If only I couldproveit. If only I had more than tiny slips of his thoughts, puzzle pieces that point to a terrible, but incomplete picture. Has he ever been the one to clamp a collar around one of the test subjects’ necks? I shiver at the thought.
“Tell them, Miss Rose,” Ian says from a few rows ahead of me.
I steel myself, squaring my shoulders. I know I can’t trust Cadigan, but if the resistance can help us find the facility, we could free all of those suffering omegas.
“Andrew Radcliffe took a concerning interest in me last year. He also sought out my father’s permission to bid on one of my mating contracts. We began courting this summer, and I found out that our future mating was contingent on him showing results on his part of Project Halcyon. I didn’t know what that was for the longest time, then Radcliffe took me to a secret facility nearby. What I know now should scare everyone in this room. Radcliffe Industries, together with Rose Pharmaceuticals, is building an army of omega mages, many of whom have affinities.”
“That’s a bold claim,” Cadigan says mildly. “Do you have proof that such a facility exists?”
I force myself to soldier onward. “He took me and my sister Willow to the facility last Saturday.”
“And where is this facility?” the alpha who opened the meeting asks gently.
I shake my head. “I don’t know. We were in the back of a limo with blacked-out windows. My phone and tracker pendant were taken from me. It’s on the mainland somewhere within an hour of here. We’ve been searching through various means and haven’t found it yet.”
“We thought we might find it if we draw on the resistance’s wealth of resources,” Cassian adds, setting a hand on my knee. “The facility is likely obscured by magical means and through the geography of the area. There are thousands of acres of untouched forest that could hide a facility like this. We’re exhausting our own methods of searching, but if anyone has any ideas for finding something like this, we’re open to them.”
“And just what can we expect from this facility?” the alpha woman who’d called me ‘the Rose omega’ asks.
I press my lips together and take a deep breath, gathering my thoughts. I tell them about everything I saw: the guards and the scientists, the affinitied omegas trapped in rows of cells, the abhorrent metal collars locked around their throats. I tell them only what I could glean with my own eyes and ears; I don’t dare tell them what I heard with my affinity. I don’t tell them of the trauma and turmoil I felt from the omegas on the other side of the glass, how it was enough to exhaust my affinity and drain my magic. How their screams fell silent when my magic flickered out.
“This is deeply concerning,” Sienna says in a soft voice that holds the attention of the entire room. “I can only imagine what those behind Project Halcyon would do with an army like Miss Rose describes.”
“They want to round up omegas and throw them into camps. And they want to use omegas with affinities to do it.”
“And what would a young woman like yourself know about affinities?” Cadigan asks, quirking an eyebrow.
“Only what I’ve seen in the Radcliffe Industries laboratories and what I’ve overheard from my older sister,” I challenge, meeting his eyes for the first time.
I know he wants to discredit me and everything I’ve said, to make the rest of the mages in the room doubt me. Alphas have been denying what I’ve seen, what I’ve known to be true, since my designation revealed. Saints, my own father watched the gruesome scene at the Lunar Ball and denied my statement that Trinity had acted under duress, discrediting me as a hysterical omega, blinded by her own trauma. I won’t let this traitor do it to me, too.
“Enough to know that affinities aren’t a myth,” I press on, my words hard. I spit them out like the poisonous barbs they are, the heinous truths that fester in the dark where the Soldiers meet, that are shared over handshakes as deals are made in private studies. “What I know of affinities shouldn’t be a concern; whatHalcyonknows about affinities should be. Everyone I know thought they were myths, and while we were ignorant, while we were denying such things even existed, Halcyon was building an army of omegas with affinities to enslave my kind.”
“You’re clearly too close to the matter,” Cadigan says quietly. “You’re overcome with emotion.”
Hysterical. It goes unsaid, but the insinuation trickles through the room like smoke.
How dare he? Howdarethis traitor do what so many alphas have done to me for years?
