“Quite.” She sighed. “Well, healers and experts tell me it’s plausible. That said, given the degree of threat he represents, I believe we ought to keep a closer eye on him regardless.”
I nodded enthusiastically, gladsomeoneagreed.
“Exactly!”
“Which is why I charged Gideon to befriend him.”
I blinked. “You did?”
He’d been very welcoming last night but I assumed he was just, well, Gideon.
My superior smirked. “My son can occasionally do as he’s told. His affable nature makes him perfect for the job. But there’s another role he can’t simultaneously fulfill—one I believe is particularly suited to you.”
I squirmed a little in my chair, images of myself in my sluttiest outfit, a tiny leather skirt, fishnet stockings, high heels, and a tight plunging top I didn’t own, draping myself over Cas’s strong chest like a femme fatale.
Surely, she couldn’t mean for me to play the spy slash seductress, though it wasn’t as crazy as the idea of Gideon as the spy slash bestie.
“Gideon’s friendly. You’re suspicious,” Hilda stated plainly. “I’d like you to watch him—as obviously and relentlessly as you’d like.”
My jaw dropped. She couldn’t possibly have authorized me to let my mistrustful nature out of the box, giving it free rein. “But why?”
“It’s entirely logical for the Guard to assign someone to observe him. If you do it ostentatiously, as part of your job, he’s less likely to be cautious around others.”
That was smart, and a lot sneakier than I would have thought her capable of being.
When my boss added, “The idea came from Damian Regis.”
I was less surprised. If he was anything like his brother, the sneakiness was to be expected.
“I see. Well, you can count on me.”
“Excellent. That in mind, I believe we can extend an invitation to this Cas to join the Guard.”
I was getting whiplash. “Come again?”
“We’re short-staffed, he’s capable—and it gives you an excuse to spend time around him. Gideon will offer him the job over the weekend.”
My mouth opened and closed several times, but I couldn’t find words to explain all the reasons why that was absolutely not all right.
By the time I could string a sentence together again, the captain was off on another tangent. “As for Kleos’s energy—your familiarity with it recommends you for this particular job. But given the nature of the threat, and the potential ramifications, I’m reluctant to assign you to it. It’s hardly the sort of mission one should start with. I’ll put together a full team, with Gideon in the lead, a novice, an inquisitor, and whatever runners you need.”
I made myself focus on my first assignment—a huge, important mission. Gideon might be in charge, but being part of something so crucial right out of training was an opportunity to either prove myself or ruin my career forever. “With your permission, I’d like to recommend Isla as our notice. She’s worked with Gideon and me in the past successfully, and we all get along.”
Captain Hilda nodded her head. “Very well. Any preference for inquisitors?”
“NotIrwin,” I practically growled. “François Zeilke is pretty good.”
“Ha.” She lowered her coffee, wincing. “Well, I have bad news for you. Irwin and François are a team. You can’t have one without the other.”
Fuck me sideways with a lightning bolt.
7
CAS
Ididn’t bother to ask why the cute little doll, hair freshly dyed her signature pink, was accompanying us to the bank.
The tower’s roots started in the underside, between the gate of Hades and Izanami—respectively Wealth and Death. My memory told me it had been three or four levels high back in the day, but now the bone-white building rose up like a wax candle, pierced with spelled dark windows, so tall it reached the roof of the cave where the underside town circle was carved.
