Page 46 of Ashes of Honor

“Truth? Shit just kind of fell in place.” The sun peeked through a patch of clouds behind Hunter’s head. “Abridged version ain’t gonna hold your interest the same but here I go. We come from a group of travelers out in Transient Nation. A few months ago we received a warning from a passerby and her family, said trouble was coming and to pick a side. Not too long after, my father pushed into the city we were staying in. He was unaware of … my presence. They wanted us bad. Did anything they could to capture us.”

“Chased,” Serenity interjected, adding to Hunter’s story. A gust of salt-tinged wind blew her curls in front of her face.

“Hunted,” Caleb corrected, casting her a hard look.

Hunter nodded, a shadow passing over his expression. “Our community’s a bit different from most, but we are, in fact, someone you want on your side.”

I raised a brow and bowed my head slightly. “You’ve got our attention. Take your time getting it out.”

Hunter’s expression darkened, his glare cutting over to Caleb, a silent message passing between them that said,she’s going to be difficult.He turned back to me, voice rough with warning. “There’s a tremendous amount of power among us. Now, I’m not gonna go into the specifics with you—not yet. Not without grounds to trust you. All you need to know is we possess the amount of power Ronan wants. Since he can’t get it, he wants us gone. Without control over us, we are a threat, and son or not, my father doesn’tdothreats.”

“Does he know it’s you he’s after? Because he told me to kill you.” I paused, letting the weight of the words settle. “Had your brother suggest it first, actually.”

I zeroed in on Hunter. An unflinching stare did wonders on men. It made them squirm, stirred their nerves until they gave themselves away. A fidget. A hand to the neck. The swipe of an imaginary strand of hair. I waited. Watching.

“There’s no way Seth would’ve made that offer if he knew,” Reina said. Pleading his case, though it seemed to burned her tongue. To see the best in him, defend him, once more. “They may not have seen eye to eye all the time but Hunter was everything to him.”

Hunter’s head snapped up, his eyes clouded with something raw, almost wounded, as they fixed on her. “What offer?” he asked, his voice barely a whisper in the wind, a glint of sorrow darkening his sea storm gaze.

“The one to keep our autonomy if we take you out instead?” I regarded him carefully, taking my time before stepping forward. Alexiares trailed at my heels, not eager to put distance between us when the hair on the back of our necks still warned of potential danger. “You don’t know?”

All three of them shook their heads. Either they’d solidified their stories before ambushing us or they were telling the truth.

“Then why the hell are you here?” Abel bit out.

“The camps?” Caleb said, his voice laced with confusion. “We have power but not enough people to dismantle it all. That’s why we need your military.”

I narrowed my eyes, taken aback. The soft, humid breeze blew my curls wild around my face. “We know about the camps but how is that a priority and why does Ronan care?”

“It’s not a priority to you that people are locked in cages and worked until they collapse?” Hunter’s eyes became an angry storm.

“It’s notnota priority,” Abel reasoned, but the lack of conviction in his tone gave us away. “There’s a lot going on man. One thing at a time.”

“We have a lot to tackle and it’s hard when you’re being babysat in every meeting,” I added. My gaze flicked to Abel. We already knew about the camps—Tomoe made sure of that when she ran her mouth about Lilia’s vision before we left. But knowing and acting weren’t the same. Not when we had fires everywhere and only so much water to put them out.

“Let me guess? Emissaries?” Serenity questioned with a sarcastic scoff. I peered around Hunter to stare her down. She met me with a startling smile, pointing toward herself. “One of Ronan’s best and brightest.”

“You’re a woman,” Alexiares deadpanned, as though Jessa didn’t exist. Which to all but Reina, she didn’t.

“Scientist works nice.” She winked. “Former. I made serums in his labs until I realized what he was using them for.”

“You’re aTinkerer?” Reina put two and two together from Tomoe’s original vision. The woman working with the test tubes and Ronan hovering in the background. They’d been faceless.

“The conscious mind makes up only about 5 percent of our brain activity at any given time,” Serenity explained. “Ever wonder what would happen if that number hit fifty?”

We watched in awe as she lifted our weapons from the green and brown grass beneath our feet. No gust of wind, no shift in the earth—just pure force, bending metal and machinery to her will. I’d never seen anything like it. Elemental wielders shaped the world around them, but this? This was different. No air, no earth—just power, raw and unseen … until now.

“Cool,” Reina muttered in fascination.

“Those camps are full of magic. Low levels for the mundane energy efforts he needs to keep the lights on in Covert’s cities. People like Serenity and some of the others we travel with, that’sthe kind he wants to either militarize and experiment on. I can’t let that happen, so yes, camps are a priority.”

“It’s inhumane what happens there.” Caleb shuddered at Hunter’s words. “No one should go through that.”

I tilted my head, the outcome of us working together making me excited in a morbidly sick way. “What if we didn’t stop there though? What if we destroyed everything he’s ever touched?”

“Then I would say I’m interested in hearing what else you got to say.” Hunter’s face lit up.

There was a warm familiarity to Hunter. The making of him essentially the best parts of Seth and all of Reina. It made me miss Seth. The brother I’d come to know and love. Then the anger of his betrayal took over. What if they were the same in that aspect too?

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