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Chapter thirty-eight

ATALIIA

“Hello, Love.” Dukovich’s voice rang from the front door as my eyes rolled to the back of my head. The man could not grasp the concept of privacy.

“You really should learn to knock,” I snapped, not turning to look at him as I continued sharpening the daggers laid out on the table in front of me.

He strode casually over to where I sat, pulling out the chair across from me and sitting as a grin spread across his face.

My eyes finally dragged away from my knives, grazing over him as he leaned back in his chair, his left elbow propped up over the back of it.

The cream tunic draped across him hung open at the collar, the few buttons undone and showing off the muscles and ink rippling across his chest. I had never seen them until now, the tattoos strewn about his skin.

I swallowed, tearing my eyes away before he noticed them on him.

The Gods were laughing at me.

It was a sick joke to make the man I loathed this attractive.

“Look,” I started, picking up a dagger and twirling it between my fingers as I leaned back into my chair. “I need to preface this by stating, I still fucking hate you and have every intention of killing you the second we no longer have use for you—”

“A threat? Are you flirting with me, love?” he interjected, chuckling to himself as he rested his forearms on the table.

Gods he was insufferable.

“What I am trying to say—if you would shut your mouth for five seconds—is thank you.” The words sounded strained as they rolled off my tongue, like they had to be pried from my lungs to make it out of my mouth.

His brows furrowed as his eyes connected with mine and I cleared my throat, forcing myself to continue. “I wouldn’t have survived my injuries if it weren’t for you, and I know you never left my side while I was in the infirmary. So, thank you, for not letting me die when you could have.”

A smile slid onto his face, and for the first time there was pure, genuine sincerity in it. No mischief, no games, just kindness. Something behind his eyes flickered as he pulled them from mine and glanced down at his hands.

“I would never leave you to die,” he said quietly, the playful undertone in his voice replaced now by something much more somber.

“I have caused you immense pain, I see that now. Your torture may not have been done by my hands, but it happened because of me—because I allowed it to. I did not know you then as I do now, and if I could go back and stop it, I would.”

My heart beat against my chest as he spoke, my pulse pounding between my ears as he brought his gaze back to mine. The oxygen stilled in my lungs at the emotion exploding behind his irises.

If I hadn’t known better, I would have thought he cared for me.

“I am sorry for the things I let happen to you—for the anguish my actions have caused.”

His jaw went taut at the words, as if expressing sincere emotion was just as painful for him as it was me.

“I made you a promise in the infirmary, and I will keep it.”

We stared at each other from across the table as silence settled. Something sparked between us in the quiet and my chest heaved under the weight of it.

No. I stood abruptly, pushing away from the table.

I refused to let anything other than hate fill me when I looked at him.

“Glad to see you finally taking accountability,” I said, snatching my tarot deck from the table and shuffling them to busy my hands.

He leaned back in his chair, that arrogant smirk reappearing across his lips as he studied me. “Oh, how I have missed your charm.”

I scoffed as the seven of swords card slipped from my hands.

“I have places to be. So please, scurry off to whatever hole you came from,” I snapped, bending down to pluck the card from the floor and tucking it back into the deck.

“Same place as me, I assume,” he said, standing as Cyloe trotted out of the bedroom. She meandered over to me, pressing her head against my legs before sitting at my feet.

I closed my eyes, taking in a deep breath and expelling the annoyance from my body. “Let’s just get this over with.”

I slid into the chair next to Cin as Andrues took the seat beside me, casually lifting his arm and resting it on the back of my seat as our thighs brushed together. I could feel his eyes scanning the side of my face and I turned toward Cin to avoid his stare.

His presence was intoxicating. And it wasn’t allowed to be.

“I’m just going to warn you now,” Cin started, a sheepish smile spreading across her face. “You are not going to like this meeting.”

I groaned, already knowing where this was headed. “He has so much faith in me not to kill him.”

Cin’s smile widened, her eyes flickering to Dukovich across the table. “Let’s not pretend like he isn’t growing on you.”

A scowl seeped into my face as Landers cleared his throat, quieting the room.

“The ceremony will end right around dusk, we will only have twenty-four hours to get into Ammord and get out if we want to use the celebration as a cover. Preferably, I would like us to be back in Ithia by sunrise,” Landers said, leaning forward on the table.

