“He won't! I won't say anything. I promise I’ll tell him... I'll tell him I didn’t know who had me.” Caroline’s voice rose to shrill pitch.
“I'm not willing to risk your life, not when we’re finally together again. If you just calm down and listen, I can explain everything,” Mankel said.
Nightshade stepped closer again, unable to stay so far back with her sister going into a full panic attack. “Just listen to him. Please. We want to keep you safe, not hurt you.”
Caroline bucked and flung her head back, continuing to kick her feet in the air.
“I'm sorry. I didn't want to have to do this.” Mankel reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe.
“No! Let me talk to her some more.” Nightshade sprung forward, but burning pain dug into her side and she hit the ground. She watched helplessly as her father sank the needle into Caroline’s neck and saw her go limp in his arms.
“I warned you, didn't I? She wasn't raised like you. She's soft. It was too much at once for her to comprehend. You should have followed the plan.” Mankel lifted Caroline in his arms and turned to the door. “That's always been your problem, though, your unwillingness to follow orders. How many times do you have to hurt someone else before you learn?”
The unexpected emotional blow caught her like a hard fist to the stomach. “I was just a child.”
The memory hit her with a second blow, leaving her frozen to the ground. Storm and Nightshade had gone on their first solo mission, assigned to sneak into a mansion and take out the man who lived there. Nightshade had decided to change up the tactics at the last minute, thinking she’d found a better way in. If only she’d known what lay in wait. She’d barely escaped with her life, but Storm hadn’t.
“That was an accident. I took my punishment and learned my lesson.” The memory of burning flesh assaulted her. She’d taken the searing brand on her flesh as her punishment in silence, refusing to let out screams of agony.
Her father’s black brows slashed low over his equally black eyes. “You were sixteen years old. Old enough to follow an order. When I was sixteen, I was fighting off your grandfather, protecting your grandmother from being beaten to death.”
She nodded, unable to speak past the heaping dose of guilt.
“Nightshade,” her father’s voice came out soft, his shoulder’s sagging as he held her sister in his arms. “I know you want to be with your sister. And I know talking to her made that desire even stronger. That’s part of the reason why I didn't want you to face her so soon. I know how hard it is to leave someone you love behind.”
She tried to swallow her longing, even as every molecule in her body urged her forward, screaming at her to stay with her sister. “I just wanted to see her.”
“I understand. But if you back out now, you know as well as I do that he will hunt your sister to the ends of the Earth and all our careful planning will be for nothing."
And she would let not only her father down, but her sister and her entire team too.
"He's already come so close to destroying our family once before. Are you willing to risk it all just to spend time with your sister now?"
"No, you know I'm not."
"I hope not, because Merc's here. He’s right outside the perimeter wall. Are you ready?”
She had to become her sister, Caroline, and fool one of the deadliest assassins on Earth. She had to pretend she hadn’t had a lifetime of training, just like him. That she was helpless and in need of rescue.
“I’m ready.”
