“How bad is it?” she asks. “The bounty. Don’t sugarcoat it.”
I plate the first pancake and slide it onto the counter for her. “High enough that we assume there will be people looking. Not just locals. People willing to travel.”
“Because we interfered?”
“Because we made them look weak,” I say. “And because someone in their hierarchy flagged us as more than just anuisance. Dean thinks they’ve got a list of names that piss them off enough to warrant… action.”
“We’re on that list,” she says.
“Yeah.”
She picks at the edge of the pancake, thoughtful. Then, quieter: “Is this the part where you tell me you regret letting me in?”
I set the pan aside and turn to face her.
She’s looking at the batter, not me.
“No,” I say.
She glances up, surprised.
“I regret that you’re in danger,” I clarify. “I regret that they saw your face. That pisses me off more than I can articulate. But letting you in?” I shake my head. “That was inevitable. You were already here, Lark. This just made it official.”
Something loosens in her shoulders.
“Good,” she says softly. “Because I’d hate to have to blackmail you into keeping me.”
I huff out a laugh. She keeps surprising me. “You’d do it, too.”
“Obviously.”
She takes a bite of pancake. Her eyes go wide. “Wait. This is… good.”
I blink. “Of course it’s good.”
“No, like—actually good. Like, if we survive this, you could get a side hustle at a brunch place.”
“Yeah,” I deadpan. “That’s my dream. Retire from vigilante work and open a pancake food truck.”
She points her fork at me. “You’re joking, but I would absolutely eat at that food truck.”
I make my own plate, pour more batter into the pan to keep my hands busy.
It would be easy to pretend this is normal.
Two people in a cabin, making breakfast, trading banter.
If I didn’t know what was waiting on the other side of this quiet?—
Faces in the dark.
Numbers next to our names.
Cathedral’s attention.
“So what’s the plan?” she asks between bites. “For today. Besides achieving pancake supremacy.”
“Today, we rest,” I say. “We keep our heads down. We let Dean and the others punch holes in Cathedral’s systems and find out who posted us. Then, once we have a name, we figure out how to make them regret it.”
