Page 37 of Ashes of Honor

“Tea for the road?” My voice dripped with innocence. I waved my empty canteen in the air. Malachai reached for it and poured the tea to the rim with an out of place desire to fulfill my request. Too eager.

“Careful now,” I said, smiling as I took it back from him, “wouldn’t want to spill.”

Malachai snatched me up from the chair, one hand on the back of my neck, the other slamming into Riley’s stomach. He shoved us outside the tent and blocked the entrance with his body.

“Safe travels,” I called out to Ronan now out of view as I brushed the dirt from my army green cargos.

Reinforcements swooped in and we took the hint. They escorted us to the edge of their encampment. Malachai’s eyes followed us until we were out of view and I offered him a mock salute.

“Why did you agree to that?” Riley walked as close to my side as he could, his voice low. I formed my own bout of wind, the opposite of the natural breeze, not wanting our whispers to be captured and delivered right out of earshot.

“Seth gave him everything.”

“What?” Riley whisper-yelled.

“The tea,” I said, motioning my hand down to lower his voice. “It’s poison. I took two sips and felt like I lost my shit. Reina and Moe said Seth was rambling nonsense before he … the last time they saw him.”

Riley teetered on the edge of turning around. It scared me, the thought of Riley and Ronan alone. Head-to-head. I doubted he’d fight fair, Malachai was all too eager to do his dirty work. I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.

He peered down at me.Together. That was our promise to each other. And I was right here with him, we were together, I was not harmed. I was okay. He exhaled slowly and gave a single nod. “You think he drugged his own son?” Riley asked.

“I think Ronan will do whatever he has to do to get what he wants. Including drug the person who loved him the most.” I tossed him the canteen as we crossed where the tree had previously been swarmed in vines. The bark lay bare before us. “Reina can test it but I’m sure of it. Who knows about the cavalry?”

Riley blinked twice in quick repetition. He’d made notes too. Contact had been made, initiated, we could go from there. “No one, just the others and Ramona.”

“Kill them.”

“General,” Riley said. It was a warning on the line I was crossing and confirmation that he would do as ordered. He only wanted to know why.

“Send your guys and kill them. That’s twenty right there that died along the way, for all he knows. Make it happen in another territory, preferably one he can’t retaliate against. Some place already in turmoil. It’ll buy us some time.” The words tumbled out of my mouth as the plan pieced itself together in my head.

Brutal, but necessary. I couldn’t save everyone, but I could stall. The ones loyal to us wouldn’t be the ones to suffer—thatwas all I could promise with the power I had left. “Then listen to the ground for anyone who remotely seems to sympathize with Seth. They’re to be questioned and shipped within the week.”

“Amaia,” Riley said, his voice cautious, prepared to talk me off a ledge.

“Yeah, Riley. I know.” I stopped pacing and met his gaze. “What choice do we have?”

He didn’t respond. His silence was answer enough. We both knew there weren’t any good options left. I hated this as much as he did, but our choice right now was morality versus mortality. One could be revived and the other could not.

“At least if he upholds our deal, the others won’t be experimented on. They won’t lose their lives, not like that.”

“And if he doesn’t?” Riley asked quietly, his eyes searching mine, searching for some sliver of hope.

I swallowed hard, the weight of it all sinking into my chest, as heavy as lead. “Better traitors than those 100 percent loyal.”

His jaw clenched, and for a moment, the air between us grew tense, a thread on the verge of snapping. But then he nodded, a slow, solemn acceptance. “Right.” His voice was steady, but I could hear the grief in it. He’d follow me through hell if I asked. I just wished I didn’t have to.

Alexiares

Ithink I was starting to hate this room. There wasn’t a single conversation that went on here that wasn’t based on fixing the problems of The Compound. The room was meant specifically for this, but that didn’t make me hate it any fucking less. I was never part of the whole politics thing over at St. Cloud. That kind of shit was left to Finley and Cael. Me? I was just the dog.

Here, at Monterey Compound though, I was more than that. Happy to be if it helped ease Amaia’s mind. But damn, were these long conversations draining. Empathy hit these people harder than crack on the streets in the eighties. My father hadclaimed it was a weakness. Finley ate away at whatever drop of it Tiago had managed to pass my way.

I cared about my family and keeping these people safe. So havingfeelingsabout what it took to get there was nonsensical. Two plus two would always equal four, no matter which way you went about it.

Sacrificing a few for the greater made sense. Especially traitors.

“The hero in our story is a villain in the next,” Amaia mumbled.

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