Sley glanced at Ace and then back to me. Her eyebrows rose. “You two haven’t bickered for an entire five minutes. Are you feeling all right?”
“Sometimes there are more important things to do than bicker,” I pointed out.
Sley wasn’t buying it. She peered at me like I was some fruit that cracked open, and she was trying to decide if I was edible.
“More important things?” She prompted. “Like who gets to be on top?”
“Like my brother being behind the thefts and attacks,” I said, vomiting the words as if saying them quickly would somehow make it hurt less.
“Paul?” Sley scoffed. “Funny. The only thing that man knows how to get behind is a willing woman’s ass.”
“Okay. One, that’s gross and two, I’m not being funny. I’m being serious.”
She hesitated and glanced at Ace.
He nodded, his expression solemn.
Sley shook her head. “Paul who never gets his hands dirty? That Paul?”
“That’s the one,” Ace said. “Also, she can be on top whenever she wants.”
Sley opened her mouth and then shut it again. Her gaze flicked side to side as she processed the information.
I scowled at Ace over her head. My friend did not need to know about our sexual positions.
He shrugged, a smile tugging at his lips. “It’s true.”
“Paul would never hurt you,” Sley said finally. “It can’t be him.”
“I agree with you about not hurting me. He wasn’t the one who gave the order to attack me. Apparently, there was a miscommunication.”
She narrowed her eyes. “There are more people involved?”
“They have a full base set up in the woods. Paul obviously helped them pick the location because it’s out of my range. He probably gave them my schedule and patrol route to help them avoid detection.”
“Is your brother leading the charge or is he another soldier?” Sley asked.
“That’s what we don’t know. But I can confirm he’s the thief.”
Sley hissed and rocked back on her heels. As the person responsible for managing the communal supplies, Sley had been the one to alert me of the thefts to begin with. “That pampered ass.”
I winced. “Sorry.”
“What are you apologizing for?” Sley asked. “You’re not responsible for your brother’s actions.”
Maybe not technically, but part of me still felt responsible. He was my twin. I was supposed to be the closest person to him in his life, yet he had a whole secret compound set up without me having a clue. This whole time I thought he had increased his duties in Wast and that was why he was out of town so often.
“How is he killing them?” Sley asked.
“Huh?” I snapped my head up. The question surprised me, and it shouldn’t have. I should’ve expected it. I should’ve had an answer prepared.
“Emi?” Sley tilted her head. “How did your brother, or the people your brother is with kill the bonded galeons? We’ve always been told they’re unkillable once bonded, but we know that can’t be entirely true. There has to be a way to kill them. There was a phaaning war where plenty of phaanons and galeons died and then there were those recent deaths…”
“He used blood,” I whispered.
Ace grumbled under his breath behind me. Sley was my best friend. We had to trust someone.
“Blood?” Her gaze shifted side to side. “Blood?”
