Chapter Twenty-Nine: Surprise, Surprise!
Devon picked Reanna up from the stone table she laid on quivering with anger and disgust. So he was to be ordered about like some common lackey, was he? Who was it that had brilliantly created the plan that had led to the capture of Reanna when the thrice-damned seer could think of nothing?
He snorted as he carried Reanna through the hallways on the second floor, looking for the room that the mad had ordered she be brought to. The trouble with the seer was that he depended solely on his Sight rather than using all of the available resources. Granted, the man's Sight was likely the only resource he had, Devon thought uncharitably. That, and the knowledge of potions that could do a variety of things.
When he reached the room, he laid Reanna gently down on the comfortable bed inside and found that there was a dress laid out on a chair. He looked at all of the pieces in dismay, wishing heartily for a maidservant to help him. At least I know where all of the parts belong, having taken this kind of thing off enough times...he thought.
Hearing a soft groan, from behind him, he turned and saw Reanna blinking and rolling to her side. He went quickly to her so she didn't roll off of the bed by accident.
"What..." she mumbled.
"I'm here, Reanna, hush," he said softly.
"Devon? You..." she started, her voice sounding stronger now, and he interrupted her again.
"Yes, I betrayed you. I'm sorry."
"Sorry?! You're sorry for delivering me to the people that, for all I know, want me dead?"
She sat up now, her fury giving her limbs--and voice--strength.
"Reanna, I had no choice," he said lamely. "The seer captured me...he had me in chains..."
"So you're disloyal." She let out a bitter laugh. "You're fired, I hope you know."
"I figured as much," he said wryly.
"But not only are you fired, no, you're in so much trouble...I should burn you alive for what you did...and the only reason I don't is because it wouldn't be slow enough for me to exact the revenge I want of you. If only I could control myself well enough to maintain a slow flame..."
"You...can't control it?" he asked weakly.
"No, what's it matter to you?"
"I had thought...that perhaps we could use it to our advantage..."
"Oh, so it's 'we' now? You betrayed me and now you say you want to help me? Forgive me if I don't trust you," she said scathingly.
"When you destroyed my ship..."
"Yes, that's what always happens when I call to fire. Why do you think we sailed so far away before I did it?"
"God above..." he whispered, sitting on the edge of the bed in shock.
"Gods," she corrected.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"There is more than one god, and the one you humans worship is far from being the all-powerful being you seem to think he is."
"Wha--never mind," he said. "We don't have time for this right now, you're supposed to be getting dressed."
"But I'm already wearing--"
"You have to wear that," he interrupted--for the millionth time, it seemed.
She looked at the dress laid out on the bed and said, "No." Just that: "no."
"I've been ordered to--"
"No!" she said firmly, interrupting him for once. "I'll not comply with my captor's wishes. Take me to him--now."
She was standing now, her hands on her hips. He just stared up at her, both vexed and admiring her boldness--even if that boldness was as likely to get her killed as anything else. "Reanna, you apparently don't realize how precarious my position here is," he started, but she quieted him with her glare.
"I don't care how precarious your position is," she said sweetly. "And at the moment I don't give a damn whether you're killed or not, regardless of the fact that you seem genuinely sorry about what you did to me."
He wondered how she knew that he had been telling the truth but still didn't trust him, but the thought lasted only a moment. Anything was possible with Reanna. With what she had said earlier, she apparently wasn't even human, though she looked it enough if one avoided looking closely at her ears. He wondered how he had missed the pointed tips.
She made a frustrated noise and asked as much as commanded, "Well? Are you just going to stare at me or are you going to take me to your employer?! If I have to find him on my own I'll be even angrier with you than I was before. If you're truly sorry for what you did, show some backbone."
He sighed and stood up, knowing that he was likely to be killed for this, but he would rather be killed by the master's men than by her. He'd receive a quicker death by far from them.
**
Devon led her to what appeared to be a parlor. She at first thought that no one was in the room, but then she noticed that one of the chairs was turned toward the empty fireplace.
"Is she ready?" asked the man occupying the chair.
"Ready for what?" she said, her voice hard.
The man in the chair stood and turned to face her slowly, and when she at last saw his face she took an involuntary step back. She had seen this man before! There were portraits of him...gods above!
"Arthur Bailey?" she whispered, hardly audible as she felt that there wasn't enough air to be drawn in for breath.
This was her mother's father! Her grandfather by blood! But...wasn't he supposed to be locked up back in Port Royal?
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Finally! The mystery man that has hunted down Reanna is revealed! For those that have read Arianne...did you see this coming? ;) I confess I've known who he was for the past ten or so chapters, but that could have a wee bit of something to do with the fact that I'm the author of the story...
Nikee: You're alive! Yay! I'd been wondering if you'd suddenly dropped off the face of the earth! Lol, thanks for the review, mate!
Rin: Thanks for the review, as always, have you started reading Arianne yet?