Noble Born (Half-Blood Chronicles #2) (The Half-Blood Chronicles) Read online

  Copyright © 2020 by Ivy Baum

  Cover by Deranged Doctor Designs

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, and events are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  48. Epilogue

  Source Born (Half-Blood Chronicles #3)

  About the Author

  Also By Ivy Baum

  Chapter 1

  I raised a hand to my eyes and squinted against the setting sun.

  Still nothing.

  Dry, scrubby land stretched in all directions, though it was now stained dark pink with the sunset. Distant foothills made shadows on the horizon.

  I was totally alone.

  I looked over my shoulder. But my ride was long gone—as she’d promised.

  Going back was not an option.

  I shifted the backpack on my shoulders, trying not to notice how much lighter it had gotten as my water supply dwindled.

  I thought about the phone—my one lifeline. If I used it now, it would all be over. The plan would fail before it had begun.

  But if everything went well, I would forget about that phone for a long time.

  It probably doesn’t get any reception out here, anyway.

  I shivered as the first evening breeze grazed my sunburned shoulders. How long had I been walking?

  A few hours, at least. The sun had still been high in the sky when I was dropped off.

  Now it was getting dark.

  These days, you couldn’t turn on the television without some story of how dangerous it was out there. Roving gangs of miscreants and thugs…

  I nearly laughed aloud. Those were the people I was looking for.

  As the last of the light bled from the sky, the thoughts I’d tried to keep at bay started creeping in.

  Maybe my contact had lied. Maybe she’d sent me out here to die, and I was going to walk until I dropped of dehydration.

  If that were true, she could have just left you in that jail cell.

  Something appeared on the horizon.

  At first I thought it was another foothill. But as the shadow grew more solid, I saw that it was too angular to be anything but man-made.

  The compound. It has to be.

  For the first time in hours, I picked up the pace.

  But my heart was also starting to pound.

  A tall stucco fence surrounded the place. No way I was going to get past that—unless I was invited. Beyond it, I could just make out the tops of several modern, flat-roofed buildings.

  Headquarters West. HQ West, my contact had called it.

  A place the authorities were looking for.

  There was a gate—closed, of course. I approached it and counted at least four security cameras.

  I stepped into view of the cameras. One of them swiveled toward me.

  Last chance.

  Once I went through those gates, I would be at their mercy.

  You don’t have any other choice.

  I waved at the security camera. If they ignored me—if they turned me away—

  No. I wasn’t going to think about that.

  I heard a soft hum. The gate began to open.

  Behind it was a man dressed in desert camo.

  Of course. I bet Lucan raided the Army Surplus store.

  He looked older than a lot of the other Blood Right guys—which was to say that he didn’t look like some kid fresh out of high school. No tattoo in sight.

  He scowled. “If you’re looking for that fancy yoga retreat, it’s about twenty miles that way.”

  No time to beat around the bush. “I’m here to join Blood Right.”

  “How’d you find this place?”

  “A woman who does business with you. From Outlaw City.” I gave her name.

  “She told you we were accepting recruits?”

  He obviously didn’t recognize me. Well, that could be good—or very, very bad.

  I shrugged and muttered something noncommittal.

  I hoped he didn’t ask for proof of my magic. Lately, it had been even less reliable. If he asked for a demonstration, I was liable to blow something up.

  Or do absolutely nothing. Which would be worse.

  Two men appeared behind him.

  One of them gave me a hard look. “Who is she?”

  The first guy repeated my story. “Says she wants to join Blood Right.”

  His friend scowled. “New half-bloods don’t just show up at our door.”

  My stomach tightened. “I came from Pax—the Capitol, I mean.” Somehow, the new name still hadn’t caught on. “But I’m done with them. I want to join Blood Right.”

  The men exchanged a look.

  “A half-blood from the Capitol? Yeah, I’ve heard of you. You’re the traitor.”

  It’s now or never.

  “Please. Just let me talk to Lucan.”

  Two of the men looked blank at this. But the new guy, the one who seemed to be in charge, looked surprised.

  He said, “She’s talking about Tacitus. That’s his pureblood name.” He studied me with greater interest. “You know Lucan?”

  I nodded. “If I could just talk to him—”

  Just like that, negotiations were over.

  He jerked his head. “Fine, come inside. We’ll decide what to do with you after that.”

