Ithan asked, “So what now?”
She sighed. “I gotta get back to work.”
He arched a brow in question.
“Job, remember?” She got to her feet. “Maybe, um … find someplace to hide this stuff? And don’t play Warrior Hero anymore. I liked that coffee table.”
Ithan flushed. “I wasn’t playing Warrior Hero,” he muttered.
Bryce snickered and grabbed her ID from where she’d left it hanging beside the door, but then she sobered. “You looked good wielding it, Ithan.”
“I was just screwing around.” His tone was tense enough that she didn’t say anything more before leaving.
Ruhn found Cormac at the pool hall in FiRo, losing to a satyr, an old rock song crackling from the jukebox on the other side of the concrete-lined space.
Cormac said, focusing on his shot, “I’d never tell your father, by the way.”
“And yet here I am,” Ruhn said. The satyr noted the expression on Ruhn’s face and made himself scarce. “Seems like your threat worked.”
“Desperate times,” Cormac muttered.
Ruhn grabbed the cue the satyr had discarded, eyeing the pool table. He spotted the satyr’s next shot immediately and smirked. “He was probably going to kick your ass.”
Cormac again assessed his shot. “I was letting him win. It was the princely thing to do.”
Balls cracked, and Ruhn chuckled as they scattered. None found a pocket.
“Sure,” Ruhn said, aligning the cue ball. Two balls found their homes with a satisfying plink.
Cormac swore softly. “I have a feeling this is more your element than mine.”
“Guilty.”
“You seem like a male who spends his time in places like this.”
“As opposed to …?”
“Doing things.”
“I head up the Aux. It’s not like I squat in dives all day.” Ruhn looked pointedly around the bar.
“That party suggested otherwise.”
“We like to enjoy ourselves here in sunny Lunathion.”
Cormac snorted. “Apparently.” He watched Ruhn pocket another ball, then blow his second shot by an inch. “You have more piercings since the last time I saw you. And more ink. Things must be dull around here if that’s what you spend your time on.”
“All right,” Ruhn said, leaning against his cue. “You’re a brooding hero and I’m a lazy asshole. Is that really how you want to start your pitch?”
Cormac made his move, one of the balls finally sinking into a pocket. But his second shot missed, leaving the angle Ruhn needed completely open. “Hear me out, cousin. That’s all I ask.”
“Fine.” Ruhn took his shot. “Let’s hear it.” His voice was barely more than a whisper.
Cormac leaned against his cue and studied the empty bar before saying, “Sofie was in contact with our most vital spy in the rebellion—Agent Daybright.”
Unease wended through Ruhn. He really, really didn’t want to know this.
Cormac went on, “Daybright has direct access to the Asteri—Ophion has long wondered whether Daybright is one of the Asteri themselves. Daybright and Sofie used codes on crystal-fueled radios to pass along messages. But with Sofie’s … disappearance, it’s become too dangerous to keep using the old methods of communicating. The fact that the Hind was able to be on the scene so quickly that night indicates that someone might have intercepted those messages and broken our codes. We need someone who can mind-speak to be in direct contact with Agent Daybright.”
“And why the fuck would I ever agree to work with you?” Beyond the threat of Cormac telling his father about his talents.
The mind-speaking was a rare gift of the Avallen Fae, inherited from his mother’s bloodline, and had always come naturally to him. He’d been four the first time he’d done it—he’d asked his mother for a sandwich. She’d screamed when she’d heard him in her mind, and in that moment, he’d known that the gift was something to hide, to keep secret. When she’d rubbed her head, clearly wondering if she’d imagined things, he’d kept quiet. And made sure she had no reason to bring him to his father, who he knew, even then, would have questioned and examined him and never let him go. Ruhn hadn’t made that mistake again.
He wouldn’t let his father control this piece of him, too. And even if Cormac had sworn he wouldn’t reveal it … he’d be stupid to believe his cousin.
“Because it’s the right thing to do,” Cormac said. “I’ve seen those death camps. Seen what’s left of the people who survive. The children who survive. It can’t be allowed to go on.”
Ruhn said, “The prison camps are nothing new. Why act now?”
“Because Daybright came along and started feeding us vital information that has led to successful strikes on supply lines, missions, encampments. Now that we have someone in the upper echelons of the Asteri’s rule, it changes everything. The information Daybright would pass to you can save thousands of lives.”
“And take them,” Ruhn said darkly. “Did you tell Command about me?”
“No,” Cormac said earnestly. “I only mentioned that I had a contact in Lunathion who might be useful in reestablishing our connection with Daybright, and was sent here.”
Ruhn couldn’t fault him for trying. While he couldn’t read thoughts or invade people’s unguarded minds as some of his cousins could, he’d learned that he could talk to people on a sort of psychic bridge, as if his mind had formed it brick by brick between souls. It was perfect for a spy network.
But Ruhn asked, “And it was coincidence that it happened to line up with Emile coming here, too?”
A slight smile. “Two birds, one stone. I needed a reason to be here, to cover for my hunt for him. Seeking out your gifts offered that to Ophion. As does my engagement to your sister.”
Ruhn frowned. “So you’re asking me to what—help out this one time? Or for the rest of my fucking life?”
“I’m asking you, Ruhn, to pick up where Sofie left off. How long you decide to work with us is up to you. But right now, Ophion is desperate for Daybright’s information. People’s lives depend on it. Daybright has alerted us three times now before an imperial attack on one of our bases. Those warnings saved thousands of lives. We need you for the next few months—or at least until we’ve attained the intel that Sofie knew.”
“I don’t see how I have any choice but to say yes.”
“I told you—I won’t tell your father. I just needed to get you here. To get you to listen. I wouldn’t ask this of you unless it was necessary.”
“How’d you even get caught up in all this rebel business?” Cormac’s life had been pretty cushy, as far as Ruhn could tell. But he supposed that to an outsider, his own life looked the same.
Cormac weighed the cue in his hands. “It’s a long story. I linked up with them about four years ago.”
“And what’s your title with Ophion, exactly?”
“Field agent. Technically, I’m a field commander of the northwestern Pangeran spy network.” He exhaled slowly. “Sofie was one of my agents.”