Page 6 of Shadow Master
I turned to the cadets. “Gather all the dead that you can find and take them to the back of the ruins. Make barracks four, five, and six your bases. Watch the posts and repair if needed. Aidan, Devon, and Lloyd, set up a control base at six. I need to contact the Nightwatch Council, but I’ll be back soon, and we can honor our dead.” I met Lloyd’s gaze, my mind on Carlo, on the nightblood who’d been such a huge part of my life here. Pain twisted in my gut. “We’ll need to notify families once we have things under control here. We’ll need to set up communication between barracks six and the Academy.”
“We’re on it,” Lloyd said.
“Justice, what the heck is going on?” Hyde looked from me to Lloyd and then to the gathered cadets.
I lifted my fist and unfurled my palm to show him the seal.
Hyde blinked at the pin, and slowly raised his gaze to lock with mine.
“You heard the Shadow Master,” Lloyd said. “Move out.”
Hyde broke eye contact and looked up the rise. His mouth parted in shock. I followed his gaze to see Harmon’s monolith figure silhouetted against the sun.
“What the fuck is that?” Hyde said softly. But he hadn’t drawn his sword. He hadn’t moved into an attack or defensive stance.
“You know, Hyde. I think you know.”
* * *
Harmon had wantedto come with us, but I’d shut him down. It would be hard enough dealing with the Nightwatch and the students as it was; bringing Harmon with us would just raise more questions and require more detailed explanations. Talk we didn’t have time for. Hyde, however, was another story.
There had been no leaving him behind.
He jogged at my side, across sector one of the mist and toward the Academy. I’d expected him to argue with me by now. To try and take the responsibility of Shadow Master from me; heck, a part of me wanted him to. He was a shadow knight, the last one left standing. He was a legend, and he could probably do this job in his sleep. But he didn’t ask, and I didn’t offer. Henrich had passed this to me, and I needed to honor him and the knights by doing this role justice.
As we jogged toward the Academy, I filled him in on what had happened. The trial, the dead cadets, the green fog, and the fomorian with the violet eyes. I filled him in on Carlo’s death and what had happened to Brady. My voice grew choked here, but I forged on, giving him all the details that I could recall.
“Theytookhim?” Hyde sounded reflective. “Why would they take him?”
“They said he was special somehow. That he was their salvation and that his blood was power. Apparently, they used Harmon to create a beacon that would lead them to salvation. They’re the ones who turned Harmon into…into what he’s become.”
He was silent for a long beat. “They wanted Brady all along. Harmon and Venrick were test subjects…”
“Yes, but I’m getting Brady back.”
Hyde glanced at me.
I set my jaw. “Once we have things under control here, I’m going after him.”
“Then I’ll come with you.”
We were on Academy grounds now with the mist behind us. I stopped and looked up at him. The idea of him coming with me was like a safety net, like a hug of reassurance. But it couldn’t happen for more than one reason. I gave him the most obvious, the easiest one first.
“You need to stay here. You need to take over the knights while I’m gone.”
“Like fuck,” Hyde snapped. He was looming over me now. His eyes, more green than blue, blazed at me like an angry ocean on the brink of a storm. “Lloyd can be your second. I’m not letting you go into enemy territory alone. In fact, I’m never letting you out of my sight again, you got that?”
His words lit a fire inside me. They were words I’d been wanting to hear for so long. But it was the wrong time. I’d lost too much to risk losing him too, and even though our world had been turned upside down, the laws still stood.
Orion’s law. One that would get him killed if he didn’t back off. There was no way around it but to give it to him straight.
I lifted my chin and glared at him. “Deana’s dead, you know that, right?”
He exhaled sharply. “What? She told me she would be arriving after the festivities. She… She wasn’t supposed to be at the fortress.” He wrapped an arm around his waist and tucked in his chin. “Oh, God, Deana. This is my fault. All my fault. If I hadn’t brought her here. If I hadn’t…”
“Used her?” I finished for him. “You’re right, this is your fault. She was only here because you invited her. You used her to act as a buffer between us, and it got her killed.” They were harsh words, but he needed to hear the truth. “She knew it, though. She knew what she was getting into with you, but she didn’t care. She just wanted to keep you alive because she loved you. So, you need to stop. You understand me. You need to honor her sacrifice and stop. You can’t petition Orion. You can’t pursue me. Because if you do, youwilldie, and Deana will have given her life for nothing.”
“Indigo…”
