Page 17

Riley

“ W e aren’t familiars,” I grumbled, finally turning away from the empty spot where the girls had stood to meet Reina’s girlfriend, Jessa, face to face. “It’s Lieutenant Sullivan.”

She tucked her blonde strands behind her ear and tossed her hair over her shoulder. Coal was smeared around her icy eyes. Darker, more pronounced than Reina ever did. She smiled at me, “We’re family adjacent. No bonus points for that?”

“Family adjacent, for now.”

“Here I was thinking it was Reina that would take the longest to forgive,” her smile didn’t drop, though to my pleasure, it wavered slightly.

“Reina loves love, regardless of how dirty you did her by spying for Ronan,” I dismissed their relationship. Not because I didn’t have faith in Reina, but because I knew that in her heart, she would hold on to whatever she could from her life before she’d left our gates. Change was hard for her, so me, the others, we would step in where we could. “She doesn’t see through you like the rest of us.”

Her tan hand fell over her heart and she took an inch closer to me than appreciated. “Ouch. And she said you were the nicest.”

“Imagine how the others express their fondness for you.”

“I’m here to help,” she said. “Doesn’t that make a difference?”

“No. I’m not in the mood for this. What is it that you want to share?”

“Can we go to your office for this?” she whispered. It was unnecessary given the metal clinking and groans of pain around us in The Pit. “It’s … confidential.”

“You’re a spy. I’d expect nothing less,” I said as I brushed past her.

She followed close behind. Her presence sent a crawling feeling up my spine. I refused to trust her. I didn’t care what Reina said. It was my responsibility to take care of The Compound and Reina was included in that responsibility. We’d become closer since her return. I wouldn’t fail her either.

“ Was a spy,” Jessa clarified. “Now I work for The Compound … in any capacity.”

I knew what she was hinting at. She was a fool if she thought me to be a fool. We weren’t about to trade secrets with a former spy. There were no double agents within my ranks. I appreciated loyalty on top of everything, no matter the cost, no matter the emotions one may acquire while doing their job. A spy that flipped wasn’t worth much more than the information they were able to provide.

“Once a spy, always a spy.”

“You’re a lieutenant. Abel’s just a soldier now.”

“Once a spy, always a spy,” I repeated as I unlocked the heavy wooden door to what was now my quarters. She stepped in after me, and I motioned for her to take a seat. I hadn’t changed any of the furniture out here. The memories that had been made … I didn’t want to wipe them away. Fear of erasure. I supposed Reina wasn’t the only one with a fear of change. “Can I get you anything? Water? Bourbon?”

“I’m more of a moonshine gal.”

“Figures,” I mumbled, taking a seat in the leather chair behind the desk I’d spent days making sure suited all Amaia’s needs. Wood carving was fun when you had the magic to make it as elaborate as one could want in half the time. “Well.”

“What if I were to tell you there’s another Seer here?” Jessa’s smile finally fell. Reina’s girlfriend was no longer here, a spy falling into a debriefing routine now present before me.

That caught my attention. I leaned forward slightly, not wanting to appear too eager. “Go on.”

“There’s a little girl, around ten. Her family would have arrived around the time of Jax’s passing.”

“We would have known if another Seer entered The Compound,” I said dismissively. “Gifts are recorded upon entry, as you know.”

Jessa pushed to her feet with excitement in her tone. Her long legs crossed the room and stopped directly in front of me. “Not this one. She’s young. Her parents would have claimed her as a simple Scholar to avoid detection.”

“Do you have a name?” I asked, dragging my gaze from her dirty sneakers up to her eyes.

She didn’t budge. “No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

“I have a face.” She grimaced. “Vaguely. It’s been tugging on my memory.”

“Ronan?”

Jessa offered two sure nods. “Reina mentioned Moe saw the VeilSight Disruptor from a vision. Has she told you the details?”

“This family has no more secrets.”

She paced over to Amaia’s bookshelves. Thumbing through the books she’d left behind, she pulled one loose and inspected it. Jessa flipped it over and glanced over the back before slipping it back where it belonged. “Right,” she whistled. “Anyway, the VeilSight Disruptor has kept my mind fuzzy. Tugging on the tendrils of my memory before I was debriefed. The more time I’ve spent away, the more I remember.”

I trailed her around the room, marking exactly what she had touched. I could never be too sure with this one. No , I certainly could not. “You want us to believe that Ronan enlisted a child as a spy?”

“What? Like it’s beneath Monterey to do so?” She arched a sun blonde brow. “She’s not a spy. But she was one of their best-kept secrets and her power extends beyond normal Sight . Ronan doesn’t know where she is. He’s been trying to find her.”

“She’s powerful?”

Jessa found her way back to the leather couch and lounged across it. “Extremely.”

“We just have to figure out who she is,” I muttered, more to myself than the woman before me.

“Exactly.”

“I’m assuming that’s no easy task?” There had to be some catch.

She shakes her head, “No. Her family fled to protect her.”

“And they chose the place he hated the most?”

More questions surged through my mind. Why could Jessa remember some things and not others? What would happen if we found this girl? Why … why … did they seek refuge in Monterey, of all places?

That answer was easy to assume. We were the safest place they could be. With our walls and our military, for a long time, we had seemed impenetrable. And we would have been, had we not fallen from the inside out.

“Who better to protect her than Ronan’s biggest fear,” Jessa confirmed without me having to voice the question aloud.

“This is great information, Jessa.” Jessa smiled though it fell at my next words, “How does this better serve The Compound? We have three Seers , and several more in our network. All who are powerful?—”

“He designed the VeilSight Disruptor and the wards around her magic. If Ronan has it on, she has the potential to bypass them both.”

Shit. We needed her. Unfortunately, to get to her, it appeared I may need to rely on Jessa.

“So, how do we find her? Take you around the classrooms, pile all the kids out in front of Compound Hall?”

“No.” Her answer came fast and sure. She sat up straight, eyes boring into mine. “That will scare her family away. You need an in. Someone to gain their trust.”

“Excuse me if I’m being presumptuous, but I don’t think that’s you.”

Jessa’s laugh was carefree, as though she had known that was never a solution. “Oh, it’s definitely not me. Like I said, I’m only here to help.”

“How thoughtful,” I said. Picking up the stack of security enhancements to review for the gates, I shuffled them around with dismissal, not bothering to glance back up. “Thank you for the information. I’ll take this to the general.”

“That’s it?” Jessa asked as she rose back to her feet. She tucked her hands into the back pockets of her trousers. They were stained with dirt from The Gardens. The only place she was currently trusted. Amaia needed the extra hands, anyway.

“Did you expect more?”

“No, I just thought?—”

“What? That you could help us?” I chuckled. Rude as it may be, I didn’t have any patience left in me today to care. “A spy is a spy, Jessa. We appreciate all the ways you have helped, but there is no room for anyone on our team who isn’t Compound first. You are Reina first. Here or not, you will never be Compound first. My general allows for second chances, I do not.”

Jessa may have told Reina she had spied for Ronan out of necessity, but we would never be able to prove that as fact. Facts were what I lived by. Facts were what I could trust. And the fact was, Jessa had only decided to do the right thing out of her love for Reina. That made her a liability. In love was desperation. She would do anything for the relationship, even if that meant spying for Ronan when she claimed she no longer did.

“But Alexiares?—”

“Is not part of this conversation. A conversation that is now very much over.”

The room fell to near silence. The only sound was the critters I now called on to help clear the room. Jessa stood still as a statue, her face hard, taking me in. Another moment passed, and she nodded once in acceptance. “If you need me, you know where she keeps me.”

“Better than where Amaia would.” With that, the door latched shut.