  The men moved to either side of me. One grabbed my arm. The other was close enough for me to smell some truly horrible aftershave.

  “Let’s go.”

  I was jerked forward, pulled through the gate.

  “So I can talk to Lucan?”

  The head guard chuckled. “You think the mighty Tacitus sits around in the desert with his thumb up his ass?”

  “He’s not here?”

  He smiled nastily
. “Don’t worry, he left Badger in charge. We’ll see if he takes a liking to you.”

  I wanted to run.

  But this was my last chance. I had to make it work.

  The gate closed behind me.

  Chapter 2

  Three weeks earlier

  The Council room was cold again.

  Even in the ridiculous layers of the ceremonial robe, I was shivering. My fingertips were numb.

  Did no one else notice it? I shifted in my seat, peering down the line of men in their own voluminous robes.

  Ten men sat at the long stone table. Halfway down, one of the seats was empty. My eyes slid over it without stopping.

  No longer a Council of Elders. It had been renamed the Council of Pax. The members were quite a bit younger than Atameus’s men. But how much had really changed?

  I shrank back in my chair. Could I fit a fleece sweatshirt under this thing?

  Tyrus had told me that I didn’t have to wear the robe. But I could only imagine the reaction if I walked in wearing one of Syd’s pairs of designer jeans and scandalous—by Aristoi standards—shirts.

  At least you wouldn’t be invisible.

  “House Karpathos,” Tyrus was saying. “I believe you have an update?”

  House Karpathos, head of the Security Committee, leaned forward. With his sleek dark hair and flashing eyes, Kynan was much easier on the eyes than his uncle had been. But the old head of House Karpathos hadn’t survived Lucan’s assault on the Capitol.

  Kynan smiled. He’d been a nobody in House Karpathos—buried under generations of elders who were still alive, and in line ahead of him.

  “More of the same. Blood Right continues to make themselves unpopular with acts of vandalism and the occasional violent outburst. But incidents are on the decline.”

  “So things are improving,” Tyrus ventured.

  “Unfortunately, no. While Blood Right’s activities have slowed, we have a new problem.” His gaze flickered, almost imperceptibly, to me. “The half-blood Dens.”

  Across the table, silver-haired old Witterick frowned. “The Dens? I thought we did away with them when Atameus was in charge.”

  There was an awkward silence. No one looked at me.

  Witterick was the only one in the room who might qualify as an “Elder.” He was one of the few Assembly members left after the Battle of Knossos.

  Tyrus said he lent credibility to the Council. Not everyone at Pax is on the vanguard of the revolution, Kestrel. Some simply survived the assault on the Capitol and have nowhere else to go.

  Elihu looked like he wanted to roll his eyes. “Maybe they were just in hiding. I mean, can you blame them?”

  Kynan cleared his throat. “Now there are more of them than ever. And many of them make no attempt to keep a low profile.”

  It made sense—sort of. Some of Lucan’s men had abandoned Blood Right after it was revealed that Tacitus was, in fact, a pureblood. And maybe not so revolutionary after all.

  But not all the Dens were new. Some of them had been around much longer than that. They were the ones who’d gone deep underground during the years of the Hunters.

  I got most of my Den news from Junie, and it wasn’t always accurate. But I knew more than most of the men sitting at the conference table.

  Kynan said, “The Dens aren’t as aggressive as the Blood Right cells. But they bring a certain lawless element to the cities they inhabit. The humans are starting to take note.”

  Tyrus raised his eyebrows. “Have we heard from any of the sources inside human law enforcement or government?”

  “No one’s talking.”

  “Caught?”

  Kynan smiled faintly. “More likely they don’t see us as a legitimate successor to the old Council.”

  Typical. Kynan took every opportunity to undermine Tyrus and the new Council of Pax.

  Tyrus smiled stiffly. “Well, I suppose that when it comes to humans, no news is good news—”

  “Actually, I did have another piece of news.” Kynan looked at me. “I imagine this might be of special interest to you, Kalanthe.”

  I restrained myself from rolling my eyes. I had told him he didn’t need to address me by my formal Aristoi name.

  But his next words made me forget all about that.

  “The missing members of Sanctuary have been found. Alive.”

  I stared. That was the last thing I’d expected.

