Page 16 of Wicked Enemy

“What are you—”

“Sterling,” Captain Smith began, his voice gentle. But there was a warning in his eyes as he shook his head at me. “Remember your—”

“No,” I interrupted. Taking a step away from the wall, I threw my arms out in frustration. “What are you talking about, Chief? Of course we need to warn her about this.”

“We will be doing no such thing.”

“But she’s a healer!”

“She’sLevi Arden’shealer.” His voice took on a sharp note, and impatience flashed in his eyes as he leveled a commanding stare on me. “And if this worldwalker kidnaps her from Arden, it will mean war between the two of them. And then all we need to do is to sit back and watch as the worldwalker destroys him. No one goes up against a worldwalker and wins. Not even the King of Metal.”

He was right about that. Worldwalking was an incredibly rare magical ability that let a person move between two different places in a matter of seconds. Since worldwalkers could just appear and disappear at any time and any place, they were incredibly lethal both on a battlefield and as assassins.

“But the healer doesn’t—” I began.

“Don’t you get it, Sterling? This is our chance to rectify your failures.” His words hit me like a blade. “So no, we will not intervene in this.”

“But—”

“That’s an order!”

Everyone in the room flinched at the harshness of his voice. Everyone except me. I felt only anger. Opening my mouth, I got ready to continue arguing. But then I caught sight of Ulric once again shaking his head at me in warning.

From across the room, Chief Anderson stared me down while his whole muscular body pulsed with authority.

I closed my mouth again and, with great effort, lowered my chin in submission. “Yes, sir.”

He continued staring me down for another few seconds, as if waiting to see if I dared to raise my head again. When he was satisfied that I wouldn’t, he turned back to the others.

“So, if you get reports of a worldwalker being spotted,” he began, “do not send out any patrols. Once he has kidnapped Arden’s healer, he should most likely leave Malgrave again without causing any other problems. And then Arden will hunt him down to get his precious healer back, and inevitably get killed. Win-win on all fronts. Understood?”

“Yes, sir,” everyone echoed.

“Good. Dismissed.”

Chairs scraped against the floor as all the Senior Constables rose to their feet. The rest of us waited until they had left before we filed out of the room as well.

As soon as we were outside in the hallway, I squeezed past the crowd and hurried to catch up to my mentor.

“Ulri—” I began to call before realizing that we were of course surrounded by people. Cutting myself off, I quickly changed it to, “Captain.”

He trailed to a halt and turned to face me while I jogged up to him.

“Could I have a word?” I finished.

Frank and Jamila and the others cast uncertain glances in my direction. They had started doing that ever since they left me to die in that watchtower while they escaped. It felt as if they wanted to apologize but at the same time couldn’t bring themselves to do it because they secretly blamed me for letting Levi escape not once, but twice now.

“Of course,” Ulric said.

Raising a hand, he motioned towards a room down the hall.

While the others scattered and returned to their own desks, I followed Ulric into the deserted room and closed the door behind us.

The moment we were out of earshot, I demanded, “You can’t agree with this, right?”

There was a helpless look in his kind brown eyes as he released a heavy sigh. “Look, kiddo, I know what you’re thinking…”

“Really?” I shook my head at him. “Because if you did, you would agree with me.”

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