There was no use lying about it. “Oh, yeah.”
“I was wondering how you’d get all the charms and tonics ready for reopening Full Moon Emporium.” His eyes were downcast, as if deep in thought. “Makes sense.”
The last thing I wanted to do was hurt him, but I had no regrets about getting my magic back or how I’d done it. “Atlas, I’m s—”
He held up a hand, stopping me.
“No need to apologize.” He gave me a small smile. “I’m not hurt.”
“You’re not?” Now I was the surprised one.
“I know what I offered when I was here a few full moons ago, but you were right, it would complicate things.” He ran his thumb along Aspen’s cheek before meeting my gaze, his aqua eyes swimming with an emotion I couldn’t place. “So, thank you.”
“Of course,” I managed to rasp out.
He wasn’t mad but somehow it still stung.
Did I expect him to be? Orwanthim to be?
“I know if we went there, I’d want more.” Intensity flared to life in his gaze. “Hell, I will probably always want more.”
The air disappeared from my lungs. Heat bubbled in my chest, but I couldn’t bring myself to tear my gaze from his. “Atlas…”
“Don’t say anything. I’m glad you took things into your own hands.”
Own hands.
He assumed I’d been alone. I didn’t know if that made me feel guilty or glad that I didn’t have to come up with a lie right now to protect Lynx and Saros.
“Honestly, I’m just grateful to be close by so I can be here for you both,” he added, reaching out to take Aspen. He sat him in his arms, bobbing along as we continued walking through the maze. With each step, the tension began to uncoil, but an even clearer concern boiled beneath the surface.
What would happen if he ever learned the truth?
Chapter4
Lynx
“Iforgot how much I hate this place,” Saros grumbled the moment we got back to our hotel room and shut the door. We’d been silent the entire way here. The tension in our handler’s tiny office was smothering, coiling around me from every direction. But as much as it took a toll on me, I knew the stress and emotional cost that came with his Recollection had to exhaust Saros even more.
“I know,” I said, squeezing his shoulder. “Hopefully we can get back home within a week or two.”
He walked straight into the bathroom and washed his hands, twice, as if questioning Aurora and dealing with Aleander had soiled them. “Let’s face it, Lynx, we don’t have a real home. Never have, and probably never will.”
I knew when he got in moods like this that it wasn’t worth pushing. “What are you going to do about Aleander’s request?”
I’d seen what Saros’s old job at headquarters had done to him. Despite the emotions he attempted to hold inside, I had a front-row seat to how much effort he put into repressing them.
“I don’t know,” he shrugged, wiping his hands on the towel before coming out into the room. “It doesn’t really seem like a request, does it?”
“You always have a choice, and I’ll back you up, whatever the consequences.” I removed my SNO-OPS vest, draping it over the chair. Saros threw his into a heap in the corner.
“I’m just tired of having this choice to make, Lynx. It’s why I left headquarters in the first place.”
“Let’s focus on getting through the next few days, interviewing Fitzge—”
“That’s if he doesn’t try to lawyer his way around everything, like he’s been doing,” Saros cut in, rolling his eyes. He wasn’t wrong, Fitzgerald Wells would use everything in the book to wriggle his way out of this. The real question was, why did they admit to killing Acacia in the first place? Surely, they had enough money and legal knowledge to skirt around that.
I suspected whatever they were hiding was much bigger than a murder. We needed to figure out what that was and soon, before there was another disappearance.
