“I won’t use it against you,” I add. “I just… want to understand.”
His jaw flexes. “She was nine,” he says after a moment. “My little sister. Ellie.”
My eyes widen.
I don’t know what to say.
My chest aches. I want to ask more, but I don’t want to shatter whatever fragile thread we’ve managed to build between us.
Still, a question slips out. “How did you end up here? In the Guild?”
Tex lets out a breath — something between a scoff and a sigh.
“After Ellie… I didn’t have anyone.” He leans back against the stone wall, eyes focused on the horizon. “So, I left the house we were in. Started fighting underground. Bare-knuckle. Stealing what I needed to get by. Ran with a bad group of guys. Eventually got arrested, was looking to spend time in Juvie.”
My brows lift.
“Then a fancy lawyer showed up with Gideon Ravencourt and they said they could offer me a different life. I was the last remaining heir to the Ward family. I was the illegitimate son from an affair. But my father’s ‘real’ son died in a car accident. So, he wanted me to represent him in the Guild.”
“Wow,” I whisper.
He nods. “So, I said fuck it. And went to live with the Ravencourts.”
I study him in the dark. The sharp lines of his face. The way he keeps his fists loose, but always half-curled.
“Do you talk to your dad?”
He shakes his head, making a face. “Nah, he wants nothing to do with me. I’m just the guy who does the dirty work while he gets to keep his status and Guild connections.”
I know without a doubt, I’m blessed to have a dad like Lucian.
“You’re not what I expected.”
He looks over, a faint smirk. “And you’re not what we expected either.”
I don’t respond to that.
“So yeah. I know what it’s like to be helpless. To be too late. That’s why I fight. Not for the Guild. Forher.Honestly, if I wasn’t recruited to join the Guild, I’d probably be dead.”
The silence between us hums like static.
I reach down and tighten the strap on my glove, unsure what to do with the ache in my chest.
“I’m sorry.” The words feel dumb.
He just nods. “We should move. Guards rotate in six.”
16 SABLEHALL
The night has come. The forest around the vault is unnaturally still. Even the wind feels like it’s holding its breath as I crouch behind the tree line.
Patrolling guards in sleek black uniforms and night-vision lenses. No flashy logos. No names.
I check the time. 2:17 a.m.
Everything I wear is matte: gloves, suit, even the pins in my hair. A thin sheen of sweat lines the back of my neck despite the cold.
From the undergrowth, I pull a case the size of a small lunchbox. Inside is the gear I selected from the Guild armory.
