going to lead like an asshole. That doesn’t invalidate my arguments about them not expecting me to have a teleport rarity or Anna’s trouble keeping the pace.”
Samuel’s frown didn’t fade. Still, he also didn’t offer any more arguments. Drake was getting exhausted from dealing with the old man, but he had asked for counsel. If nothing else, Samuel continued to ask the hard questions others would not.
A knock from Lydia announced her return. After Samuel opened the door, she and Anna then entered the carriage together. Anna immediately leapt across it to throw her arms around Drake, and he only barely managed to catch her in time. What had gotten into her?
“I love it, lord!” Anna all but squealed. “His clothes! They’re perfect! You’ve made him so happy!” There were little tears squeezing out of her eyes.
Oh. Right. Robby. Drake gave her a moment before he cautiously disengaged her and sat her on the bench. “I’m glad Robby likes his clothes, but if you really like them, you need to thank Tamara and her maids. They’re the ones who made them for him.”
“I will, lord!”
“But that’s not why I called you to see me.”
She dabbed at her cheeks and settled on the seat beside him. “Of course. I may not be your blood thrall yet, but I’m going to be!” She sat up straight. “How may I serve you?”
“I have questions about your rarity.”
“Would you like to copy it, lord?” She didn’t seem alarmed about that.
“I’m thinking about it. First, I need to know how it works. Tell me how you use it.”
Anna now looked truly excited. “You know about the recall point. I have to cut my arm and drain the blood in a circular pattern. But I can show you, lord! It’s not that hard, I promise.”
That was a reminder this little girl had to literally bleed every time someone forced her to make a new recall point. Another reason to avoid asking her to teleport people as much as he could manage. “And then?”
“Once the recall point is ready, I can feel it. I can always feel it, even when I’m days away, though the feeling goes away the further I get. I only stopped feeling it once.”
“When?”
“A big storm washed away the recall point. I couldn’t get back to Daddy, and I was so worried they’d kill him. Finally, Captain Ro came to pick me up.”
Drake suspected Ro had known just how valuable his adorable teleporter was for abductions, and he had been bluffing about killing her father. Not that any of that helped Anna now. She’d still endured... all that.
“And how do you actually teleport? You just pick a door and walk through it?”
She nodded eagerly. “I convince myself the door goes to the recall point.”
“Convince?”
“I have to believe it, lord.” She leaned forward. “When I took you to see Captain Ro, I believed the door out of your manor would take us back to him. It did.”
“But you have to step through that door first.”
“Yes, though I don’t teleport right away. Everyone else who agrees to teleport with me has to step through the same door after I have... believed it, I suppose. And when the last person who's agreed to teleport with me steps through the door I believe will take us all to the recall spot, that's when I go too. I go at the same time as the last one.”
It sounded complicated, but everything Anna had just described matched what he’d experienced. As Drake considered the two times he had been teleported by Anna's rarity—first from his manor, and second from Sky's guest house—it all made sense. Easy enough. Now to ensure the other part of his brilliant plan was actually brilliant and not... suicidal.
"And the recall spot can move, correct?
Anna nodded.
“And how many people can teleport at once?”
“The most I’ve ever teleported is four.”
That was a lot less than Drake had hoped. “Is there any cost?”
“It tires me,” Anna admitted. “I only teleported four people one time, and I blacked out after. Captain Ro wouldn’t tell me for sure, but I think... I almost died, lord.”
So teleporting people consumed blood, just like other rarities, and the more people Anna teleported, the more blood she lost. Drake offered Samuel a meaningful glance. The man must understand what this meant.
If Anna tried to teleport Sky, her warriors, Drake, and his battle maids, she could literally die of blood loss. By comparison, if Drake burnished Anna’s teleport as he had all the others, he might not have a problem at all. If they wanted to use Anna’s teleport rarity to deliver Sky to the cabal on time, they really did have only one option.
“Are you going to save Lord Skybreak?” Anna asked hopefully.
This child was too clever by half. He could just lie to her, but that seemed unnecessary. “I can’t talk about our plans. I’d appreciate if you didn’t either.”
She nodded vigorously. “I won’t tell a soul!”
“Not even Robby. Can you keep a secret from Robby?”
She frowned. “Why would I need to keep secrets from my friend?”
