Prologue
Sylis
We weren't Righteous.
That was the thought spiraling through my mind. I'd always known something felt wrong, but I'd assumed it was me - right up until the Phoenix had attacked me without hesitation. Not that I blamed her, but that one act?
It proved all of this was a lie.
We weren't righteous. Women weren't weak. The world wasn't burning. Meat was people. Maybe not our sort of people, but I'd heard the Wyvern speak - intwolanguages! Granted, I could only assume the other words he'd used were some sort of language. Ayla had understood him, so it had to be. And now, my thoughts refused to settle.
After my arm had been sewn up last night, I'd finally retreated to my own room. There, the silence and solitude had felt like a floodgate opening, and now I couldn't make it stop. All the little things I'd noticed in my life had finally piled up enough that I could no longer ignore them - and it all came down to the same thing.
I was not one of the heroes.
We were raised to believe we'd save humanity from the Devil's clutches. Onlyouractions could put people back on the surface of Earth. Onlyourfaith could repel the evil which had taken over. Those were the lines they used to control us, but the reality? All this time, I'd been one of the evil ones. I'd helped make this Hell possible. I was miserable because every single thing I knew was designed to keep the elders in control. That meant the rest of us had to suffer so they could thrive.
Heading through the long and winding halls of the compound, my mind kept going back to the conversations I'd had with Tobias Warren. Everyone said he was a lummox, but he wasn't. That man was smartandkind. He smiled so easily. He'd also saved me.
First by throwing himself over me to shield me from the grenade. After that, he'd made it clear I had to prove myself to Ayla, but now? I was pretty sure I had. I had the feeling I'd passed some kind of test. The man had even asked me to pick flowers with him. Yes, they were for his intended, but we'd scoured the grasses together, making sure we had enough. It was one of those memories I would hang on to. The sort that kept me from wanting to end it all.
Now, all I had to do was get the code for the door. That should be enough to prove I deserved his friendship, because once we had it, he could pass it to Ayla. I wouldn't get it today, of course, since it wouldn't be an easy thing to get. It seemed the leadership guarded that knowledge carefully. Still, I should be getting a promotion, since men with more rank than me had died, and that? It should get us access for the door. The challenge would be playing my part well enough to convince the leader of the hunters I deserved this.
All too soon, I reached the door to the hunter's lounge. Stepping in, I braced for the inspection by the other men. Sureenough, at least five looked over, judging me before turning back to the maps and books laid out before them.
"Is Mr. Peterson in?" I asked.
"Ah, Mr. Underhill," the man said, stepping forward. "How can I help you?"
I had to push my shoulders back. It would make me appear more confident. "Sir, many of us were decimated. Of my team, only three of us made it back."
"Out of six?" Mr. Peterson lifted a brow. "That's better than most."
I nodded, accepting that for the praise it was. "Much of it was luck, I'm sad to say. Tobias kept me from being destroyed by a grenade." And I lifted my bandaged arm. "I repaid him by fighting back the Phoenix when the possessed fiend tried to stab him in the back. We were able to recover some meat, though."
"Yes," Mr. Peterson agreed. "And Harald has already talked to me about the battle."
My chest clenched. Harald was the other man on my team who'd survived. He'd seen me chase Tobias into the forest. He must've, because we'd been right beside him when we'd taken off. So what had he told Mr. Peterson?
"It was chaos," I mumbled.
"Sounds like it was," Mr. Peterson said. "But I'll be moving Harald to another team. His experience will allow him to lead the new boys who'll be joining us soon enough."
"Oh." Okay, that didn't make sense. "Mr. Peterson, I thought he'd be taking the leadership of my team."
"Why's that?"
My heart was now racing. My skin had turned clammy. The way this man was looking at me made it clear he had to know something. Something that could be very bad for me, but if I didn't know it, I couldn't make an excuse for it. The best I could do was be honest.
"I know much of the leadership was lost," I admitted after a pause that was a little too long. "Sir, I should be veteran enough to be moved up to a squad leader now."
"Youwant to lead a squad?" Mr. Peterson huffed, sounding like he was fighting the urge to laugh.
"Yes, sir," I assured him. "As a squad leader, my prospects among the women go up greatly."
Because it always came back to securing an attractive wife. I knew that. It was all the hunters talked about. Having an appealing woman would make living with her easier to tolerate. It would make breeding with her enjoyable - or so they claimed.
Mr. Peterson simply chuckled at my answer. "Sylis, becoming a squad leader isn't about attracting a wife. We need our most tactical and devoted men in those positions. I choose based on results, not the amount of times you've gone above ground."
