Rise of Winter Read online

  “I used to come here and look at this picture when I was younger.”

  “Why this one? It’s not much too look at it.”

  “I saw myself in it I suppose.” Jane looked over at Damion who was standing in front of a picture she couldn’t make out from where she was. He was looking at it quite intently which surprised her, as she hadn’t pegged him as someone who would appreciate art. Before she could go to his side to see what he was looking at, there was the feeling of the air being sucked from the room as a tall, buttoned up figure entered through the doorway. He had on a purple scar which fell to his waist, a pair of black sunglasses resting on his sharp aquiline nose and slicked back blonde hair that was tied into a ponytail.

  “This him?” said Jane.

  “Yeah, that’s the fucking pretentious prick in all his glory,” said Savannah. Damion walked forward and shook the man’s hand.

  “You’re Captain Winter?” said the man.

  “I am. Mr. Braggs I presume?”

  “Yes. That’s me.” The man had a deep hollow voice, an airy void that echoed around the room. “You have the stone?” he said.

  “We do.” Damion reached into the bag he had on his shoulder and took out the stone, the three ravens etched into its surface marking it as the same one they had taken from Sabetha back on Baravia.

  “Such a curious thing,” Victor said, looking at with something close to awe.

  “Speaking of curiosity, what is it?” said Jane.

  “An object forged almost a thousand years ago. A relic from a bygone time. It’s been in my family for generations,” said Victor, his eyes never leaving the stone still held in Damion’s hand.

  “Do you have the sum we agreed on?” said Damion.

  “Of course.” Victor reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope, pressing it into Damion’s outstretched palm.

  Damion opened the envelope and peered inside. “It’s all here,” he said. He handed Victor the stone.

  “Ah. Finally,” said Victor. “Have you ever had this feeling, Captain?” said Victor.

  “What feeling would that be?”

  “The feeling of wanting something for so long. Thinking of it night and day to the point where you find yourself dreaming of it when you fall asleep. And then to at last, obtain that which you’ve sought.”

  “I have what I’ve always wanted, so perhaps I do,” said Damion, his eyes lingering on Jane as he spoke which made her blush. Victor smiled.

  “So do they” he said.

  “They?”

  That’s when they entered the room, long shadows slithering into the light, head and body cloaked. Their most prominent and shared characteristic being the stern, uncaring expression they held in the depths of their eyes and the taut lines of their face. The Sisters.

  “No,” whispered Jane.

  “Who the hell are these people?” said Savannah. Jane felt her hand slide towards the gun she kept tucked in the back of her pants.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Armed men had poured in through the back entrance, all of them with their guns raised and pointed.

  “Ah shit,” said Savannah. “I knew it couldn’t be this easy.”

  Chapter 4

  It was a small, cramped room with poor ventilation, but the view was something to behold. The sky could be seen, its previous orange haze drifting towards dark red which marked night on Cordovia. The stars shone like jewels on a quilt made of midnight and the moon was a silver shadow that glistened in the sky. Jane had spent so many years looking up at that sky, hoping to be a part of it someday. Now here it was, once more out of reach.

  They had put Damion and her in a cell together while Savannah had been escorted to some unknown destination. They had been blindfolded the whole way, while men pressed guns into their backs. Jane wasn’t sure where they were on the planet which terrified her. It was like her home had swallowed her whole and now she might never get to leave. But what scared her most were the Sisters, who she knew had been with them every step of the way, the rustling of their black cloaks a constant reminder of their presence even if she couldn’t physically see them. One of them had spoken to her on the way to the cell as well. Sister Margot. Jane remembered Sister Margot mostly as a scowl and an arm holding a hairbrush which she had used to beat Jane with on many occasions but she also remembered that she was very much the leader of the Sisters. A dark mistress leading a collection of ghouls.

  “Did you think you could leave?” Sister Margot had said to her. “We decide when people leave the orphanage. Not you.”

  Jane had no idea what they had in store for her, but it was something she didn’t want to find out.

  “Damion,” she whispered. He was leaning against the stone wall of their cell, his eyes distant. “What are we going to do?” she said. She saw him swallow in the dark and for the first time, she realized that he was afraid.

  “My father,” he said.

  “What about him?” she said, surprised that Damion was bringing him up, especially at a moment like this. Bernard Winter was by all indications, a cruel, venal man, with little regard for even his own son. It was him that had hired their crew through a third party to investigate a planet called Vrune. Of course, that trip had brought them into contact with a race of shadow like creatures called the Umbra and their whole crew had almost died as a result.

  “Our clan insignia is two swords, coated in ice. Those armed men, they all bore that insignia on their armor. They work for my father.” There was more than a little fear in his voice and Jane felt the urge to go and comfort him. She walked up close to him and took his hand in hers.

  “Why would he be here?”

  “Me,” said Damion.

  “What does he want with you?” She said. His only response was silence. “Damion.”

