“He left for South Harbor this morning and should be there by now.”
My father studies me for a moment, his gray eyes scrutinizing. We share the same eye color, but there’s also a coldness, a hardness in his that we both possess. “Getting McKenzie there is only half the battle,” he says. “Keeping him there is going to be more of a problem.”
I remain silent. Every sentence, every word is a strategic move in a game of chess I’ve been forced to play. One wrong choice leads to more than a lost pawn.
“Does he have anything we can use to persuade him to fall in line?” he asks.
Delilah.
Her face appears in my mind, her green eyes sparkling with emotion and her lips tilted in a smile. For an instant, I forget myself and my surroundings, and the threat directly in front of me.
The very thought of her ruins me.
My chest tightens, and I steel my facial expression, keeping it impassive. I force myself to erase all memory of Delilah in this moment with practiced mental discipline learned from years of self-preservation. Anything good in my life is considered a threat to my father. And he’ll eliminate it.
Or worse, force me to do so.
“Keeping him in line won’t be a problem,” I say, choosing my words with care. “He has nothing holding him back.”
“So, no girlfriend?”
I don’t know if they’re together, but it doesn’t matter. They won’t stay that way. I may not be able to kill Benjamin to keep him from Delilah. However, there are other ways to accomplish that.
As far as any other man… I have no restrictions.
When my father forced me to learn various forms of self-defense along with fighting techniques, I’m certain he didn’tthink I’d use them for a girl. To be fair, neither did I. Delilah is the one thing in my life I didn’t see coming.
But I can’t unsee her.
And I don’t want to.
“After having watched him for several days, I didn’t see any evidence of a relationship,” I say.
“Hmm.” My father strokes his chin in thought. “It doesn’t matter. There are other ways to keep people in line. Stay close to him and figure out what his weaknesses are and how to exploit them. Obtaining leverage on the McKenzie heir is your sole purpose now.”
I nod. “I understand.”
“I hope so.”
“Anything else?” I ask, ignoring the insult. “I have to be on campus for the pledging ceremony.”
My father leans back in his chair. “That’s just for show. The real initiation will begin soon,recruit.”
I’m no longer talking to Edward Donovan. Before me sits one of the three council members of the Obsidian Order. A guild of assassins.
“The Order.”
“The Order,” he repeats with emphasis. “We’re sworn to secrecy, but I have prepared you for this moment your entire life.”
His words echo with a history of family traditions, a legacy built on manipulation, violence, and power. I stare at the man I closely resemble, unable to escape my destiny any more than I can change my DNA. My birth was for this very purpose: to serve a secret society that I know almost nothing about but must dedicate my life to.
Until death.
More binding than a marriage, and more demanding as well.
His gaze sharpens, the gray like honed steel. “Don’tembarrass me, son.”
I give him a curt nod. The gravity of an unknown situation, weighed down with expectations, wraps around my neck like a noose. The impending danger causes it to tighten, as does my father’s silent warning.
