Page 148 of Ashes of Honor

“Won’t see you again if you don’t shut up and come on.”

Pansies. But of course. How original, Ronan.

The massacre thickened around us—healers cut down mid-motion, their bodies crumpling into heaps. This wasn’t chaos. It was a purge. We burst through the fog into a clearing near the edges of camp, the ground ahead now sloped downward into a pit crawling with them. A trap.

I yanked Finley back as she stepped near the edge, her foot pushing crumbling dirt into the open earth.

“Relax sweetheart. I’ve got it.” She winked as she pulled a small device from her belt, a sphere that spun every which way, a million cylindrical pieces forming it.

“Finley—”

“Oh my God, stop flapping your damn mouth,” she interrupted, bringing a finger to her lips. “Trust me, will ya?”

The device hummed in her hand. A pulse shivered through the air, tickling the edges of my brain. It went deep into my chest, rattling against my ribcage. The Pansies froze in place, their jerking limbs now still—stuck in invisible flames.

Finley glanced at me, that cocky smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth as she watched the monsters below, perfectly still now, their guttural growls gone. “You think this is impressive? Stick around and wait to see what happens when it wears off.”

I gritted my teeth. “How long have you been able to do this?”

She winked, smirk growing wider. “Not long.”

I shot her a cold stare that made her pause for a second. Her expression tempered, but she didn’t flinch. “Can we do this later, babe? We’re in the middle of a beautiful escape plan, and I’ve never tested the thing. Don’t know how much time we’ve got.”

“Fine.” I made my choice before she could say another word. I grabbed her arm, yanking her toward the edge.

“Move slow. It’s still a prototype—can’t handle too much jostling,” she said, taking even, steady steps. One foot in front of the other.

I didn’t answer. Didn’t trust myself to speak without telling her exactly what I thought—about this plan, abouther, about the years she’d spent tearing me down every time I attempted to build myself up after Tiago’s death. My focus stayed on the ground in front of us, avoiding the twitching Pansies mere inches away. Looking at her would only make me volatile.

“So,” Finley murmured, like this was small talk over coffee instead of us surrounded by Pansies. “How’s life in Monterey?”

I kept my head forward. “I’m not doing this with you.”

Her chuckle was odd—soft. Full of amused curiosity. “Really, I always wondered how you and Little Miss Perfect live.”

Jealousy was one of her stronger traits.Shecould do as she pleased. At least that’s how she’d always seen things. But me? Never. Another woman even looking my way ended upin punishment for us both. My punishments, however, lasted longer than whatever strike Finley offered them. I lived with her. There was no limit to where the cruelty born from jealousy could touch.

I tightened my grip on my weapon. Every word she said pulled memories to the surface, ones I’d spent years trying to bury. The disorder she reveled in, the pain she’d left behind, the way she’d torn me down simply to see if she could.

“That place would eat you alive,” I said, and it was true. Monterey wasn’t built for people like Finley. It wasn’t about being ruthless; it was about knowing when to change, when to bend.

Finley didn’t bend—she broke things. It was why she thrived in war and why she’d never survive peace.

“Oh, come on,” she pressed, her tone mocking. “Let me guess. Marriage? House? Kid on the way?”

My jaw tightened. She wasn’t far off, and she knew it. If I gave her anything, she’d twist it, use it. That was her nature.

“You know what I miss about you the most?” I asked, enthralled by the way she perked up—still expecting the lost dog to come home.

She spared a glance at me, a small glimpse of faint hope as we weaved between the entranced reeking dead. “Let me guess—fucking?”

“Nope.” I didn’t spare her a second thought as I answered, nostrils flaring in disgust. Letting the suspense build, I paused, waiting until the other side of the pit was in clear view. “I miss the look on your face when you realized I was leaving and had no plans to come back.”

The silence that followed was louder than the animalistic groans of the Pansies around us. I’d wounded her. This was her routine. She expected me to care, to apologize, but I refused. I wasn’t here to indulge her. Whether she helped us in this waror not, the day she died would be a day that couldn’t come soon enough.

We were so close to freedom, the end within reach, when the world erupted behind us. The frantic pounding of boots on the ground, the sharp, ragged breaths of men running for their lives. They barreled into the clearing, their shouts dissolving into a pandemonium of panic. By the time they realized the trap, it was too late. Bodies hit the earth with a sickening thud as they fell into the pit below.

The impact caused the earth to slide, the pit resettling to adjust to the disturbance. It knocked Finley off-kilter, the device falling from her hand. She retrieved it before it could roll away, but the sound warped, flickered, and then died entirely. The pulse in my head had stopped, and the air was still.

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