Free Web NovelChapter 66: Chapter 66 Secrets and Schemes
_Author’s POV_
Gabriel registered for the race on Wednesday morning.
He did it through the official channel, under his full name and title, with his credentials attached and his ranking verified. He was not hiding anything. That was deliberate, Gabriel had decided that whatever else was happening around this competition, his participation would be clean and visible and above question.
He sat in his office afterward and looked at the confirmation on his screen.
His reasons for entering were straightforward enough when he kept them at the surface level. The race was important to the region. His presence gave it official weight. He was qualified and had competed before, years ago, when the event was last held in its full format.
Those were all true.
They were also not the whole truth, and he was self-aware enough to know the difference.
Russell, Gabriel’s right hand man appeared in the doorway. "Confirmation went through?"
"Yes."
"Good." Russ leaned against the frame. He was young, twenty-six, sharp, with an easy confidence of someone who had never yet encountered a situation that defeated him and therefore believed such
situations did not exist. "Is she entering?"
"She said registration opens tomorrow."
"Which means she’s entering," Russ said.
Gabriel said nothing.
"And she won’t use her real name," He continued.
"Because of Drake and the network."
"That’s my assumption."
"So you’ll be in a field of sixty-plus competitors trying to identify a disguised Rowena Ashthorne based on — what? Running style? General outline?"
"I know how she moves," Gabriel said.
Russ was quiet for a moment. "Right," he said. "Of course you do." He pushed off the doorframe. "For what it’s worth, I think you should just tell her."
"You."
"Are always right."
"You’re twenty-six," Gabriel said.
"Age doesn’t make the advice wrong." Russell shrugged. "She’s going to be in that race. You’re going to see her. Whatever you’re planning to say at some unspecified future moment when conditions are theoretically better, conditions are never going to be better than right now. She’s home, she’s herself again, and the only other men in serious contention are Kaelen, who she’s done with, Pierre, who is lovely but hasn’t moved fast enough, The King, who is the biggest character, and sixty strangers in athletic gear." He paused. "The window is not infinite."
Gabriel picked up his pen. "Thank you, Russell." freewebnøvel.coɱ
"I’m just....”
"Thank you, Russell."
Russell sighed and left.
Gabriel looked at the race confirmation on his screen for another moment.
Then he pulled up the terrain maps for the three-day route and got to work preparing.
Rowena told Gabriel she thought it was great that he was entering.
She said it over the phone, the morning after she had submitted her own registration under a name that was not hers, and she said it with the complete and genuine sincerity of someone who absolutely meant it and was simultaneously hiding something significant.
Gabriel was quiet for a second after she said it.
"You sound very supportive," he said.
"I am very supportive," she said. "The region needs this event. Your participation gives it the right kind of visibility."
"Right," he said, in the tone of someone filing information away.
"What?" she said.
"Nothing," he said. "Good luck with the recovery. Rest the ribs."
"I will," she said, and hung up before he could ask any follow-up questions.
She put the phone down and looked at Velvet, who was across the room pretending to fold things.
"He knows," Velvet said, without looking up.
"He suspects," Rowena corrected.
"Which is basically the same thing with Gabriel."
Rowena did not argue with that.
The disguise was coming along. Velvet had sourced the components. Hair, coloring, the specific physical adjustments that would hold up at movement speed and distance without restricting her too much. It was good work.
The ribs were the real problem.
She had been honest with herself about this in the quiet of the past two nights. Two weeks of actual rest was what the doctor had said. She had approximately eleven days before the race. Her condition might get worse.
Might was not the same as definitely.
She had decided to proceed on might.
Celeste found out on Thursday.
Not through Rowena, Rowena had not told her and had not planned to tell her until it was too late for the information to be acted upon. Celeste found out because Celeste had sources in the regional pack network that she maintained for business purposes and which occasionally delivered personally relevant information whether she asked for it or not.
She appeared in the study doorway at ten in the morning with her phone in her hand and an expression that had multiple layers to it.
"The race," she said.
Rowena looked up from her documents.
"You’ve registered, haven’t you?” Celeste asked.
