“I’m pretty sure it’s Celina’s turn,” he said.
His sister tended to tell tales that specifically detailed Calderran culture and history, her way of preparing them to enter a new society.They were much less fun than Sev’s stories, though Connor would never admit such a thing.
“She won’t mind if you take her turn.”Opal’s eyes were big and bright as she smiled up at him sweetly.“Please, Con?”
“Oh, alright.”He heard Cass snicker quietly when he caved in.
“Yes!”Opal hugged his neck before bouncing to be put down.
“I’ll be there soon, okay?”
“Okay!”
He was happy to see that her energy was returning to a normal, healthy level as she raced back to camp.
Tapping into a specific part of his magic, he used the shadows Opal crossed through to track her movement until she got safely back to their fire.
Cass was shaking her head at him when he looked up, but she was smiling softly.
“I know.I can’t help it,” he admitted.
Opal had stolen Rogue’s heart the moment they first met in the middle of a battleground when his team had first found and freed her.She’d stolen his too.
“Don’t change, Connor.She needs you exactly the way you are.”Cass’s face returned to its serious expression.“Remember that.”
“I will,” he promised.
Her words brought him full circle to the reason he’d needed a moment of solitude in the first place.They were fast approaching home.He needed to see his surviving teammates and figure out how to effectively handle the traitor.Leadership narrowed significantly at the command level.The decision of whom to trust weighed heavily on him.It wasn’t just his life at stake.Especially when the person he would usually turn to first was implicated.
Alison.His soul-guardian.He still couldn’t fathom how she was involved.
If his instincts were right, the attack on his team had been intended to take them all out.With his memories returning and Devryn’s intel, he knew without a doubt that that was what the viper medallion meant.He remembered grabbing it off the man who had initially followed him away from the battle.
How could Alison possibly be involved in something like that?Even on the peripheral.Or worse, at the helm.She’d hugged him when he left, knowing full well he was unlikely to survive the mission.
Connor shoved the dark tendrils of thought down so that he could focus and cleared his throat of the buildup of emotion that threatened to choke him.
“If you’re willing, I’d appreciate your help,” he told Cass.“There are very few people I trust right now.There may be a traitor at the command level of the lightning teams.I need help, but the only person outside my team I’m willing to bring in right now is Commander Galen.”
Of the same command level as Alison, Morgan Galen commanded the lightning team division whose primary focus was foreign rescues.The commander was formidable and had a sore spot about children being abused.He ran ops with every new team created—under his command or not—to ensure they had absorbed the right parts of their training to his liking.
Most importantly, Morgan had believed Celina’s insistence that he wasn’t dead and helped direct her and Cass to find him.
“Morgan is a good choice,” Cass agreed.
There was no way they could make it all the way home to Ravensmere Keep without being noticed, so he’d been debating various options with little success.It was time for someone else’s opinion.
“My priority is talking to him and my team.If we stop at the refugee center like Celina wants, and they’re not there, I’ll be swept away immediately by other military personnel on site.There’s treachery in our ranks.I can’t let that happen.”
He had a number of things to hide, but he didn’t want them to suspect any of them.The less they suspected he knew, the better.In fact, he planned to let them think his memory had come back less fully than it had to further the guise that he was who he’d always been—a solid, rule-following warrior.One who was in no way aware that they’d been attacked by viper mercenaries.
“We could delay a day or two on this side of the border.Get a message to Morgan to be at the center.Or we could pick a strategic location they would think twice about storming, even if they catch wind of our return somehow.Get Morgan to meet us there.”
“Where would you pick?”he asked.
“Althea’s estate, Rosewood.”Cass named Celina’s mentor, whose estate was a large, rural holding within two days ride of the border.“It’s close and away from major towns.We can manage to get there unseen.Althea is the head of the Healers Guild, a member of the Royal Advisory Council, and a champion of the refugee program.They won’t risk her wrath by invading her home.Especially with the children present.”
Her logic was sound.Althea’s adopted son, Sam, had also reproduced the map that his team had used in order to help Celina narrow down where to start searching for him, so he was already aware of what was going on.
