It holds only a dark green card with gold ink:
Infiltrate Sablehall Auction. Acquire the Sunrise Ruby, 25.59 carats, value-estimate: $30.42M. Deliver within 7 days. All tasks must be completed alone.
I exhale slowly and flip the card over.
There, in smaller writing, it reads:
We’ll know if you cheat. We’ll know if you fail.
Welcome to the Guild.
15 RECON
The training mats smell like sweat and rubber. I’m already winded — two drills in, heart racing, ribs sore. Tex doesn’t go easy. He never does. But he also doesn’t smirk like the others. No taunts, no sneers.
Just relentless, silent pressure.
“Again,” he says, arms crossed.
I scowl, drop back into stance, and lunge.
He catches my wrist mid-air and uses my momentum to send me tumbling. I land with a hard thud on the mat, knocking air clean out of my lungs.
“Your balance is better,” he mutters, offering a hand.
I don’t take it. Instead, I roll to my feet, chest heaving. “Yeah, well, nearly dying builds character.”
His mouth twitches. Not quite a smile. We reset.
Between drills, he circles me, sweat darkening the collar of his shirt.
“You read your task?”
His question makes my hackles rise. “Yeah.”
He keeps circling. “What is it?”
I hesitate.
I know better than to trust any of them. And yet…
Tex isn’t like the others. He isn’t kind — not even close — but he doesn’ttoywith me like Luca or shred me like Jace and Noah. He mostly watches as if waiting to see what I do. Still, I shake my head.
“I’m not telling you.”
He raises a brow, stepping back. “Why not?”
I meet his eyes, tired and flat. “Because you’ve all been making my life a living hell since the second I got here. I don’t want you makingthisharder, too.”
He blinks once. Doesn’t speak.
For a moment, he stands there, jaw tense, like he wants to argue — or maybe admit something — but doesn’t know how.
Finally, he turns away and tosses me a towel. “Fine.”
I catch it. But before I can say anything else, he mutters, almost too low to hear.
“I hope you survive it.”
