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“The fun kind.” He winked at me. “Not the serious kind. Kato has that corner covered.” He dumped the cooked pasta into the sieve in the sink. “I guess that’s why we usually get along so well. We kind of balance each other out.”

Usually. That word was hard to miss. And so was the pained way that Conner said it.

But his smile quickly returned. “In any case, dinner is served.” He set a full plate of pasta in front of me.

I took a bite, and my tastebuds thanked me. “You were right! The fresh tomatoes made all the difference!”

“I know my way around a kitchen.”

He tried to pull off a nonchalant shrug, but I wasn’t fooled for a second. He was happy I liked the dish he’d prepared. I could see it in his eyes. Even though he tried to hide it. He wasn’t nearly as good of an actor as he thought. There was something just so genuine about him.

“So,” I said once my plate was empty. “You said you’d tell me why you’re here.”

“Besides being here to hang out with my favorite Apprentice?”

“Do you even know any other Apprentices?”

“No, but that doesn’t matter. No matter how many Apprentices I meet, you will always be my favorite, Red. And not just because you’re nearly as good at annoying the General as I am. By the way, kudos on scoring an inquisition already.”

I slouched over. “You’ve heard about my inquisition?”

“Red,everyonehas heard about your inquisition. News spreads when an Apprentice is called into the General’s office on the third day.”

I sank a little deeper in my chair.

But Conner patted me on the back. “Well done! It took me at least four times as long to hit that milestone.”

I laughed. He looked so genuinely proud of me that I couldn’t help it. Which is probably why he’d said it. To cheer me up.

“Right, back to business. I’m here tonight because I’m fulfilling a promise,” he told me.

“A promise? To whom?”

His answer wasn’t what I’d expected. “To you, Red. A promise made the day we met in Bayshore’s Forbidden Zone, shortly after we survived a trio of Cursed Ones. I promised I would look into the string of Cursed One attacks. And I did.”

“What did you discover?” I scooted closer to him, as though that would get me the answer sooner.

“I discovered that in all cases, the Cursed Ones targeted either the Chosen before the Blending or Apprentices afterwards.”

“Like in the Garden.”

“Yes.”

“They are targeting people in line to become the next Knights,” I said quietly. “But the Knights are all that stand between us and the Curse. Why would anyone on Gaia want to take them out?”

“Who said someone from Gaia is behind the attacks?”

“You think it’s someone from the Many Realms?”

“I’m not saying anything right now. Because I don’t know anything right now.”

“Whoever these people are, we need to find them. And stop them!” I jumped off the stool.

But Conner was faster. He was on his feet and had caught my hand before I’d made it a single step. “I’ll keep looking into this, and if I find anything, I’ll let you know.” His hands lifted to my shoulders. “I promise.”

I met his eyes. “I believe you. You kept your last promise.”

“As did you.” His smile was smaller this time, more vulnerable. “Thank you for not telling anyone that I was in Bayshore. And please don’t tell anyone that I’m looking into this. The General can’t find out.”