  “Yes?” He squeezed her hand tight.

  “What happened between you and your father?” It was the unspoken question that had lingered between then for months. She knew Damion and his father weren’t on good terms and she knew there was a reason that despite being from a prominent family, Damion was spending his days as Captain with a small crew that did odd jobs around the universe.

  Damion closed his eyes. “It was five years ago that I last saw my father. It was when he told me to leave and never come back.”

  “Why?” She pulled closer to him.

  “There was a man named Robert Faust. He was my father’s friend and business associate. I saw him around the house all the time growing up. He and my father were always drinking and laughing in the other room. When I was younger I used to listen to them talk through the walls. He was close enough to my father that he was almost like family. He died five years ago.” Damion took a long pause. “My father killed him.”

  “Why?” she said once more. It was the only word that would come to her mind at the moment.

  “They had a falling out. Some business deal that went south. I heard them arguing over it in the weeks before Robert died. Then one day, I was running a supply mission for my father and I got done early. I thought I’d head home and when I got there, I heard a cracking noise. It came from my father’s study. I ran up as fast as I could and opened the door. Inside, I found my father…..standing over Mr. Faust’s body, the iron from the fireplace in his hand. It was coated with blood.”

  “Jesus Damion. What did you do?”

  Damion’s usually impassive face looked like it was struggling, as if his emotions from that day were trying to push themselves to the surface. “We talked. My father told me that he had no choice and that we needed to keep quiet about what had happened.”

  “Did you?”

  Damion shook his head. “No. I went to the Constable and told him everything right after my father and I had talked. I brought him back to the house to show him the body. But when we got there, it was gone. The constable never pressed charges and I was almost hauled in for lying. Later that same night, my father disowned me. Told me that I was no son of his and that I
needed to leave. And so I did.” He wasn’t crying, but his eyes were rimmed with red and she could feel the gentle tremble of his hand as she held it.

  “Then you became Captain of the Winter’s Edge,” she said, as everything clicked into place in her mind.

  “Yes. I didn’t go alone either. Savannah came with me. She was all that I had back then.”

  Jane put her arms around him and they held each other close for several long minutes. When they broke apart, she was still holding his hands which felt both rough and soft, hinting at a life that was both privileged and full of hardship.

  “What does he want with you now?” she asked once more.

  “I have no idea.”

  “And he’s working with the Sisters and Victor Braggs?”

  “It seems that way.”

  It was the only thing that made sense. Victor had obviously set them up to be captured and the Sister’s presence along with Bernard Winter’s men seemed to suggest some kind of alliance. The only question was, what goals or purpose had brought all of them into alignment?

  Chapter 5

  They blindfolded her once more and took her through what felt like a series of rooms. The whole journey lasted perhaps ten minutes, at the end of which, she was shoved roughly into a chair and her blindfold removed. In front of her was a man with salt, pepper gray hair, with magenta skin and two small horns sticking out of the top of his head. His strong jaw and the imperious look in his eyes sealed it. He was the spitting image of Damion. Or to put it more accurately, Damion was the spitting image of him.

  “You’re Damion’s father,” she said. The man narrowed his eyes at her and folded his hands in front of him. “Bernard Winter.”

  “Yes,” was all he said, but even that single word was spoken with the kind of authority that only comes from a lifetime of privilege and power. According to Damion, the Winter family enjoyed both of those things in abundance. Like other powerful families, they were able to get away with almost anything, mostly because the Planetary Coalition let them. Money and prestige had given men like Bernard Winter free reign to do what they wanted, to whomever they wanted.

  “What do you want?” Jane said, glaring at the man opposite her.

  “I’m glad we’ve skipped the pleasantries and cut right to the heart of the matter.”

  “Oh, we were always going to skip the pleasantries.”

  He gave her a cold smile. “I’ve just met you and already I see what my son likes about you.”

  She felt her mouth fall open. “How did you—”

  “You think that I haven’t been keeping my eyes on my son these

  last five years? I know what he’s been up to. All of it.”

  “He said that you disowned him” she said, throwing the words at him like they were an accusation.

  “I did.” His tone was almost casual. “I needed him to understand that his actions have consequences.”

  “That’s pretty funny coming from a murderer.”

  Bernard Winter’s face registered no surprise. “He told you did he? He must really care about you. Which will make this even easier.”

  “Will make what easier?” She could feel a sense of dread beginning to form in her stomach.

  “When you tell him that that it’s in his best interest to return with me. To come home.”

  “I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want that.”

  “It’s not about what he wants.”

  “You’re really going for father of the year, aren’t you?” How entitled and arrogant was this man that he thought he could just treat Damion like he was some sort of object that could be thrown away and then picked back up again when he felt like it?

  “If you tell him to come home, I won’t let the Sisters have you,” he said. She felt her stomach fall at these words. As if sensing her fear, Bernard Winter leaned in. “Do you know what they’re going to do to you?” he said, his voice close to a whisper now.

