Page 120 of Echoes of War

“I do,” I murmured.

Alexiares smiled at me. “Okay,” hesaid simply.

My brows pinched at how easy it was to convince him. “Okay?”

“Yeah,” he replied, “okay. Now what?”

I leaned across the desk, placing a gentle kiss on his lips, licking mine after. “Now you finish this tattoo and tell me what’s bothering you.”

His eyes glimmered, searching across my face. He frowned, picking the needle back up. After a few punctured breaths, he spoke. “There was a time that you painted me as the villain in your story.” Alexiares kept his head low. “And maybe I should have let you. It’s true, you know. I’m not a good person, Amaia. You can’t heal me, and you can’t fix me?—”

I cut him off, not liking where this was headed, “Riley already told me, Alexiares. You don’t need to defend what happened in that room. Nothing you did was wrong—you did what was asked of you. You both did. That death is on me. It punctures my soul, not yours.” Placing my free hand over his heart, the cold dog tag around his neck chilling my palm. I moved it up to his chin, forcing him to meet my stare.

“I don’t know what Riley told you, but it can’t be all of it if you still look at me like … that. Everything that happened in that room reflects on me, not you.”

There was a heart-breaking amount of shame in his face, and I hated myself for it. I was no better than Finley for asking him to do my dirty work. He’d bared his soul to me, told me how much it pained him to partake in the actions of his past, and what did I do the first chance that arose? Lead him right back to it.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I should have never asked you to be a weapon at my disposal. I’ll never ask you to be that again, never force you to be what you are not. You are not the man Finley knew, Alexiares. You are strong, you are caring, and you are mine.”

He didn’t look up from tattooing again. As much as it hurt my heart, I wouldn’t press the issue. But I heard the rattled sigh heoffered, and I could only hope that meant he accepted my apology. I glanced down at the new ink added to my arm. It was complete, though it didn’t fill the void deep inside that had compelled me to get it in the first place.

Alexiares grumbled to himself, pushing the kit and bloody cloth from wiping the ooze from the area away. Startled, I jumped back in surprise. Large hands grabbed me by the waist, lifting my shirt. His fingers grazed under the band of my pants, hovering over the now healed cut on my right hip that spelled out his name. Something about the pride lighting his eyes as he took it in let me know that he more than forgave me.

His lips parted, ready to speak when a timid knock sounded at my door. I rose to my feet, fixing my clothes, ready to greet whoever it was. “Come in.”

Alexiares retreated to the couch. To anyone who didn’t know him, he’d appear poised, relaxed. But I knew better than that. He was a snake ready to strike at any moment.

“General,” one of my officers greeted, ducking her head in respect, eyes drifting to Alexiares behind her. “There’s news from Elko you need to see.”

My hand reached out, noticing the folded paper in her hand. “What is it?” I asked, offering her a seat at my desk.

She took it, her eyes meeting mine with unrelenting fierceness. I smiled to myself, making note of the strength in her posture. It was nice to see after my prolonged absence, Riley had done well in keeping our people motivated.

“Elko has fallen,” she answered, waiting for my reaction.

Shit. I opened the letter, the last words from Garcia scribbled across the paper, a smear of blood lay at the bottom of it.

“What is it?” Alexiares asked, striding over to take it from my grasp.

The soldier’s strong facade faltered as he neared her, an instinctual recoil of danger driving her to react. She recoveredquickly, holding her head high. “That is confidential information, General, requested for your eyes only,” she spat. There was no malice in her voice, only the tone of a soldier intent on following their orders.

“It’s okay,” I waved her off. “Alexiares will soon have the clearance to know what I know.”

She shifted her weight, uneasy, but conceded, awaiting my next command.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.This was bad, this was really fucking bad. Thebrujashadn’t made it here yet and Moe had barely recovered in time to make a dent in our soldiers. The ones she had worked on hadn’t had a chance to train, let alone discover what their new powers were capable of. There was no way we could take the brunt of a full-fledged attack and make it out alive.

“Give the order for Operation Midnight Veil.”

Her face paled, eyes widening. “Ma’am? Operation Midnight Veil is?—”

“I know what it is,” I interrupted, “and my orders remain the same. Go, now.”

The soldier gave me a grim smile, nodding her head before scurrying out the door.

“What’s Operation Midnight Veil?” Alexiares asked.

I took a deep sigh, trying to steady myself even though I wanted to do nothing else other than pass the fuck out. The last thirty-six hours had been fucking exhausting, and it didn’t appear that I’d be getting rest anytime soon.

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