  Locating the missing members of Sanctuary—the ones who hadn’t been cut down by Jax and his men during the invasion—had been my pet project almost since the first day I’d joined Tyrus’s government. I was sure they hadn’t just disappeared.

  Looking around, I saw that the expressions around the table ranged from mild surprise to outright boredom.

  Of course. I was the only one who’d really been interested in their fate.

  Tyrus was leaning forward. He, at least, pretended to be interested. “Well, don’t leave us in suspense.”

  “They’re alive and well. Somewhat isolated—but doing so of their own free will.”

  Tyrus frowned. “How—”

  “They allied with Lucan. And as far as I can tell, they’re still allied with him. My security team and I barely got away with our lives. I think it’s safe to say they have no interest in our…friendship.”

  My heart sank. This had been my pet project, and Tyrus had only pushed it onto the agenda because of me.

  This did not make him look good.

  Witterick gave a dismissive wave. “No bunch of half-bloods is ever going to ally with us.” He glanced in my direction, not quite apologetically.

  Which was a major step up from his usual habit of pretending I didn’t exist.

  Tyrus cleared his throat. “I believe the Council on Magic Blood Relations has some good news to report.” He seemed eager to leave the subject behind.

  Still smarting from the bad news, I only half-listened as Elihu began to talk.

  He had been tasked with the near-impossible job of reaching out to the Strongholds—the secretive pureblood clans who lived outside North America.

  So far, they’d wanted nothing to do with us. Which was probably why the job had been given to Elihu. He was someone who wouldn’t have been allowed to so much as mop the floor in here—before the old Capitol had fallen.

  But his words caught me by surprise.

  “The Kotek Stronghold has agreed to a meeting. They’re coming to Pax.”

  The meeting room was abuzz. I looked around, excited in spite of myself.

  This was big news.

  Sol had called the Strongholds backwaters. Even the old Capitol hadn’t had much interaction with them. Privately, though, Tyrus had insisted that they were important.

  Politically symbolic, he’d called them. The fact that none of the Strongholds had acknowledged Pax as a legitimate Aristoi government was a particular thorn in Tyrus’s side.

  But it appeared that things were changing.

  Elihu said, “They’re leaving in the next few days. But it, uh, might take a little while for them to get here.”

  Kynan snorted. “They’re going to have a challenge passing for normal. I’ll bet they don’t exactly get out much. And the way things are now…”

  Around the table, Council members nodded. Things in the outside world were tense, and security had grown tighter.

  I hadn’t left Pax for more than an afternoon since I’d gotten here eight months ago. I tried to make trips to the outside world as few times as possible.

  But this was good news. It could be our chance to finally ally with someone. And if the Kotek Stronghold allied with us, others might follow…

  The conversation had picked up again, buoyed by a new sense of purpose. When I thought I could get a word in edgewise, I piped up.

  “Do you think they’d be interested in working on some sort of joint security venture? We could set up remote communication—”

  I stopped. Everyone was looking at me. Tyrus had a funny sort of expression on
his face.

  Elihu glanced at Tyrus, then at me. “Actually, that’s something else we need to discuss.”

  But he didn’t look happy to do it.

  Kynan shot him an impatient look, then told me, “You’re not going to be at the meeting.”

  “What?”

  “You can’t be at the meeting with the Stronghold. In fact, it would probably be best if you kept a low profile during their visit.”

  I frowned. “You mean hide?”

  He gave a sort of shrug.

  “But…I’m part of the Council. I’m the Diplomatic Liaison. I should be there.” I looked to Tyrus. He would be on my side—

  But Tyrus was shaking his head, looking apologetic. “Given the delicate nature of the meeting, and how skittish they’re going to be…well, it’s probably best if we present a traditional face.”

  Witterick said, “We can’t afford to have this go poorly. The Capitol is dying, and we all know it. We’re losing people every day.”

  In the silence that followed, people actively avoided looking at the empty chair—the one where Dr. Sotheby should have been sitting.

  Elihu caught my eye. “Sorry, Kes. They’re old-school.”

  My cheeks felt like they were on fire. I found myself blinking rapidly.

  Tyrus said gently, “The remainder of the meeting is going to be about the Stronghold visit. There’s no need for you to sit in on all the tedious details.”

  For a moment I simply sat there.

  Then it hit me—I was being dismissed.

  I started to gather my things, my numb fingers fumbling over the notebook I’d brought.