What he wouldn’t give to pull Cass aside for a moment.Wolflumen operated completely outside the Calderran military, but she was the closest thing he had to a peer in this situation, and he could use another warrior’s advice.The sound of fingers tapping on wood caught him.
Don’t say anything stupid.Cass drummed her opinion onto the table in lightning team code.
It dawned on him that though Cass’s magic worked differently than his, it was under the same umbrella.Shadow mages were rare, and they’d spoken a time or two in years past as they’d been experimenting with similar magics.Had she guessed some of the highly classified details about his magic that not even his sisters knew about?
Timing is imperative.Don’t be an idiot.Cass’s opinion was clear.
Connor released the breath he was holding and met the Wolflumen’s harsh brown gaze.He could wait, but he couldn’t live without clearing this with Rodric at some point.He deserved to know that Connor was responsible for his soul-daughter being untraceable.
“We’ve found you, completing the first mission.Now we need your help to find and free Brenna.”Rodric finally came to the end of the story.
“There’s an old, abandoned guard fortress in the next mountain range,” Sev spoke up for the first time as he pulled out one of the unique, magic imbued maps usually reserved for their lightning teams and set it on the table.“Ridgecrest, it was once called.As far as I know, it was mostly destroyed by war, storms, earthquakes, long past.But it’s secluded and probably provides some of what they need.”
“Our best guess is that they’re using this old fortress as a temporary holding facility.”Rodric ran his fingers over the unnamed pile of ruins that glowed gold on the map.“We need to know what other intel you have about these people, and ideally that site, before we move forward.”
“Your instincts about the fortress are good.It could definitely be a holding facility,” Connor said.
Sighs of relief sounded around the table at his statement.
“There’s a problem though.It's been a while since I was injured.They tend to move the taken individuals every few months, like clockwork.Shifting them from whatever facility they’re in and moving them to new locations.”
“How close are we cutting it?”Rodric asked.
“Too close.We need to do reconnaissance and move in immediately if we have any chance of getting her out.”Taking a breath, Connor laid out the hard facts.“We don’t typically do this type of retrieval.It’s our policy to rescue those we can en route to the facilities, but we leave the facilities alone.It’s the only way we can operate with any degree of anonymity.This type of operation has never been done before, so I can’t offer much experience from that perspective.”
Tension rose again, thickening the air in the room despite the outside breeze blowing through the open vents and windows.Dread coiled in his gut as he watched everyone absorb that information.
This entire situation came back on him.His original mission had been compromised, creating this chaos.Destroying Brenna’s chance of rescue and condemning Veda and Opal to the same fate.His screw up had provided the opportunity for this situation to go from bad to horrific.He would help Rodric fix it or die trying.
Thebarndoorpulledclosed with a thud, shutting Connor inside the small space with the Wolflumen.She’d dragged him out alone on the pretense of exercising his healed sword arm, but he doubted that was the only reason.Cass rounded on him before he could figure out how to broach the sensitive subject of his fault in Brenna’s disappearance.
“I meant it before, Connor.I will pummel you if you make this mission harder than it needs to be on either Celina or Rodric.”Cass’s dark eyes drove into him as sharp as one of her blades.“I don’t know for sure what happened, and I don’t want to know.Everyone’s magic is unique, but ours shares some aspects that could lead me to certain conclusions.I’m choosing not to think too hard about it because I won’t lie to Celina.”
“But it’s okay for me to lie?”
“Lying and choosing to reveal information at an appropriate time are not the same thing.Don’t let your conscience push you to do something that isn’t necessary at the present time.That isyouremotional problem to deal with.Rodric has enough weighing on him right now, and by extension, so does Celina.”
“He deserves to know it’s not his fault he couldn’t track his soul-daughter.”
“I agree.But what heneedsis to find Brenna.The rest can wait.Pick up your sword.You’re going to need to use it to free her.”
Her sharp, commanding tone jerked him fully into the warrior mindset.She was right.Sharing the information now would lift his burden and add to Rodric’s.It could wait.
Lifting his sword from the weapons rack, he faced Cass.It had been a long time, but his body remembered what his heart still fought.She began with a simple exercise to test his range of motion with the sword.
“That group you killed in the forest, how formidable were they?”he asked to distract himself from the inner turmoil.
“Mid-level swordsmen.Rodric and Sev would have had a tough time due to their numbers, not so much their skill level.They’re getting soft.Probably rarely challenged.”
“Same with the first group we encountered.The second—the ones who ambushed us—were much better.But the element of surprise made them difficult to deal with.”Connor swallowed hard as he brought his arm up to defend her forward strike.“Jax is dead.”
“Yes.”She met his eyes through their crossed blades, a hint of empathy softening her intensity for the briefest instant.“Drew as well.His injuries took him shortly after they arrived home.He never regained consciousness.”
A wave of grief struck low, and he released his blade to spin away.He came at her hard, maneuvering deftly around Neka’s nest, battling the pain attacking him from the inside.
Their captain, Drew, had been an honorable man.A leader he’d been proud to follow.As second in rank, Connor often had the job of interfacing between their leader and the team in tense situations.
His partner, Ryan.He was so grateful Ryan had survived.They’d been friends since they were too young to know how hard life could be.Gone through every phase of warrior training watching each other’s backs.Ryan was as much family to him as sisters Celina and Cat were.
