“Send her to a facility if you don’t want me to kill her.” Arayik’s voice is controlled again. “Riverton, since it’s the closest. We will report that we discovered her true identity and are just following protocol, then they can deal with her.”
“And if they find out she has power?” Elias asks.
Arayik shrugs. “Not our problem anymore.”
“It would become our problem very quickly,” I point out. “They’d want to know how we missed it, why we didn’t say anything considering it’s part of our training. They’d investigate our entire operation.”
“Then what?” Arayik’s hands wave through the air. “What’s your brilliant solution, Kel? Keep her here and pretend nothing happened? Hope she doesn’t kill us all in our sleep?”
I consider this. The logical part of my mind agrees with my hotheaded friend—the safest course for us is to eliminate her. But there’s something I can’t quite name that rebels against the logic.
Maybe it’s the way she fought during training, never giving up despite being severely outmatched. Maybe it’s the intelligence I saw in her eyes, the quick thinking that kept her alive and undetected for weeks. Or maybe it’s something simpler—that I need to know more about her story before deciding whether her life should be ended or not.
“We talk to her.” Yes, this is the right step. “We find out who she is, why she’s here, what she wants. Then we make an informed decision.”
“And if she refuses to talk?”
“Then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Arayik shakes his head. “This is a mistake. A huge, potentially fatal mistake.”
“Maybe,” I acknowledge. “But it’s the right thing to do.”
Shit, I shouldn’t have said that. He’s still too worked up. “Since when dowedecide what the right thingis? We’re Enforcers. We follow orders to maintain order—we don’t question whether they’re right or not, we just do it.”
“Maybe it’s time we started to,” Elias mutters under his breath.
Arayik’s expression cycles through a dozen emotions. Finally, he settles on empty calm—the Commander has taken control.
“Fine,” he says. “Talk to her. Waste your time trying to understand the mind of a traitor. But when this blows up in our faces—and it will—don’t expect me to go down with you.”
He makes for the door, pausing with a hand on the handle. “And don’t expect me to keep quiet about this forever. I have my loyalties and oaths. If I decide you’ve become a threat to the Syndicate….”
He doesn’t finish the sentence. He doesn’t need to.
The door closes behind him with a soft click, leaving Elias and me alone in the suffocating quiet of the underground room.
“Well,” Elias starts after a moment. “That went better than expected.”
I almost smile at that. “Did it?”
“He didn’t try to kill us. I’m counting that as a win.”
I sit once more, suddenly exhausted. The weight of what we’re contemplating settles on my shoulders—just something else too heavy to carry.
“What do you think she’ll tell us?”
Elias considers it for a long moment, staring at his wringing hands. “I think she’ll tell us things we don’t want to hear. Maybe things that will create questions.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“No,” he says honestly. “But I think it’s necessary.”
I nod once. He’s right, of course. Whatever comfort we might find in ignorance, it’s a luxury I’ve nevercared for.
“Well, we should talk to her soon. Before Arayik changes his mind and decides to take matters into his own hands.”
“You think he would?”
