“Beck… he’ll be your contact. He can provide real-time intelligence and logistics support. And Talon will be available remotely if you need tactical planning. We’re not leaving you completely alone in this.”
“Tactical planning from a tropical island,” Milo says.
“Yeah. Well, just until this is done. When Edmund and the stranger are dead and the Syndicate’s just ashes.”
He looks at the three men standing behind me.
“Before you go, I need something from them,” Milo says.
I step aside, letting him face them directly.
“You’re taking my sister away,” Milo says, and his voice has that politician’s steadiness again. But underneath it, I hear the brother, the twin. The person who shared a womb with me, who knows me better than anyone, other than the three men standing in front of him. “Into hiding, into danger, into an uncertain future for years … possibly forever. So I need something from you.”
“Name it,” Dredyn says.
“Take care of her, all three of you. Keep her safe. Keep her happy. Keep her loved. She’s choosing you over everything—over her family, her name, her entire life. Don’t make her regret it.”
“We won’t,” Talon says immediately.
“You can’t promise that?—”
“Yes, I can. I took a bullet last night. Dredyn killed his own father. We burned down our home, destroyed our futures, became fugitives, all to keep her safe—to give her freedom. You think we’re going to let her down now?”
Milo holds his gaze for a long moment, then looks at Dredyn.
“You love her?”
“More than anything.”
“Enough to die for her?”
“Already almost did, multiple times. She’s it for me—for all of us. We’re not perfect, we’re probably going to mess up, but we’ll never stop trying. Never stop protecting her. Never stop choosing her,” Dredyn says.
“And when the Syndicate’s destroyed? When it’s safe to come home?”
Dredyn glances back at me, something soft in his expression. “Then we come home. Rebuild. Start over. Live the lives we fought for. But until then?” A small smile. “We’re going to enjoy a well-earned vacation—beach, sunshine, no one trying to kill us. Sounds pretty good, actually.”
“Sounds like paradise,” Milo says quietly. Then, to me, “You sure about this?”
“I’ve never been more sure of anything.”
“Even though you might never see me again? Never see Father, despite everything he’s done? Never see America?”
Dredyn’s hand finds mine as Jasper’s settles on my shoulder and Talon shifts closer, despite his injury.
“Wherever they are is home. And I’d rather have that than anything else.”
“Okay. Okay then.” He pulls me into one more hug, crushing me against his chest. “I love you, Mara. I should’ve said it more, should’ve shown it better, but I do. I always have.”
“I know. I love you too. Be safe, be smart, and finish what we started.” My voice is muffled against his jacket.
“I will. I promise.”
He releases me, stepping back.
“Go. Before I change my mind and try to talk you out of this.”
I pick up Ghost’s carrier.