“He might worry about me if I leave to go after Lord Skybreak. You’ll worry, won’t you?”
The little tremble of her lips assured him she would. She was so damn adorable.
“So let’s not tell Robby,” Drake insisted. “He might be your friend, but you keep him safe too. If he doesn’t know I’m leaving he won’t worry about me. So promise you won’t tell him?”
This time, Anna nodded vigorously. “I won’t!”
“Then I think we’re all agreed.” He glanced at Samuel and Lydia. “Aren’t we?”
Lydia nodded immediately. Samuel nodded, but grudgingly. Perhaps learning that Anna teleporting more than four people might kill her had finally convinced him to agree to Drake’s plan... or at least not fight it any longer.
Anna pulled a small hat pin from her dress pocket and then stabbed her own palm. She did it before Drake could speak, and so casually it made him blink. She must be used to stabbing herself and bleeding for others. Another reason to keep this poor kid safe.
She raised her blood palm and smiled. “Ready, lord!”
He ruefully withdrew his letter opener and stabbed his palm, then grimaced as the wound immediately sealed up. That would be a problem. His ability to physically regenerate so quickly was going to make swapping out his rarity a lot more painful than he’d realized.
He looked at Anna. “Because I can heal so quickly, I’m going to have to cut myself a lot more than you. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
While she looked a bit uncertain, she nodded. “All right, lord.”
Drake set his teeth and then jammed the point of the letter opener into the top of his forearm. It stung, but he knew it wouldn’t be nearly enough. He growled and dragged the sharpened edge down, blinking as the pain speared his arm.
He couldn’t stop. Not if he wanted to salvage their chances at the coming cabal. He gasped when he finished slitting open his arm. Anna immediately slapped her bleeding palm over the large gash.
Dammit. His skin was already starting to heal up despite the length, so Drake cut his arm again and again. Anna moved her hand to the new wound, and after several very painful minutes of constantly savaging his arm, he’d had enough.
Gasping, Drake eased Anna’s hand away. She looked to be on the verge of tears, but he smiled to assure her it had all been necessary. That had fucking hurt.
“I’m fine. I’ll be fine.” The last of his self-inflicted wounds were already sealing over, and he moved his arm to show her. “See? Not a scratch left.”
Next time, it might be easier to place Anna's blood in one of the vials Zuri had given him instead of trying to swap it with her in real time. Hopefully, they wouldn't have to do this often. Drake also decided he'd gather a sample of Samuel's blood to take with him if worst came to worst and he had to switch back to regeneration. Best to be prepared for every outcome.
Lydia moved to Anna’s side and wrapped her hand in a handkerchief before Drake could ask, then pulled out one of her white healing gloves. As she put it on, Drake smiled in relief and approval. Unlike him, Anna wouldn’t heal so quickly, but Lydia could fix that.
“Okay.” Drake looked up. “So last time, how long did Hugo say it took for Samuel’s rarity to replace flutterstep?” That was the blood thrall whose rarity allowed him to keep precise time.
“Just a little under an hour, lord,” Lydia said as she mended Anna’s cut.
Drake looked to Anna again, and then, against his better judgment, opened his arms. She hopped forward once more. He gave her a firm hug to calm her down after all that blood.
He soon eased Anna back. “I’ll see you as soon as we call get back,” he promised. “But now, I need you to do one more thing for me.”
“What’s that, lord?”
“I’d like you and Robby to sleep with Tamara and the maids tonight.”
She nodded immediately. “So Robby won’t know you’ve left.”
“That’s right. We don’t want him to be sad.”
“I like Tamara,” Anna said. “And I can thank her for Robby’s clothes.”
“Make sure you do that.”
She offered the cutest little curtsey. “Is there anything else, lord?”
Drake kept a straight face with great effort. “That’s all, Anna. You’re dismissed.”
With her features as serious as a heart attack, Anna bowed, rose, and then hurried out the door of the carriage the moment Lydia opened it.
Drake glanced at Samuel. “Seriously, Samuel. Tell me you’d send that adorable little girl out on a dangerous mission. I want you to mean it.”
He sighed. “I would prefer not to send either of you.”
“It’s good to know you care. But trust me, old man. I’ll be back before you know it.”
