Page 13 of Shadow Warrior
Four
Istood outside Henrich’s office, pulse racing with nerves.
“Are you sure about this?” Brady said. “Making demands of Henrich is not a good idea.”
He was right. I knew that, but Harmon was my friend. I needed to do this. “I’ll be polite and respectful. I promise.”
He arched a brow.
I sighed. “I can be polite and respectful, you know.”
His expression was deathly serious. “The fortress isn’t the Academy. Henrich is bound by no rules but his own. Even the council has little say over how the Shadow Master runs the show. The council knows they need the knights more than the knights need them. Do you understand?”
He was warning me that my smart mouth could get me into serious shit if I employed it on Henrich. But I’d talked my way in and out of plenty of hairy situations to know when to curb my curses and sarcasm.
“I got this. I promise.”
I knocked on the door.
“Enter,” Henrich called out.
Taking a deep breath, I pushed open the door.
Henrich looked up from behind an impressively large desk. Overcompensation for something methinks. But I pressed my lips together and stood up straight.
“What can I do for you, cadet?”
“I wanted to know when Harmon would be released.”
His mouth parted, and then his face shifted to an expression of sympathy. “Ah, yes, you were friends, is that correct?”
Was? Needles of ice pricked my skin. “Sir?”
His shoulders rose and fell. “I’m afraid your friend didn’t survive the vetting process.”
Didn’t survive? Had I heard him right? No. That couldn’t be right. “What?”
Henrich steepled his fingers. “He died last night. It’s a blessing. He was compromised. If he hadn’t died, we would have been forced to end his life.”
The look of pity on his face was pure fabrication. He didn’t care, he didn’t give a fucking damn. The world went still and silent, and then a buzzing filled my head. A red haze descended over my vision, and then my body was hurtling across the room over his desk, and my hands closed around his throat.
I squeezed. Die.
His eyes bugged, and satisfaction surged through my veins, but in the next instant, I was being hauled off the Shadow Master. A scream of pure rage ripped from my throat.
“Enough!” Brady pinned me against him. “Enough.” His tone softened. “She’s distraught. Not thinking straight …”
“Attacking a superior officer is a dischargeable offense,” Henrich said.
The bastard, the fucking bastard. “Do it.” My voice was a harsh command. “I’m sure everyone would love to know how a Shadow Master took credit for a cadet’s work. How he lied to his knights and got his favored knights to lie for him too, and how he killed an innocent cadet.”
Henrich’s face contorted in anger. “You think anyone will believe a cadet’s word over a Shadow Master’s?”
Tension rippled through Brady’s body. “No, but they might believe the word of a troop of second years and the principal of the Academy.”
Henrich’s gaze flicked to Brady. “Stonewall?”
“I appreciate how hard it is to do what you do,” Brady said. “How you rely on the confidence of your knights. You want them to look up to you. I get it. But taking credit for destroying the virus was low, and if you take any adverse action against Justice, I’ll personally ensure the truth comes out.”
