“I’m Wren Darlington.” I start to clasp her wrist, but she grips my actual hand instead, giving it a firm shake.
When she notes my expression, she chuckles and says, “My province, my customs,” and I have to laugh, too.
I open a path again, but now that I know she’s a Mod, I don’t intrude and try to pound through her shield like an asshole. I invite her to use telepathy instead.
To my surprise, she accepts.
“I’ve never met a healer without a bloodmark,”I say in her mind.“How did you hide it from your father?”
Her brown eyes twinkle. Then she opens her mouth. For a second, I think she’s sticking her tongue out at me, but then she curls it upward, and I gasp.
Her bloodmark is underneath her tongue.
“Now, that’s luck,” I marvel. You don’t get to pick where your mark appears. Mine is on my thigh. Jayde Valence had hers right on her cheek. But under the tongue? I’m envious.
“There’s no such thing as luck. It is all God’s will.”
I arch a brow. “You still believe in God, after everything your father said before, calling us evil demons?”
“Yes,” Valeria says. “Because I know I’m neither evil nor a demon.”
I grin. “Fair.”
“And I know something else. Something that my father is too stubborn to accept.” She lowers her voice, growing serious. “Soon it will be time to pick a side. Because your people aren’t the only ones with something to lose. The Company has had us in their sights for a very long time. We almost went to war with your Continent once before. It was averted, but with General Redden gone and his son in charge, I fear that truce won’t last much longer.”
“I think you’re right,” I say grimly. “Will you speak to your father? Convince him to work with us?”
“Nobody can convince him of something he doesn’t want to do. So, no, I won’t be able to talk him into picking a side. But…”
“But what?”
“He might be convinced to look the other way.”
“What do you mean?”
“My father isn’t stupid. He’s just stubborn. He’ll refuse to fully join your cause, but I believe I can persuade him to…perhaps…not beso protective of our airspace, our shipping routes. Maybe sometimes it’s not a bad thing to let a plane or two pass…” Her lips twitch as if she’s fighting a smile. “Little things like that.”
I smile back. “So you’ll help us.”
Rather than answer, Valeria rises to her feet and brushes dirt off her pants. She walks to the pile of fabric she’d left by the door, and I realize it’s not clothing. It’s a canvas wrap, which she uses to bind my lower leg.
“You’ll be released soon. You must pretend you’re still in pain,” she says, her voice firm as she stands at the door. “Nobody can know I healed you.”
“I won’t say a word,” I promise. Before she can leave the cell, I call out her name. “Valeria.”
She looks over, and I feel an unexpected, fragile alliance forming.
“Can you do me a favor?”
Chapter 45
Gray’s not waiting for me in the hangar.
He’s even angrier than I thought, then. Anxiety pulls at my gut and trembles through my fingers as I take the elevator to the third floor. On the bright side, my leg feels great. Even better than before. If anything, it’s the other one that’s sore now, from all that trekking through the jungle this morning.
He lets me into his quarters without a word, and we face off in the center of the living area. The muscles in his jaw are working hard, as if he’s grinding his teeth. His shoulders so tense, they look like they might snap in half.
“You incited me.”
