Riven moved beside her, sleeves rolled up, hands busy chopping the last of the peppers she’d brought from her garden. Riven was a surprise a minute. She worked quickly and withprecision—like someone who’d lived on the edge of comfort before. She looked like she belonged here more than anyone else ever had, as if survival was her second language. Savvy felt a pang of guilt. She’d made a rash decision when it came to Riven. But per usual, Savvy didn’t believe she’d had any other choice.
"You think the guys would starve without us?" Riven asked, not looking up from the cutting board.
Savvy smirked. "Patch is actually quite the cook, but he’s also a human garbage plate. He’d eat tree bark if you handed him salt, pepper, and some ketchup. As kids, McGuire would try to bribe my sister and me into cooking and baking for him. Drew never caved. I almost always did. He’s so pathetic at times, and I’ve always been a pushover when it comes to my big brother. I don’t know why. We’ve always had a bit of a competitive but close relationship. We know how to fight, and we do it loud. But Drew and me?” Savvy shook her head, wondering why she went down this crazy train. “We don’t shout. We don’t even get it out. We just stop talking to one another.”
Riven glanced in Savvy’s direction. “McGuire talks about both of you all the time. But it’s apparent the relationships are so different, and I forget that you’re twins.”
“When Drew and I were teenagers, we often wondered how we shared the same womb and didn’t kill each other. We’re so opposite, but truth be told, our core values are identical. We actually believe the same things. We just go about them in incredibly different ways.”
“You sound just like your brother.”
“I get that a lot.” Savvy nodded. “All three of us have type A personalities. We’re all quite focused. McGuire and I are most alike in how we operate with teams. Drew is the lone wolf kind of gal, and that makes my brother and me twitch. But where McGuire and I differ—or shall I say where people say we’re different—is that I’m wound too tight. I’m too rigid. WhereMcGuire will bend or break protocol, I demand everyone follow it to the letter. Hell, half the time I’m the one writing the rules. When I develop a plan, I expect it to be followed. If the mission goes to shit—which they often do—I don’t want my people scrambling. I want backup plans in place.”
“It's always good to have a go-to-shit plan.”
Savvy nodded. “I have at least four.” Savvy stopped stirring and raised her hand to wiggle her fingers. “My brother has probably described me as being a wee bit anal.”
“Something like that.” Riven laughed.
It felt normal, even if just for a second, to talk about the little things with a female. Savvy didn’t have too many friends, and she didn’t do girlfriends. This was nice. But the tension crept back in, settling like dust in the quiet spaces.
Savvy stirred the pot again. “It’s obvious you like it here—like my brother—or you wouldn’t have stayed after everything went down.”
“I saw no point in returning, but it was hard when I first got here.” Riven glanced around the room. “Lonely. Isolated. It’s hard to believe that Patch spent months out here. I know McGuire lived on the fringe, but it wasn’t in a place held together by matchsticks and glue, and you certainly didn’t set me up like this.”
Savvy paused, studying her. The woman was composed and strong, but Savvy recognized the look in her eyes—the one she saw in the mirror—someone who had run out of choices and was now just trying to breathe without looking over her shoulder.
And Riven no longer had to do that.
"You did something a lot of people wouldn’t," Savvy said. "You saved their lives."
"Yeah, and set fire to my own in the process," Riven said, still smiling and laced with a bit of humor. “I hadn’t planned on this life, but it’s where I ended up.”
“I know that feeling.” Savvy nodded. She glanced at the flickering firelight dancing over the walls. Every shadow made her want to reach for her weapon. Every creak reminded her she was still being hunted. But here, for now, she had a roof and someone else who understood the weight of a choice made in the dark.
Not to mention, Riven seemed to love her brother. Savvy didn’t know if either one had uttered those three little words, and it didn’t matter. She could see and feel the love blowing in the wind. And truth be told, Savvy adored Riven. While Savvy had a twin sister, even if they didn’t speak, she still loved Drew, not out of obligation, but because Drew was a decent, honest person deep down. They didn’t have to see eye to eye to love one another. And they didn’t have to love each other because they shared the same DNA.
She and Drew made the idea of yin and yang about twins totally true. It wasn’t the idea of good twin, bad twin. It was the idea that one was a rule follower, and the other, a rule breaker. Only, that wasn’t entirely true at this juncture. Savvy didn’t know what rules to follow anymore—they all seemed to blur into each other or disappear altogether.
"Patch and McGuire are grateful for what you did,” Riven said after a moment, her tone softer. “It was a hard road, but bringing them here, giving them a chance to get justice for Dane, they couldn’t have done that without you.”
Savvy looked down at the bubbling pot. “I was just doing my job.”
“I don’t know about that. What you did, well, it was no small thing,” Riven said. “You went above and beyond.”
“If it wasn’t me, it would’ve been someone else,” Savvy said. "But it’s easier helping someone else disappear. Harder when it’s yourself.”
Riven nodded, her hands slowing. "You and Patch—that still a grenade waiting to go off?"
“What makes you think that?”
“Your brother,” Riven said. “Don’t get mad, but he worries about both of you and always says he wishes you could figure it out.”
Savvy let out a breath. "It’s… a lot of things. Complicated doesn’t even scratch the surface. We were something once. Then duty and other things pulled us apart. Now? He looks at me like he’s still holding on. And I don’t know if I’m the same person he remembers."
Riven gave her a long, thoughtful look. "You don’t have to be. He’s not the same either. None of us are. Doesn’t mean it can’t still be real."
Savvy swallowed hard, the steam rising from the pot warming her face. She didn’t speak right away. She couldn’t. Finally, she turned toward Riven. “Have you ever regretted getting involved? Starting all this?"
