We took our seats, Zuko jogging in last. I briefly wondered what happened when Tibby caught up with him, but I’d have to ask him later since we had no time to talk.
Jarvins was very direct, and we weren’t given a lick of free time in his classroom.
Honestly, I liked that fact. It made time move faster.
“Surveillance Roleplay,” Jarvins continued, tapping something on his tablet. The screen behind him flared to life with a scene of a velvet-draped interior with fae orbs, shadows, and a bar. “You will infiltrate asimulatedblack-market safe-house. Pose as mercenaries selling classified intel to human contacts.Blend.Observe.Extractthe code phrase hidden incasual conversation among three targets. Expose your cover, and the simulation ends.”
His smile was wicked, as if this was his favorite part of teaching. “Pairings have been assigned.” He glanced down his list. “Rune and Dimitri.”
My pulse skipped a few beats.
Dimitri didn’t look at me, and frustration bubbled through me as he nodded his head in bored acknowledgement.
“Zuko and Slater, Koa and Raze, Eleanor and Lorian, and Aura and Hawk,” Jarvins finished.
On the way to the simulator, I brushed against Dimitri’s shoulder. “Thanks for earlier.”
“You’re my squadmate,” he said, like that was enough. Like that was all I was, and it made disappointment set hard in my gut.
I hesitated. “And about last night…you walking in on Zuko and I?—”
“You don’t have to say anything about it.” He shrugged, and his expression was unreadable. “Focus on the mission.”
We were up last, and the entire time we watched our squadmates on the screen outside of the simulator, silence andsomething elsehung thick between us.
Dimitri crossed his arms, jaw tight, while I chewed at the corner of my lip just to stop myself from saying something reckless. Every flicker of movement on the screen lit his sharp cheekbones and made my heartbeat faster.
Slater and Zuko were up first.
“Those two are insufferable,” Dimitri muttered, watching them charm and torture their way into the code phrase.
“Don’t pretend you aren’t impressed,” I whispered, loving the way Slater made fun of one of the simulated supernaturals for losing their tongue and being unable to share the intel that way. Zuko had no problem cutting it out.
They were a great team, honestly.
Dimitri’s red eyes cut toward me, unamused.
Koa and Raze were next. They looked almost too casual. Koa caught the attention of a quiet bookkeeper, and rage funneled through my chest as he spoke to her. His voice dropped, smooth and patient, until the poor thing was all but spilling ink from her ledger to give him information. Raze killed a few patrons in the meantime, but Koa and him walked away with the code.
Then, it was Eleanor and Lorian’s turn. They were polite to the point of painful, but somehow, it actually worked. Eleanor’s soft questions, paired with Lorian’s unshakable calm, earned them three names and a location without anyone so much as raising a brow.
“They’re…efficient,” I said in surprise.
“Andboring,” Dimitri countered.
I couldn’t hide my smile because I felt the same way. “True, but they work well together.”
“Yes,” he agreed. “They clearly have chemistry.”
Aura and Hawk didn’t pass their mission. Aura’s imp magic popped off halfway through, blinding the supernatural they needed intel from. Hawk tried to cover for her, but it only made them suspicious, and the guard threw them out.
Jarvins sighed, tapped his tablet, and cut the simulation short with a ding.
“Extra drills for you two,” Jarvins announced dryly.
Aura groaned, covering her golden pendant with her hand.
Hawk muttered something about it beinghisfault, but Aura shoved him with her elbow, her ears burning red.
