“Thought I felt a tingle somewhere I shouldn’t.”
“Trust me, doll, you can’t handle any of this,” Elias chuckles, motioning up and down his body with both hands.
I wonder if I’ll do the same when my replacement becomes Ghost. Find enough peace to laugh freely and to play along with the silliest of situations. It’s one of the very few questions I’ve never asked Elias. Whether he was like me in his youth. Whether normalcy is a learned trait.
Or if I’m just different. Broken. Am I destined to live this harsh cruelty forever?
The part of me that wants an answer does not outweigh the part that doesn’t. If this is it, then I’d rather experience it alone and dream of what could or couldn’t be.
Too many ifs. I should be focusing on the fight, not questioning the future.
“You know that makes me want it more, don’t you?” Iniko flutters her long black lashes at Elias, chewing on her lip seductively.
“Did I ever tell you, I think there’s something wrong with her?” Elias asks in a hushed whisper, loud enough for Iniko to hear.
On principle, I refuse to play along with this game.
“It’s not my fault you’re parading that hot bod of yours for everyone to see,” Iniko shouts as we pass her.
We walk beneath an arching wall filled with monitors that my team uses for briefings and missions and reach the training room. It isn’t much in the way of a gym, with two punching bags on one side, a weight bench and treadmills on the other, and we rarely use them anyway.
We stay in the middle, on a lightly padded section of floor. Our sparring ground.
“When is the announcement?” I return to our conversation once we’re far enough from Iniko’s ears and eyes.
“The Head wants to announce it with immediate effect tomorrow night. After the wedding and the Spirit’s welcome into the fold.” Elias stretches his arms and shoulders.
I grit my teeth.
“He hasn’t been brought to trial?”
“Ghost,” Elias says, cold and harsh. The same way he used to sayInitiatewhen I fucked up. “There isn’t going to be a trial. You must understand that, right?”
I didn’t. Not until now.
I allowed myself to be blinded by my own foolish desires for Lilith, to have her followed and to clear her of wrongdoing. I had let it slip straight past me.
I don’t answer, just take my position on the mat, instead.
“Take it from me, Ghost, you’re better off giving it no thought at all. I learned that a long time ago, when it comes to the Heads of the Veil. There are some things we were never meant to understand.” Elias cracks his neck from side to side, and joins me. “That said, I’m not going easy on you tonight. I heard through the grapevine that you needto clear your head. No better way to do it, than getting it kicked in.”
“I suppose the same could be said for you. It’s a Ghost’s duty to assess the future Hand of the Veil.”
“Hmm,” he pulls a face as if he’s feeling disrespected, but it isn’t directed at me. “It wasn’t too long ago that I was doing that job for you.”
“How times have changed.”
Without warning, I slip my hand over my katana’s grip and draw, slicing upward at Elias. He slides back, as if gliding on ice, and the fine steel tip narrowly misses his flesh in favor of his cotton shirt.
“Reflexes aren’t what they used to be,” I say, grinning behind the mask.
“Getting cocky?” He steps forward.
I swing again. This time, instead of retreating, Elias slaps at my blade. His palm connects with the flat steel above the edge, colliding so hard that the handle wobbles unsteadily in my grip. Capitalizing on my disorientation, Elias launches a single punch to my midsection.
It connects, forcing a step back.
“Keeping you on your toes,” I say, analyzing his approach.
