The Captain's Forbidden Mate

Episode 37: TOMORROW NIGHT

LENA

Everyone was silent for a few moments after Cole read off the text out loud.

"Tomorrow," Astra said after we managed to get back outside and tell her and Noah everything that had happened. "That's not nearly enough time. Not for training, not to dig into the real facts and not for anything, really."

"That's part of it," Aiden added as he walked out after us into the night air. "That's why whoever moved this meeting up wanted everyone running short on time, not ready to do everything that should be done."

"So what do we do?" I questioned.

Aiden remained silent on the subject for a moment, considering his options. "You go," he said, looking at me seriously. "You have no choice in the fact that you must attend this meeting. However, you must approach it prepared for any scenario besides what you've been led to believe will happen during the claiming ceremony." He paused then and looked at me once more. "Any training that Astra has you do, trust and believe. Any bond that you and Cole have created through this, trust equally in. Tomorrow night, both of those things may just be the saving grace you need."

"And you?" Cole spoke up. "Where will you be?"

"Nearby," Aiden said. "Watching. I'll be close enough if I'm not watched as well. I'm sorry that I wasn't around for you through your growing up, nephew. I made the 'choice' to leave rather than watch as my people did what they did to you." He looked towards Damien for a long moment before continuing. "I don't know if that was the right thing to do. I never did, and I've had twenty-two years to contemplate it."

Damien said nothing; he simply nodded once and turned and walked towards his car alone.

I watched him go as I thought about how much this week had ruined for him, knowing the truth about his 'family' as mine had for me and just how quickly it all happened.

Noah stood closer, his features just as troubled. "I'll take some time tonight to go through everything that I've gathered. Anything that Marcus found in his research into this, I want a name if there is one hidden somewhere in there. I want to have found them before tomorrow night, not after."

"I'll help," Astra offered. "Two sets of eyes are better than one, especially with the time limit that we have."

Aiden looked at the pair of them a long moment, seeming almost proud but saying nothing until he spoke again. "Good. You'll need everything you can get your hands on. I wish I could offer more than a warning, but a warning well timed often saves just as many lives as a well-kept secret ever will."

Without another word he faded out into the shadows of the warehouse district as he had done once before, leaving his cousin, his friend, and the rest of us with more to deal with than we already had.

Damien lingered a moment longer than the rest of us, watching the spot where Aiden had vanished into the darkness.

"You okay?" I asked him when he turned to look towards where the rest of the people left had vanished into the night.

"No," he answered honestly. "I don't think I've been for very long. Since Lena asked me that question anyway in the coffee shop. But I rather know the truth and not be able to live this comfortable lie that I have been living instead."

He looked at me then, a sort of respect in his features before he continued. "Thank you, Lena. For asking. Thank you for not letting it keep me lying to myself for another day longer."

He walked off towards his car without another word, leaving the rest of us to wonder about what we would do next.

Noah took Astra home first, and then he took me and Cole off near his vehicle, all of us traveling in relative silence besides the radio that no one was listening to.

I thought about everything that Aiden had said, everything that had happened, and about how little time we really had left to figure out to whom we could trust before walking into that cursed council chamber tomorrow night.

Cole drove me back to my dorm in silence. Neither of us felt like talking through everything that had just happened. When he pulled up in front of the building, neither of us tried to make any attempt at ending the moment quickly. The truck's engine idled in the silence as both I and Cole stood for a moment, neither of us moving.

"Tomorrow night," he finally began again. "Whatever happens in that council chamber, there's something that I want you to know. First."

"What is it?" I asked him.

"Whatever my father wants, whatever the council says, whatever Thorne or Aiden have planned, or whatever anyone else has, it doesn't change what I feel for you. It wasn't political. It isn't politics...even from the beginning. I need you to walk into this knowing that I feel this way, no matter what happens elsewise."

I looked at him again, something clicking deep inside me, despite the fear that had been coiled so tightly in my chest.

"I know," I whispered. "I think I've known for a while now, honestly, even before tonight."

My phone vibrated one last time before I got out of the vehicle. I almost didn't check it. When I did, though, everything inside of me went still all over again.

Text from the message, the unknown number to which I wasn't sure if it was really from Thorne that had sent this. The one that had told me to ask Damien about his uncle and whom the rumors pointed to, who Aiden was always watching. The one whose warnings had always been correct.

Good work tonight. You are getting close to the truth. Too close, maybe. Watch your back tomorrow. Not everyone at that council table wants you walking out of it alive.

I stared at it for a long time in the dark with Cole reading what had happened over my shoulder. Whatever happened for us tomorrow night, it was clear to me that at least one person felt that we had gotten close enough to something important, close enough to matter, that they should give us this warning in the dead of night by someone who still couldn't feel the need to give us a name.