Page 63 of Veiled

“I’d rather be gagged,” I mutter.

“That’s what every husband wants to hear on his honeymoon. Want it white to match your wedding dress, or do you have a black set to match your conscience?”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

He doesn’t answer.

Somehow, between taking jabs at each other and me continuously threatening to remove his favorite appendages every time he calls me Mrs. Carter, we make plans to leave campus an hour after my Spell Casting class lets out tomorrow, assuming everyone else will try to get out right away.

“I really hate that I’m about to ask this, but what about Lucas? Obviously, he can’t see us leaving campus together, or he’s going to ask questions,” I say.

“Don’t worry, I’ve gotten pretty good at distracting your ex-lover when I have missions.”

I shoot Aiden a glare, wishing he had a mute button. “Don’t start.”

“You brought the poor guy up,” he says, shaking his head.

“Poor guy? Abso-fucking-lutely not. I think we’re done here.”

“Just forget it, ok? We need to get through this exercise as a team, but we don’t need to hash shit out trying to become friends.”

“Right. Well, do me a favor and keep your friends away from me.” I’m almost to the mouth of the cave when I add, “I’ll see you Friday in the parking lot.”

My head pounds as I think about the weekend ahead. Forty-eight hours of sneaking around like spies, trying to steal information from the sympathizers, and avoiding being caught by our target. And what happens if we are caught? Is there an extraction team on standby, or are we going to die at their hands? Or even worse, are they going to kidnap us and take us back to Clowess?

Deep breaths. It’ll all be okay, Annalise. You’ve handled worse. They won’t let us die.

But even as I walk the two-ish miles back to campus, I can’t help but wonder if it’ll be Aiden or the mission that will test how much I like to survive.

Chapter twenty-three

Annalise

It’s really hard trying to pack for a weekend beach getaway with my fake husband, whom I real-life dislike, for a military spy mission where I have to convincingly act like I’m relaxing.

If Aiden weren’t my partner, I would probably be excited. Seabrim is only a couple of hours away, but it’s much warmer there, which means I need to pack my swimsuit too.

Once I finally get my backpack packed, because a suitcase would be too obvious, I walk out to meet Aiden in the parking lot.

Already leaning against his fancy car when I arrive, he looks far too calm about having to pretend to be married to me. He smirks when he and I both realize I’ve been staring at him. I’m already annoyed.

“Well, Mrs. Carter,” he drawls, nodding toward my backpack, “You sure packed light. How very—convincing. I’m sure every honeymooner uses a backpack for their luggage.”

I sling the bag off my shoulder.

“I needed to get across campus without anyone asking me where I was going.”

Lifting his hands in mock surrender, “Fair point. Now, shall we get going? I could use a little time relaxing on the beach.”

“I’m not sure how much ‘relaxing’ time we’re going to get on our mission.” I know I’m being a bitch, but I can’t help it. I tossed and turned all night, replaying the shit he and Lucas have pulled since we met, and now I have to act like none of it happened.

“Relaxing is relative,” he says, opening the passenger door for me like he’s already in character.

As we drive out of the parking lot, Aiden glances at me before reaching into the back seat and pulling out a medium-sized gift bag. “Here,” he says, holding it out to me. “Consider it a…truce gift.”

I stare at the bag for all of two seconds before the words cut out of me, sharper than I intended.

“A truce? Really?” I scoff.