"It’s open registration."
"Under a fake name. With a disguise in progress that Velvet has been assembling in the east storage room." Celeste came in and sat down. "Rowena."
"The Ashthorne name on that roster means something," Rowena said. "I’ve already explained this reasoning to Gabriel."
"Gabriel knowing doesn’t make it a good idea."
"Gabriel thinks it’s a bad idea and I’m doing it anyway," Rowena said. "Which is different from Gabriel knowing and approving."
Celeste looked at her for a long moment. Then she closed her eyes briefly, opened them, and pivoted, knowing she couldn’t win.
"Fine," she said. "Then we focus on the banquet preparation in parallel, because that is still happening and you are going to be present for at least the opening of it before you disappear into a three-day athletic competition in disguise."
"The banquet? What banquet?” Rowena asked confused.
"Your Nana organized it. It’s in two days." Celeste held her gaze. "You’re going to put on something appropriate and be present for the first hour and you’re going to be gracious about it even if you hate every candidate in the room."
Rowena looked at her, still confused.
"One hour," Celeste said. "Then you can go plan your race strategy."
"What’s it about?” Rowena asked.
“You’ll find out later.” Celeste stood, satisfied enough, and walked toward the door.
Alice was in the hallway.
She had been passing through, which was what she always claimed.
"I have a thought," Alice said, following Celeste into the corridor, "about the banquet candidate list."
"I’m sure you do," Celeste said.
"Kasper," Alice said.
Celeste stopped walking.
"Kasper and Rowena," Alice said. "They’re close. They understand each other. He’s the right age, the right standing, and he already loves her in his own way. The transition from.....”
"Kasper," Celeste said, slowly, "is her cousin."
"Not by blood," Alice said. "They grew up together and took on the title because they were close as children. There’s no actual relation. Biologically speaking.....”
"I’m going to stop you there," Celeste said. She turned to face Alice fully. "It doesn’t matter whether it’s blood or not. In this family, in this house, Kasper is her cousin. That is not a candidate conversation and it is never going to be a candidate conversation and I don’t want to hear it again." She kept her voice very calm, which was more frightening than if she had raised it. "Also, and I want to be clear about this, you don’t have a seat at the planning table for this banquet. You haven’t had one since I told you that what this family does has nothing to do with you. The fact that you’re still offering suggestions tells me that message didn’t land properly."
Alice pressed her lips together.
"Go back to your room," Celeste ordered and Alice begrudgingly obeyed.
Celeste stood in the corridor for a moment and breathed.
Then she went to find the banquet coordinator and spent two hours going through details that had nothing to do with Alice and everything to do with making sure the event was dignified and genuinely useful for Rowena and not a circus.
Alice’s room had a window that looked out over the garden.
She pulled out her phone and placed a call.
"The banquet is in two days," she said the moment the person on the other end answered. "The family expects it to be straightforward."
"And the race?" the person asked.
"Registered. She’s going in disguise." Alice kept her voice low and even. "The family doesn’t know the full extent of it yet. Gabriel suspects but doesn’t have confirmation."
"Drake needs more time," the person said. "Another week, maybe ten days, before the rebuilt network can move."
"The banquet creates noise," Alice said. "The race creates more. Between the two events, attention is distributed. That’s your window."
"You’re sure about the banquet layout?"
"I helped plan the original concept," Alice said. "I know the estate well enough. I’ll send details through the usual channel tonight."
The figure nodded. "And you? The treatment..... "
"Is being managed," Alice said. "Focus on the timeline. Ten days is enough if you move efficiently."
The call ended.
Alice closed the laptop.
Alice had played long games her entire life. She had made decisions that cost people everything and she had lived with those decisions because she had always understood herself to be the kind of person who survived by being willing to go further than anyone expected.
She was still that person.
She was also, for the first time in a long time, genuinely afraid.
Not of Rowena, exactly. Not of Celeste or Gabriel or even Alaric’s office. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
The banquet was in two days.
The race was in eleven.
Whatever she was going to accomplish, she needed to accomplish it soon.
