Ash lifted his head. His eyes were bloodshot and wet. “This is how it is. There will be victory and there will be loss. We can plan everything down to the smallest detail, and people will still die. Sometimes it happens right in front of you and there’s nothing you can do.”
He reached over and ruffled Yiran’s hair the way he used to when they were kids, before Yiran started to squirm away from Ash’s attempts at affection. This time, Yiran didn’t move a muscle.
It could have been Ash who died tonight.
Briefly, Ash’s gaze shifted behind Yiran’s head like he was checking something.The walls.Were they being watched?
“I have some questions for you,” Ash said. “It seems like you left the house with your two friends, went to a hotel—The Reverie—and then on the way back, your vehicle was involved in an incident with some Revenants.”
There was nothing accusatory about his tone, but something about it felt too rehearsed. Best to proceed with caution. “We were attacked, ambushed by two of them,” Yiran said, giving nothing away.
“Let’s start from the beginning. Tell me everything that happened after you left Song Mansion. We need as much information as possible on the Revenants you encountered. Leave nothing out.”
It sank in then that he and Rui and Zizi were witnesses to a secret the Exorcist Guild had painstakingly kept from the public. They had seen the Hybrids; Rui had even killed one. They’d been zip-tied, drugged, and separated. Somewhere else in this compound, Rui and Zizi were being interrogated by other Exorcists too.
This wasn’t a friendly conversation between brothers. The Guild must have sent Ash specifically to loosen Yiran’s tongue. Manipulating a subject’s emotions before interrogation was merely Ash’s job. That was why he’d shown Yiran his scars, why the first thing he brought up was the death of his comrades in combat. Brother or not, this was what Ash was trained to do. The thought sat uncomfortably on Yiran’s chest.
Yiran weighed his options. He saw no choice but to behave like he was cooperating. Deliberately, he told Ash everything that happened, what Yuki revealed and the fight that ensued. But he was careful not to use the wordHybrid, and he didn’t reveal the dark stains on Zizi’s hands or the separation spell, nor the blue flames that burst out from Rui like she was possessed by something beyond this world. And he didn’t breathe a word about Seven, the child who could suck the color out of a rose.
Ash listened closely, riveted by everything he said. “You’ve done well to remember all this. But there’s one thing I’m not clear about. Are you certain Cadet Lin killed the second Revenant with her spiritual weapons?”
“She had only one sword with her at the time.”
“Our healers have examined her. Her spirit core is still in recovery. In her current state, it would’ve been difficult for her to kill that Revenant by herself.”
The easy thing to do would be to spill everything. But throwing Rui and Zizi to the wolves was no guarantee that Yiran would get to keep his magic. More importantly, his gut told him to protect Rui.
“Difficult but not impossible,” he said. “Rui’s the best at the Academy.”
Ash made a skeptical sound. “The details are important. Try to rememberhowshe did it. Walk me through what you saw step by step and leave nothing out.”
Something clicked in Yiran’s head.
“You want to know how she killed aHybrid. Specifically,” he said, finally revealing his card.
Lips thinning, Ash picked up his pistol. He started to clean it with the hem of his shirt, his admission so obvious Yiran was surprised.
Thiswas what the interrogation was all about. The Guild must’ve been battling Hybrids in secret for a long time. As evident from tonight’s ambush, they were having trouble dispatching them. They wanted to know how Rui had done it so easily. Zizi’s intense dislike for the Guild was making more sense by the minute.
“You’ve known all along Hybrids exist. That’s why you’re not surprised by anything I’ve told you, about the weird things growing out of Yuki’s and Aloysius’s backs, about what Yuki said about them banding together. You know they’re out there and they’re planning something.”
Ash continued to clean his weapon.
The truth sank in even deeper. Yiran raised his voice. “The Guild hasalwaysknown, hasn’t it? Your old scar came from a Hybrid—I’ve always wondered why it looks like that. It’s because you were burned by yinqi.” He raised a hand to touch the fresh dressing that covered the wound on his own cheek. “Your new scar is also from a Hybrid, and your Exorcist friends died tonight because you were ambushed byHybrids, because those monsters can think, plot, and scheme, just like humans. Am I right? Tell me—”
Ash’s pistol clattered onto the table. He stood and made a slicing motion with his hand. The unnaturally bright walls dulled. The sour taste in Yiran’s mouth grew. Someone had been watching and recording their interrogation.
“What do you want me to say?” Ash asked.
Yiran met his weary gaze. “Respect me. Tell me the truth the same way I told you everything. Stop treating me like I’m a kid.”
“But it’s my job to protect you,” Ash said fiercely. “Youaremy kid brother.”
“Half brother.”
Ash flinched like he’d been slapped.
Yiran looked down. They hadn’t let him wash his hands yet, and Zizi’s dried blood stained the lines on his palms. He heard a sigh.
