“What about best friends?”
I huff a soft laugh.“Should I ask Julien?”
“Oh, he won’t admit it. He’s shy.”
I shake my head, hiding a smile behind my hair as I keep searching.
“How and where do you discuss the next search area?” I ask, not looking away from the map as I scan the farthest edges.
“Mostly like this, or mentally,” Ezekial explains, leaning over the table further. “Then we inform our Lead Commanders in the meeting room, who then distribute the mission to their enforcer units—they act immediately.”
I keep zooming in and out. “How many of these Lead Commanders are there?”
“Four in this district, two stayed in the Entertainment District with Delphine.”
At the new name, I look up at Ezekial.
“The other Council member,” he adds, and I instantly remember.
The empath who tried to keep me seated when I refused to sit by and watch Amelia be murdered. She’s also the only other empath I’ve ever met…
“She stayed there after the ambush at Purgatory,” Julien finishes.
Which is when I remember where Ezekial was during that time. In a room with me, about to lose himself to his darkness after he touched my mark…
I swallow, refocus. “And you trust all of these Lead Commanders?” I look at each of them.
They never trustedmethat easily. Especially…
My eyes fall on Kane, and he’s already staring back.
“We have ways of ensuring loyalty,” he simply says.
I hum, nodding. “Yes, coercion under duress works really well for loyalty.”
It’s meant to be serious—scathing, even—but somehow it rolls off my tongue like a joke. Too smooth. Too amused.
And did… did Kane’s lip just twitch?
Ezekial’s eyes dart to his brother before he adds, “They have served us for at least a decade, and they each underwent rigorous interviews before being promoted.”
“Interviews like mine?” I’m still looking at Kane, and I try again to sound serious, but it seems I can’t control my tone. “Truth serum, threats to torture and kill loved ones, things like that?”
Why am I smiling about this? It’s not funny. It wasn’t funny. So why the hell am I teasing him like it is?
“Not quite. But we may consider that for future promotions.” Then Kanesmiles.
He smiles.
It’s the fullest I think I’ve ever seen his lips stretch—top teeth showing—and my mind goes absolutely blank.
Goddesses.
When he smiles like that, his eyes glimmer like obsidian jewels, brilliant teeth stark against his caramel skin. He looks like another being when he smiles.
One I want to know.
Deeply.
