Page 34 of Ashes of Honor

“Amaia,” he warned, peering back down and signing the last of the documents before shoving them in the drawer. “I wish the two of you would stop.”

“And I wish I had a million dollars before the world fell apart, but none of that matters in hindsight, right?”

He cracked a smile then hid it away. Pushing his chair tight behind the desk, Riley grabbed his go bag off the floor and tossed it over his shoulder. “Let’s just go.”

I walked to the storage closet next to my old bedroom door and grabbed my sack. We were only to meet Ronan along the coast a few miles away, but you never knew when you’d need shit to survive. “Want to take a shot first?”

He glared at me and I tossed my hands in the air. “I’m joking. God, you’re grumpy today.”

Riley smacked my hand away as I pushed to my toes and pinched his cheeks. “And you’re in an oddly good mood.” He held the door open for me and I ducked under his arm, before making our way into The Pit and straight for North Gate.

“I decided to fake a positive attitude this morning as practice for being fake as hell with Ronan.”

“Great plan. Is that why you asked me to come with you instead of Alexi?”

I grimaced. “Yeah,” I said slowly. “He’s not exactly a ray of sunshine and I need Ronan as pliable as possible. He thinks I’mjust a girlwith a side of brains. If I bring Alexiares, then he’ll be on edge. He doesn’t know much about you other than what Seth told him.”

“Okay,” he confirmed with a grin. “I can do that.”

“And on the off chance that he gets a little handsy,” I said, giving him a well-practiced side-eye. “I need you to let him. I may be going in with a positive outlook, but this is the perfect opportunity to taunt him a bit, see where he bends. Play stupid a little.”

“Excuse me?” He came to an abrupt stop.

“Like I said.” I tugged him forward with his wrist. “I only care about him slipping up.”

“Maybe you should bring someone else,” he said, his discomfort evident.

“I brought you because you follow orders.” I slapped his shoulder with a smile. “The others don’t owe me that, they aren’t soldiers, and Alexiares does as he pleases when it comes to me. Can’t have that. Not today.”

Riley grumbled at my back and I hid my laugh. It would be good to spend this alone time with him. We did not get it often these days between our responsibilities and relationships. Even if it was only a short hike away, I’d relish this time to catch up.

The gates opened after the guards passed off different call signs, communicating that we had the all clear to do so both here and along the wall. There would be no surprises at Monterey Compound. Not on my watch.

I stopped a few feet ahead as Riley stopped to chat with the guards for a moment. His touch on gate duty was light these days. He had trusted men in place for that with his new role to take on, but he was as hands on as I was. Never would we ever really let things slide. We were hands on with every role we had. It was simply how we operated.

His approach was announced by two bees buzzing around my face. I hated bees. Would run in front of a moving bus to escape one. Swatting them away, I yelped and froze as they landed on my forehead.

“Riley,” I mumbled, too afraid to speak though I knew he had total control.

“Missed you, ya know?” he bellowed and walked on to the trail through our makeshift woods. “You have your time to torture me later, let me have this now.”

“Fair enough,” I said, not moving a muscle until the bees were far out of sight.

We trekked for five miles or so. Not too rushed in our steps, enjoying the conversation and slowness that being outside the walls gave us. I missed these simple moments. The ones I’d taken for granted many times before.

Our steps slowed in pace as we approached a collection of large tents off in the distance. We stopped for a moment, scanning the horizon and taking in our surroundings. Cliff on one side, Ronan on the other. I could see the soldiers stationed at various entry points of the camp. Somehow, they’d closed in behind us without our awareness. Riley’s head had been on a constant swivel despite our conversation. My attention was a laser even in the worst weather conditions in the dark. They hadn’t moved into position naturally—magic was at play.

Ronan had made it explicitly clear he had no intention of respecting our land. Hadn’t done anything but provided a time to meet. Thewhere, however, was relayed by my units patrolling our territory. Ronan had set up camp where he pleased, walked where he pleased, arrived when he pleased, and let my soldiers relay the rest. A show of power. Measuring his dick on my land.

As we stepped closer to the camp, the oddest thing caught my eye. A vine. Thick and dark green. It twined around a nearby tree, slithering up inch by inch, its movements slow but attention grabbing. Unnatural. Its leaves were jagged, unlike anything native to Monterey, and a soft shimmer danced across its surface.

“Did you just?—”

“Nope.”

“Right.”

Riley shifted closer and thumbed a leaf. His eyes closed, he took his time. Processing as though he were downloading information he didn’t already possess. He was feeling his magic, using it to identify what he already knew.

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