“Ataliia, Dukovich—you will be the first to leave immediately after the ceremony ends.”

My teeth clamped around my tongue as Dukovich flashed me a smug smile from the other end of the table.

“Your task is to make the biggest scene possible, with the least amount of risk in Sethros to distract the House of High and War Council, while also finding out as much information as you can about the creation of Daemons. You will have until midnight to complete this.” Landers leaned forward, his eyes locking on mine.

“Least risk possible, do you understand me?”

“Yes, sir.” I deadpanned, my lips crooking upward as I shrugged.

He turned to Dukovich, raising a brow in his direction.

Dukovich nodded once and Landers continued.

“Once the chaos in the city has started, you will meet the rest of us on the outskirts of Camp Bane. Your arrival there will be the go-ahead we need. Gimara, do you think you will be able to slip out of Ithia unnoticed?”

“Yes, I can make that happen,” she said, her back straightening as everyone turned to look at her.

I eyed her cautiously.

Cin and Landers trusted her enough to invite her to this meeting, but that did not mean I trusted her. I knew nothing about her, and until she proved that she could hold her own, that she could do what needed to be done in a bind, I would not risk any of our lives for hers.

“Have you ever killed anyone?” I asked, leaning onto my forearms.

Her eyes shot to mine. “I have not.”

“Are you prepared to? Because that is what this mission is. We will kill hundreds, if not more clearing this camp. This won’t be a battle, this will be a massacre.

Are you prepared to live with that?” I asked as her eyes flashed to Cin before falling back to mine.

“If you’re not prepared, if you’re not willing to have that blood on your conscience, then tell us now.

We need to be able to trust with absolute certainty that you will kill to keep us alive, that you will die protecting us if you expect us to do the same for you. ”

Her shoulders straightened as she nodded.

“I am prepared to do whatever I must to keep my people safe. If I must get blood on my hands—if I must bathe in it—I will do it.”

I dipped my chin, an impressed smile sliding onto my lips as I leaned back in my chair.

That was a good fucking answer .

Maybe I would like her after all.

“My kind of woman,” I said, looking back to Landers as I pulled the tarot deck from my jacket pocket and began shuffling.

“Asrai, you will stay in Ithia to keep the Yaldrin protected if—for any reason—there is a counter attack while we are gone, and to minimize any suspicion of our whereabouts. And Pri, you will be going back to Locdragoon to help Elric do the same there.”

Pri’s brows creased. “Elric is capable of managing that on his own, I am going with you.”

“No, Pri. You are going home,” Landers said, his voice calm but filled with a hint of warning.

“No. I should be there with you. I need to be there with you.”

Silence swallowed up the room as Landers ran a hand down his face, his jaw tensing as he leaned forward. “I know you want to be there, but after what happened on your last assignment, I cannot risk having you back in Ammord. We do not know who saw your face.”

I could see the struggle in her eyes as she stared back at him, her lips pursing like she was holding back the words she wanted to say. Landers wasn’t wrong for not bringing her, it was no small mistake she’d made and we had yet to feel the consequences of it.

Pri leaned back in her chair, her fingers tapping against the table as Wren shifted in his seat beside her.

Asrai cleared her throat, breaking through the tense air as I flipped a card between my fingers. Again, the seven of swords. I would need to ask Yenne what it meant when we returned to Locdragoon.

“These Fallen Gods, what is your plan for them?” Asrai asked.

“Nothing,” Cin answered, “We have no use for them other than fighting in this war beside us. Until that happens, they do nothing. They’re forbidden to leave Ithia or speak to anyone outside of our party and the Yaldrin leaders.”

Asrai leaned forward, her eyes narrowing on Cin. “How, pray tell, did you get five fallen Gods and their dragons to agree to this?”

“I made a deal with them,” Cin said, pushing a curl behind her ear as her back straightened. “A branded deal.”

Asrai’s eyes widened and shot to Landers. “How could you let this happen?” she hissed.

“Don’t look at him, look at me,” Cin snapped and I pressed my lips together to stop a proud smile from forming on my face.

“I chose to make it, not him. So if you want to be angry, be angry at me. I made a deal that once this war is over—once they help us win it—I will help them remove my grandparents from power.”