Mine to Fear (Mine #3)(47)

Nelly takes the chair Cynthia had been sitting in while she leans against the wall, her presence somehow soothing while I don't know what's to come. How is one supposed to feel after saving someone's life?

A more awkward silence than I've ever been a part of follows. What's the point of all this? To torture me more with her presence? Or is there something more?

When I can't take it anymore, I say, “Is there something you needed?” So it came out a little harsher than I meant. I did just have my stomach ripped open.

“I…” She seems to steel herself, for what I can't be sure. Not after the way she's treated me, even if I did just help her. “I wanted to say thank you for saving my life.”

Another silence follows as I try to digest what she said. What she means. Before I can form a reply, she continues.

“And that I'm sorry. For everything. The way I've treated you, especially. You haven't deserved any of it. All my life I've been looked down upon because I'm a woman, and I despised it. Yet I've looked down on you just because you're an Envadi.”

“It does seem a little backward,” I say, not knowing how else to respond. A thank you I might have guessed at, but an outright apology? The incident must have scared her worse than I first thought.

“So maybe we can be friends now?”

This just keeps getting a weirder. “Yeah, maybe.”

“I really like how you spell your nails. Do you think you could teach me how to do that?”

I grin at her. “Now we're talking.”

We spend another ten minutes talking about different spells and things I can teach her and the things we have in common. It's more than I expected, but it helps that she has always hated being suppressed. She seems to want freedom any way she can get it. By the time she leaves, I feel like I finally may have found a way to connect with another Chardonian woman.





***





Nelly wasn't the only woman whose opinion of me changed. All week visitors come, some saying nothing, others talking on and on about life in the cave. But a few actually apologize to me for being so rude. I've never heard anything like it in all my life. Who knew all it would take to get people to respect me and be kind was to almost die?





Chapter Thirty-Six





Thanks to magic and time, I heal almost fully in the matter of a few days. I'm still sore, my stomach aching whenever I move, but I've never let a little thing like that stop me. Especially not when things are dire enough that someone almost died.

I gather the core group of leaders together, determined to set things in the right direction. If we don't do so now, we'll wax strong in misery and defeat. I look them all over: Jack, Tawny, Serena, Cynthia, Bethany, Theodore, Annabelle, and Chadwick. It's quite a group we've got going, but is it enough for what I think we should do next?

“This is not good,” I say. “We can't have them bringing the fight to us and then barely surviving.”

“I'm not sure they are strong enough to take the fight to the Grand Chancellor yet,” Cynthia says.

“Are they ever going to be?”

“Eventually.”

“Zade doesn't have time for eventually,” Serena shouts.

We all look at her. Raising her voice is so rare. The pain of having Zade gone is finally getting to her.

“Sorry,” she says.

I give her a hug. “There's no reason to be sorry. I agree with you completely. We can't continue to do nothing.”

“If we're not strong enough to attack the Grand Chancellor, but we can't wait, what are we possibly going to do?” Theodore asks.

“What do you suggest?” Jack says to me.

“While we wait for the others to get stronger and learn more, it's up to us to stop the Grand Chancellor and his men from making any more progress. It's time to take the war to them. Bethany brought news that could help.” I turn to her.

“Nathaniel has discovered a power plant that's not well guarded. It's far from any town so they don't think anyone knows about it or would bother to try something with it.”

“That's the one we need to hit, then,” Cynthia says.

But Bethany doesn’t look so sure.

“What's the problem?” I ask her.

“Just the location,” Bethany says. “It's one of the few areas in Chardonia that's not forested and it's flat.”

Lovely.

“We attack at night then,” Cynthia says, her enthusiasm never waning.

If I was as powerful as she is and accomplished such feats, I'd be just as enthusiastic. Though, in my defense, I did help at Ryan's and to save Nelly. I can do this too, no matter how fearful it makes me.

“With a bigger team than last time,” I say. “Not too many, but some we can trust.”

“What happens if we all go and the worst happens?” Tawny says.

“Some of us should stay behind,” Chadwick says, giving her a pointed look.

“Definitely,” I say. “Tawny would be a good choice. And Annabelle, if that's all right?” I can't have something happen to her and have her husband lose her before we save him. Serena should stay behind as well, but knowing her stubbornness, I'm not going to be the one to bring it up.