Page 19 of Inferno

“Great.” Ember crossed her arms. “I was nervous enough with Lieutenant Ward coming along. But if his whole squad is like Matthews…”

I nodded. “We’re going to have to be extra vigilant, and make sure the soldiers of the Eastern Chapterhouse don’t put the mission at risk.” How we were going to do that, I wasn’t exactly certain, but I did know that I wouldn’t let Matthews or any of his soldiers hurt the dragons we were trying to save. “We need to inform Riley and the others, let them know the situation,” I went on. “Matthews hates dragons as much as Ward does. If he and Riley ever get into it, it’ll be bad.”

She sighed. “Yeah. I’ll go find Riley and warn him about Commander Jackass. Where will you be?”

“I should join Tristan and Lieutenant Martin.” They would be in Martin’s office now, with the weapon we’d stolen.The dragon killer.I wanted to know more about it, if it was really as potent as Martin believed. If it could really take down a dragon with one shot. And if it could, what that would mean for us, both dragons and St. George, in the future.

* * *

Martin’s office door was locked when I got there, and the murmuring voices I heard through the room stopped instantly when I knocked. “Who is it?” came Martin’s gruff voice through the wood.

“Sebastian, sir.”

“Hang on.”

The locks clicked, and the door swung open to reveal Tristan’s unsmiling face on the other side. Martin stood behind his desk, looking grim, the weapon case open in front of him. I stepped through the frame, and Tristan locked the door behind me.

“Sebastian.” Martin nodded as I joined Tristan at the edge of the desk. “St. Anthony has given me the details regarding the heist. He says there were two soldiers of the United States Army that saw the dragons before you could escape.”

I nodded. “Yes, sir. It was unfortunate, but unavoidable. If Ember and Riley hadn’t showed up when they did, we’d either be dead or captured.”

Martin’s jaw tightened. “I doubt the eyewitness accounts will be taken seriously, even if the soldiers themselves believe what they saw. Still, it is concerning.” He frowned, folding his arms to his chest. “One of the main purposes of St. George is to ensure that the general public know nothing of the existence of dragons. If we are to start working with these rogues, we must be more cautious.” His eyes narrowed. “Especially now that Lieutenant Ward is here.”

“Yes, sir.” I understood Martin’s concern. Ward would take any excuse not to cooperate with us, to insist that working with dragons was not only immoral, it was dangerous. “But the dragons don’t want to be discovered, either, sir,” I added. “These rogues in particular have had plenty of experience keeping their heads down and off Talon’s radar. They understand it’s for the best that no one knows they exist.”

Martin nodded. “But you managed to get the weapon,” he said, gazing down at the open case on his desk, where the long length of the barrel glinted under the dim light. “Well done.”

Tristan edged forward, unable to keep the eagerness from his voice as he stared at the weapon. “Can this thing really one-shot a dragon?” he asked, sounding like he’d give anything to try it out. I frowned at his enthusiasm.

“We won’t know until it’s tested,” Martin replied. “It is a prototype, after all. All we have right now is theory.” Reaching out, he closed the case with a snap, making Tristan slump in disappointment. Martin smiled faintly. “Put it from your mind, St. Anthony,” he urged. “At this moment, we have larger issues to deal with.”

“Sir,” I ventured as Tristan gave the weapon case one last longing gaze. “How many from the Eastern Chapterhouse survived the attack?”

“A half dozen, including the lieutenant,” Martin replied, and I blinked in shock. Only six soldiers had made it through the Night of Fang and Fire. Six, out of what had been the largest St. George chapterhouse in the United States. I thought back to the attack on our own Chapterhouse a few weeks ago. It had been savage, violent and overwhelming, and even though we had prepared for it, we’d nearly been wiped out. Only the arrival of Ember and the rogues had been enough to turn the tide. Without them, it would have been a massacre.

“I’m counting on you both to help me keep the peace,” Martin said, glancing at Tristan, as well. “Sebastian, talk to your dragons. They should try to avoid any contact with the soldiers for now. St. Anthony, keep an eye on our men. I don’t want them getting into fights with Ward’s boys, nor do I want them listening to whatever rhetoric will be going around the barracks. We can’t fight a war with Talon if we’re constantly battling our own people.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And, Sebastian.” Martin looked at me. “You know you’re likely to be a target. From what I hear, a few of the men have already singled you out. But we’ll need every able body we can get for the upcoming war, so you are forbidden to put anyone in the infirmary unless it’s a matter of life or death, is that clear?”

I suppressed a wince, wondering if Martin knew Peter Matthews was here. I’d never told him about my old rival, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the lieutenant somehow knew of our history. “Yes, sir.”

“Good.” Martin looked down at the closed weapon case on his desk. “Because it appears that our next mission will be rescuing a colony of dragons in the middle of the ocean.”

RILEY

The next few days, things were tense. I went out of my way to avoid the soldiers, and I noticed Sebastian doing the same, particularly when the soldiers of the other chapterhouse were around. Ember stayed near me or St. George when she wasn’t in her room, and Wes ventured out only to use the bathroom across the hall.

And then there was Mist. Or, more accurately, the lack of her. I knew she was around; sometimes I’d catch a glimpse of her slipping out of a room, or hovering in a corner, watching and listening, while everyone talked. It worried me; she was an ex-Basilisk and shady as hell. If she was sending Talon vital information about us, we’d be dead before our little rescue operation ever got off the ground. But Mist was either too good to be caught, or she was just a naturally cautious person, because I never saw her in the act of something overtly suspicious.

One night, I was more restless than usual. I lay on the hard mattress, listening to Wes snore in the corner, the million thoughts swirling around my head making sleep impossible. Per normal, I wondered if my underground was all right; Wes had checked their status as soon as he’d woken up, and every couple hours thereafter until we went to sleep. They were fine for now, but they were still just kids and I worried for them constantly, hoping Jade could keep them safe while I wasn’t there.

I thought of Ember a lot, still feeling the ache of the severed life-mate bond deep inside. It wasn’t as sharp as before, where Cobalt had raged and mourned the loss of hisSallith’tahn, but it was still there. I’d buried it under work and planning, keeping myself deliberately busy so I wouldn’t have to think about it, but in the quiet hours of the night, it crept up again, reminding me of what I’d lost. Strangely enough, I didn’t hate the soldier for it. If Ember didn’t want him, there’d be nothing he could do to change her mind. But watching them together… Ember truly seemed content with her human, so who was I to interfere?

Ididthink she was being shortsighted and setting herself up for heartbreak; humans didn’t live very long compared to dragons, even if there wasn’t a war going on. Sixty years, eighty years; it was a heartbeat to us, the blink of an eye. Even if the soldier didn’t get his head blown off in the next year or so, he would eventually grow old, wither and die, as all humans did. And Ember would still have her whole life ahead of her like the rest of us. That was another reason dragons rarely formed attachments to humans; they just weren’t around very long. Even my friendship with Wes was a bit of an anomaly. I was sure that Jade or Mist didn’t have a best girlfriend that was human.

Mist.I shifted on the mattress, putting my hands under my head to stare at the ceiling. Mist had been on my mind a lot lately. Mostly because Iknewshe was up to something, and yet I could never pin her down long enough to prove it. Infuriating Basilisk. It was all the more aggravating because I should know her tricks; I had been doing this far longer than her. I knew she thought she was smarter than me; maybe this was a game to her, see how far she got before I finally caught on.

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