Daniel spared him an exasperated smile. “Hello, Isaac.”
“What’s there to meet about?” he asked.
Those golden brown eyes blinked at him in surprise. “You’re kidding, right? Two days ago this place was attacked. We’ve all barely had a moment’s rest since then. And Nate…”
Right. Nathan walked away with the demons—the demons who’d come to help the guild fight offotherdemons. It was a clusterfuck, really. Isaac didn’t know where he stood, and he wasn’t sure anyone really cared about his opinions, anyway. Sloan said all demons were bad, which meant the people like Nathan who sided with them were equally as bad. And Sloan’s word was law.
No matter Isaac’s opinion on the matter, Sloan would want to know what was said in this meeting, so he forced a nod.
“Okay. I’ll be there.” He didn’t really want to finish his eggs, anyway. He shoveled some into his mouth for appearance’s sake and gestured for Daniel to follow him to his feet. “Come on, let’s go.”
Daniel chuckled. “We could’ve waited for you to finish eating.”
“Nah, I wasn’t that hungry. Come on.” He dumped his food and left his plate at the return window, falling into step with Daniel.
The library was deserted at this hour, which was likely why they chose it. Their steps echoed off the domed ceiling, and the scent of parchment and ink was a soothing one.There were paintings of biblical scenes on the ceiling here. Isaac avoided looking up for exactly that reason. He’d heard a lot of people say it was their favorite part of HQ, but it had always just made him feel… uneasy. Watched.
They didn’t see anyone until they reached one of the private study rooms, where the others had already gathered. He spared a moment to wonder whether they’d all been waiting specifically for him. Cyrus, Aidan, and a handful of others sat around the narrow table, and three more stood against the walls.
Cyrus offered him a nod of greeting, carding one hand through his spiky black hair. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, revealing miles of black ink on his corded forearms. Isaac patted his shoulder as he took a seat beside him.
Daniel stood at the head of the table, looking around at each of them. Finally, with a helpless shrug, he said, “I don’t know where we go from here. Nathan was the one who brought us all together, and now he’s…”
Good, Isaac thought. Maybe that meant they would stop having these ill-advised meetings, and he would stop feeling torn in two different directions.
“I can’t believe he just threw his ring down and left with them,” Aidan said, looking lost. Nathan had been his squad captain, Alex his shield-brother. Isaac had heard they were dissolving the whole squad, separating them and sending them to other teams.
“Sloan ordered us to kill them,” Cyrus said coolly, bracing his tattooed arms on the table.
The face of an inked crex demon stared back at Isaac from Cyrus’s forearm. He’d never understood the appeal of tattoos, but he suspected Cyrus was using them liketrophies, which, Isaac could admit, was an interesting idea. Why else would he get demons tattooed onto his body?
Cyrus went on, heedless of Isaac’s wavering attention. “After Nate had spent weeks trying to earn their trust. I’m not surprised.”
In the heat of the battle two days ago, it hadn’t been paladins who’d saved the day. No, it had been the traitors and their demons. They’d charged in like the cavalry, taking up arms against the possessor demons and their monstrous leader. It was halflings who brought down Amon the kalmach, the winged beast in charge of the possessors, not the holy warriors who trained all their lives for it. And following immediately on the heels of the demon’s demise, Sloan ordered the paladins to turn on the halflings and traitors. Nathan, injured and barely standing, had taken his guild ring off and thrown it down right there on the battlefield. He’d left with the traitors, and no one had heard from him since.
Sloan had sworn that day and every day since that the traitors were responsible for the kalmach and the possessors storming HQ. Most everyone believed him, assuming the traitors and their demons were to blame somehow, but Isaac wasn’t so sure. He remembered seeing the traitorsfightingthe possessors and the kalmach, but… Sloan’s word was law. Isaac wasn’t meant to question him.
“We were all there,” Isaac said blithely. “We don’t need a recount.” He leaned back against the chair—and pain lanced through his back when the movement made the bruises on his back ache. He leaned forward again, propping his chin on his fist.
Cyrus turned to shoot Isaac a pissylook.
“Four people have left the guild to join the demons,” Daniel said. “Sloan takes that as an insult.”
“It’sfour people,” Cyrus said scornfully. “Hardly enough to worry about. And they didn’tjointhe demons. They just left the guild. None of those guys are the type to knowingly join some conspiracy against the guild.”
“Try telling that to Sloan,” Daniel said grimly.
“They arewithdemons, though,” Isaac pointed out, albeit hesitantly. “So they kind of did join the demons? In a way?”
“They didn’t attack us, is my point,” Cyrus said. “They helped us.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Daniel chimed in. “Sloan has got enough people believing they’re the enemy. He’s on the warpath, and rumor is he’s planning to make a move soon.”
That wasn’t new. Sloan had wanted to strike at the halflings since Hawk was banished for fucking one. Luke, too. Isaac didn’t know for sure if that was the case with the others. Things were more contentious than ever after Nathan’s departure. This little group had no idea how dangerous this meeting truly was.
“What do we do?” Aidan asked. “I don’t want to hurt Alex or Nate. They can say whatever they want about them, but I worked side by side with both of them for years. They’re not bad people.”
“Sloan wouldn’t ask you to hurt them,” Isaac said, folding his arms on the table. He didn’t know how things would play out, but he was certain Sloan would keep Nathan and Alex’s old shield-brothers as far away from them as possible. He didn’t want to risk anyone else falling for whatever temptations the demons had been using to lure themaway. Anyone Nate and Alex knew from the guild were possible weak links.