  “Take me to the fair? Buy me ice cream?” she said, trying to put on a brave face.

  “Why do I even need to tell you? You lived with them most of your life. You know what they’re capable of.”

  She knew very well. They would beat her most likely. Then they would lock her in the Closet, a small cupboard like space where they put children who had misbehaved. They would leave them in there for days at a time. Based on the level of her transgression, she imagined she would be in there for months, if not longer. People only left the orphanage when the Sisters deemed it time. She had left before they granted permission and it didn’t matter how old she was, they would make sure she would suffer the consequences.

  Now it was her turn to lean in close, her face a foot from his. “What are you going to do if I say no?”

  Bernard Winter locked eyes with her for a moment, the intensity of his gaze almost enough to push hers away, but she held firm. Then, without warning, he relaxed back into his chair. “I’ll simply have to force him to come with me, while you go with the Sisters.”

  “What if I convinced him,” she said, trying to find an angle she could work. “Would you let me go with him?”

  That’s when the man laughed, an empty hollow sound that echoed around the room. “Of course not. Do you think I’m not aware of who you are and where you come from? You come from nothing. You don’t even have a last name. You don’t belong with my son. Or anywhere near him for that matter. No. When the time comes, I’ll find a proper mate for him. One of breeding and standing.”

  She felt anger surge in her breast and her hands clench to the point where if she had her gun on her, she would have drawn and shot him between his eyes. “You’re a despicable man and Damion is nothing like you.”

  Bernard Winter smiled. “He may not be like me now. But some day he will be. I’ll make sure of that.”

  Right then and there she knew that she had do whatever she could to keep Damion away from this man, regardless of whether he was his father or not.

  “Okay.” She took a deep breath and made herself relax. “I’ll convince him.”

  “Really?” he said, no doubt surprised at her turnaround.

  “I’m never going back there” she said. “I’m never going back to them.” He was a man who was used to getting what he wanted and she was hoping that it would be that quality that would allow him to accept her sudden change of heart.

  “Alright. But don’t think you’re going to be able to maneuver your way out of this situation. This only ends one way. With Damion coming home.”

  She nodded, but inside she had only one thought: No way in hell.

  ***

  When they threw her back into her cell with Damion, she immediately went up and put her arms around him. He held her close and the position of her head against his chest allowed her to feel the savage beat of his heart beneath his breast.

  “What did they to you?” he said, his voice full of anger. She looked up, into his eyes.

  “Nothing. He did nothing.”

  “He?”

  She swallowed. “Your father.” She saw disbelief enter Damion’s eyes.

  “He’s here?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you talked to him?”

  “I did.”

  “Did he hurt you?” She felt Damion’s hands tighten around her body in a protective manner.

  “No. Like I said. He did nothing except talk.”

  “About what?”

  She took a deep breath, knowing she would need it before she said these next words. “He wants you to come home with him Damion.”

  The words seemed to melt Damion’s hard features and for a brief moment he looked like a lost child. His eyes had gotten bigger and there was a hopeful spark in them she had never seen before. It vanished as soon as it appeared and was replaced by bitter disbelief.

  “I don’t believe it,” he said.

  “I don’t think he was lying. He seemed…..sincere. For lack of a better word.”

  “Sincere,” he said with a laugh.

&n
bsp; “More or less. And Damion, there’s one more thing. He wanted me to convince you to go with him.”

  “He knows about our….”

  “Relationship. Yes, he does.”

  Damion took a step back from her, clearly attempting to wrap his mind around everything she had told him.

  “He wants to use you to get to me,” he said quietly.

  “It seems that way.”

  “That’s my father.” There was a silence that followed these words and then without warning Damion smashed his fist into the wall. Small chipped pieces of stone flew in all directions. Jane felt her breath quicken and couldn’t help but admit that she was a little turned on by his display of anger.

  “What are we going to do?” she said.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Well, we need to do some---”

  “I said I don’t know dammit!” The words were so forceful that they made her stumble back a few steps, almost as a protective measure. It was quiet for a few minutes and then Jane ventured another question. The one she had wanted to ask since she got back to the cell.

  “Damion.”

  “What?” He said softly, his eyes fixed on the ground.

  “Do you want to go with him?”

  He looked up at her. “Do I want to go with him?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you asking me if I want to go with a man who murdered one of his best friends and exiled his son for daring to speak up about it?”

  She felt a prickle of shame but forced it down. She needed to hear his answer to this. “Yes. That’s what I’m asking you” she said. They looked at one another for what seemed an indefinite stretch, as if time had suspended itself and the only thing that existed at the moment was her question and his potential answer.

  “No” he said at last. “I’m not going with him.”

  She felt a sigh of relief escape her and this time when they looked at one another, it was with warmth and longing.

  “So, what now?” she said, still feeling a little helpless, but at least like she was no longer in freefall.

  “I need to see my father,” Damion said.