Page 33 of Ashes of Honor

It dawned on me then, that they weren’t escorted here by one of the guards. “How’d you get them in here?”

Elie scratched her head. “The slide.”

A soft, incredulous sound escaped Alexiares, somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. “Real reckless of you, Elie. It could be a trap.”

“Paranoid much? He’s six.”

“I forgot, in your sheltering, you never learned the lesson about live bait.” It wasn’t sarcasm. In fact, he was so serious that I fought to maintain my composure. The horror on Emma and Elie’s face as he explained his suspicions might have been more effective than any lecture I could have offered. “Leaving behind the innocent. Humans and empathy are so predictable that anyone with a sense of safety is bound to offer help. You follow them back to the source and then boom, take ‘em down. Nothing too complicated of an effort. If their defenses are shitty enough, you usually hit before they even know you’re there.”

Red crept up Alexiares’s neck and warmed his cheeks. He glanced down, having said far more than intended. I knew this. He had spoken about his work many times. Some stories more shameful than others, nevertheless, important lessons toward maintaining our defenses. The girls however, had their jaws on the floor.

“They can stay here one night,” I said, clearing the air. “In the morning they’re off to Ms. Schuller’s to await placement. Compound Hall is backed up. It’ll take a few days. She’s sweet, they’ll be fine there. Abel checks on her Thursday’s anyway, she was his foster placement before Riley. I’ll send a message to take them with him in the morning. In the meantime, they look tired and cold. Maybe get them cleaned up?”

Elie’s attention fell behind me. She nodded slowly then made her way over to them. Casey responded to her touch with a slight wince. They’d need to stop by The Infirmary in the morningfirst and foremost. The slosh of water came from the bathing chamber in the center of our quarters. Elie glanced back at Alexiares in silent thanks for the magical assist before ushering the kids inside, the door closing behind her.

“I’m not so sure putting them with some random person just to pass ‘em to the next is the best idea,” Emma said with utmost confidence. We both turned, surprised she hadn’t disappeared the moment Elie did.

“Uh—”

“I watched my mom die,” she continued. “Right in front of me, same as these kids. Do you know what that’s like?” Those sad, lost eyes brimmed with tears before she blinked them away. Emma never cried. Ever. Not even when her father did.

“Yeah,” Alexiares replied with a hint of sympathy. “Actually, I do, kid.”

“If I didn’t have my dad or Aunt Moe, I’d probably be a feral child too. Those kids need a person to be their person. Can’t they stay here?”

“Emma,” I sighed. I didn’t say fuck the kids, they weren’t my problem. I certainly could have, but I didn’t. I’d offered the best alternative I’d had in my pocket. “I don’t think that’s the best option for them either. This isn’t what I’d call a stable household.”

“Elie lives here. Doesn’t that make you her parents?”

I locked eyes with Alexiares. A thousand unspoken thoughts passed between us—uncertainty. A shit ton of doubt. The question we hadn’t dared ask out loud.What did that mean for us? What did it make us? Me and him?Our silence hung heavy. Simply put, the answer was far too complex.

My Bloodhound broke the tension, his voice as gentle as I’d ever heard it be. Resigned. “No, it doesn’t. And even if it did, I think it’s clear we’re not doing a great job.”

“Well, don’t you know someone that can do a good job?” she asked, hopeful of a different outcome that I could not provide. Not under the current Compound circumstances. “Someone you can ask that you trust?”

I shook my head, uncertainty once again knocking me off-kilter. With the influx of people and parentless children, Ms. Schullerwascalling in a favor. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“If we didn’t save em, someone else could have and it would really suck if that someone was Covert. Right? Even I know that’s worser. You leave them out there like that—if Alexi is right—that there’s people out there to get us, then one day, they might grow up to become the next bad guy.”

And with that, Emma was out the door.

I groaned, turning to Alexiares and leaned into him, “We aren’t dead.”

He kissed the top of my head. “No, we are not, Princess.” His voice was steady. Reassuring.

“Rebuilding this place, it’s not impossible. If I can get Ronan out the way, I still see that little glimmer at the end of the tunnel.”

“Should I even ask how long this tunnel is?” Alexiares grinned, his teasing lightening the air from the shitshow this night had turned into.

“Long as shit but the lights still there.” I laughed, a manic edge creeping into my voice as the sound erupted from my chest. Elie and Emma, as determined as they were, made their point. “Sometimes it’s hard to remember that but damn is it fueling.”

Amaia

“What’s up loser,” I said as I pressed the door open to Riley’s new humble abode.

He peered up at me with a grin as I let my air magic close the door behind me. “Paperwork before we go.”

“Aw, poor baby. Maybe your girlfriend can wrap it up since she has so much to say about how I run things.”

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