I shove up from the pew, the oppressive attention of all the assembled resistance members weighing on me. It’s a palpable pressure that threatens to bow my shoulders and make me bare my neck, but I stand tall. “Close to the matter? Professor, I wasattackedby the Soldiers of Saint Aldous on my first day at Fairhaven. People in this room, people who tried to defend me during that very attack and free me from an omega trap—a hex banned hundreds of years ago—were hexed with magic so dark it can’t be fully undone. Saints above, I’mbetrothedto one of the very monsters who attacked me that day. Of course, I’m close to the matter. Call me an emotional omega if you wish—saints know it wouldn’t be the first or even the hundredth time someone has—but don’t presume it colors my judgment. Don’t presume that it makes me any less dedicated to bringing down the Soldiers, to destroying Project Halcyon.”
I fix my stony stare on my traitorous Casting professor. “There are evil forces actively trying to eradicate my kind. I have every right to be emotional about that. Saints,everyoneshould be emotional about that! I vowed to bring Andrew Radcliffe and my father down before I even knew of the resistance’s existence. If I have to do it on my own, by the saints, I will.”
The room is so silent, so still, that I can hear the wind howling in the trees beyond the old church’s thick stone walls. My pulse rushes in my ears and I want to cower. I want to duck away from the weight of the attention that curls my shoulders, that wants to grind me down and keep me quiet, but I don’t. I can’t be quiet any longer.
“She won’t be alone,” Cassian says, rising to stand at my side. He takes my hand, hidden by the pews, and squeezes it, his touch saying more than words ever could. He’ll fight by my side for as long as our dangerous times allow. He’ll fall for me, just as he fell when the Soldiers attacked on my first day at Fairhaven. My white knight, my protector, the alpha who loves me still.
“Nor should she be,” he goes on, meeting the eyes of every resistance member in the room. “This facility represents the greatest threat to omegas we’ve seen so far. Not only are they building weapons—saints-forsakencollars—they’re building an army. Finding this facility should be a foremost priority for the resistance.”
Just like that, Cassian draws the attention away from me, guiding the conversation back to finding the facility. “We’ve been using magical technology to search for the facility. We believed it’s concealed using mage tech, so this is our attempt to fight fire with fire. Thus far, our search has been fruitless. Radcliffe Industries’ mage tech is state of the art, and I’m absolutely certain they’re using the best mage tech they have to protect this facility. Project Halcyon’s plans hinge on what’s happening inside those walls. Any public knowledge of such a facility would be enough to sink Radcliffe Industries, dealing a significant blow to Halcyon. Simon, would you walk us through your search so far?”
Simon grabs his laptop as Cassian and I take our seats, then launches into a description of his methods. I stew in my seat, squeezing my hands into fists.
How dare Cadigan suggest I’m too emotional to be of help to the resistance? Saints, why am I even surprised? Alphas have always discredited omegas as emotional and flighty; it’s one of the most effective weapons in their arsenal, a tool they can reliably wield against us to keep us small. Cassian gently uncurls my clenched fist and laces his fingers with mine, and slowly, the tangle of rage in my gut unwinds. Still, my dark thoughts keep me preoccupied until the end of the meeting, but I miss very little. I’ve already heard the methods and parameters of Simon’s satellite search, how he’s now searching out the specific frequencies we know certain mage tech emits.
Ian catches my eye before ducking out of the old church with Cadigan, and I watch him go, wishing I’d been brave enough to tell him everything I’ve heard from his beloved, respected mentor with my affinity.
“Miss Rose, if I could have a moment of your time?” Graeme asks, hanging back as the rest of the resistance members filter out of the building. When only Simon, Cassian, Marcus, the detective, and I remain, he approaches me slowly. He looks around the church to make sure we’re alone and then says, “I suspect our resistance may have a mole. I had a plant in the prime minister’s office, but she went dark a week ago. She resurfaced just yesterday—imprisoned on charges of treason. She was investigating potential ties between the Office of the Prime Minister and the Soldiers of Saint Aldous. No one knew of her assignment but the people you met this evening.”
