I wasn’t sure of anything anymore.
Vektor fixed his shirt with his top lip pulled back in an angry sneer. He cleared his throat and kept his eyes firmly set on Onyx.“I have it on good authority that Desert Roseland is working with the Stormriders,” he said without preamble, daring a glance at me.
“What could the Stormriders possibly gain from the use of our humans?” Onyx asked in a voice that slithered across my skin.
My sector was working with the Stormriders? But why?
Vektor shifted, trying again to steal another glance at me, but Onyx’s snarl stopped him dead in his tracks. “As you already know, they train their females to gather intel and fight. Call themselves Rebels, or something as equally trite. For reasons I’m sure you understand, these females have access to our dragons in ways no one else does. There are whispers that one, maybe several, have infiltrated the castle to turn our dragons against one another. Their objective is disruption, and we think one may have been sent to you, our leaders.” His last statement was said directly to me, and I couldn’t breathe. “Had you not put me off for over two weeks, I would’ve warned you sooner,” he added, every word dripping with accusation.
My entire life unraveled over the course of his statement. Our mission was exactly that, detail for detail. But to be supposedly working with demons? And they already knew about Rebels? How was that possible?
Maybe his information was wrong. Maybe Jona and the other leaders made it seem like we were working with another dragon faction to sow trouble. But if they had, he’d sentenced every Rebel here to death the minute he spread rumors about it. They’d be looking at anyone who came out of my sector.
Fear quickly dissolved my carefully practiced calm.
I’d told Onyx which sector I was from in hopes of making myself vulnerable. And I had, because I was definitely vulnerable now. If he hadn’t suspected me before, he’d be stupid not to after this.
I was as good as dead.
Swallowing, I gripped my hands tighter, steeling my nerves and counting my breaths. I needed to stay calm. Fear wouldn’t help me. The fact of the matter was, I’d come here to die. It was never going to end any other way. I was never meant to survive to see the conclusion of my efforts. But I’d always thought I’d do more. I thought I might be of more use to the cause.
The reality that my mere presence was enough and whispers from our group would do the job for me didn’t sit right with me. It felt wrong. Off. Something about all of this wasn’t adding up.
Why send so many of us, why put me here, if all they planned to do was start rumors before I had time to do anything of value? The bud of doubt that’d grown since Iris told me about what she knew was impossible to ignore.
If everything I learned about my sector was true, why had Jona and the other leaders not already found out about the allotments? Why never tell us about them? Surely that wasn’t something they’d missed if it was enacted over a hundred years ago. Unless Iris was lying, but my gut told me she wasn’t.
We regularly gathered intel on the gangs. There was no way one of the girls missed that. Some were mistresses of high-level members. They’d surely know. So why was it never mentioned?
Had they wanted us to think the worst of demons?
My gut was telling me all of this was suspicious, but I wasn’t likely to live long enough to figure out why, because Vektor’s information had signed and sealed my death warrant.
Chapter 11
Breathe.
I lifted my chin and turned my head, braving a glance at my executioner, but he wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were homed in on Vektor.
“Funny, that. I don’t remember ever owing you or anyone else an explanation for how or why I do things,” Onyx leaned forward, the air heavy with his power.
Vektor visibly swallowed. “Of course not, my Liege. I only wished to inform you—”
Onyx clicked his tongue in agitation. “Save me the torture of your stuttering excuses. Boris doesn’t deserve to be left with mopping up your drool afterward.”
Boris hid a smile behind his hand, eyes sparkling with amusement. Vektor, for his part, lifted his chin and went silent.
“No one from Desert Roseland has been delivered here, but I’ll follow up on it for other parts of our territory. You’re dismissed if that’s all you’ve come here to say,” Onyx said, his statement hitting with the power of an electric shock.
Did he just lie? For me? Why?
Boris stole a glance at us, but one look from Onyx silenced him. The scarred demon dropped his eyes to the floor. Vektor stood for a minute longer, clearly unhappy with his abrupt dismissal, but then the arrogant demon bowed and left.
When he was gone, Boris spoke up for the first time, “Your human—”
“Was brought from Mountain Bridge. I confirmed it myself,” Onyx hissed, daring the warrior to challenge him on it.
Boris closed his mouth, confused again. “She was? The Tribute collectors who brought her here—”
