Page 88 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

‘Do you know what private means? I wouldn’t break his trust for anything.’ Kade sets the clothes down on Riley’s bed. ‘Here.’

‘Thanks.’ Lachlan doesn’t take them, though. Instead, he pulls out the exact same book Kade withdrew from the shelf earlier, like he could somehow sense that Kade had touched it. Rifling through the pages, Lachlan says, ‘Silly used to love these kinds of books.’

‘Silly?’

‘Vasily. I keep forgetting you don’t remember him.’ Lachlan returns the book. ‘You two were best friends. He’d love to see you.’

‘Lachlan,’ Kade says seriously. ‘Vasily Sorrenko is incredibly dangerous. If you bring him here—’

‘I wouldn’t do that,’ Lachlan assures him quickly, perhaps a little too quickly. ‘After the attack today, actually seeing you carry Harker’s injuries, I understand the situation.’

‘Oh?’

‘Your Tower must be protected. You and Harker are connected for now.’ Lachlan drops his towel, dressing in the clean clothes Kade gave him. ‘So, for the time being, I’m Team Iron Star.’

‘Good to know.’

‘But my allegiance is to you, not him.’

‘And mine is to Riley.’

‘Exactly.’

‘I wanted to ask you something.’

‘Go ahead.’

‘The steak Riley gave you.’

Lachlan’s lip curls. ‘That was a sly trick he pulled with your man Seth.’

‘So you think it was a play?’

‘Obviously. Seth is terrified of other kinds.’

‘But Riley said something about it before in the mess hall.’

‘Look, I don’t want to speak poorly about someone you care about—’

‘That’s all you’ve done since you got here.’

‘—but the truth is, your boss likes scaring people,’ Lachlan says. ‘He’s good at it and has the intuition to really tap into what people fear. Seth is scared of being made obsolete, of losing power and becoming livestock. Your boss zeroed in on it. That’s all it was. I don’t care about Harker.’

‘I’m not trying to make you.’

Lachlan looks at him knowingly. ‘No, but you’d like it if I did.’

‘I got the memo that it’s not going to happen.’

‘He kept you.’

‘Safe, Lachlan. He kept me safe.’

‘Maybe you would have been safer somewhere else. Varrow is big, but it’s not that big. You could have been hiding away on the other side of the planet, living a life that wasn’t tantamount to military servitude.’

‘I like my life.’

‘That’s not good enough for me.’