“This is necessary, Wesley,” Jade said in her cool, unruffled voice. “This only proves that Talon is planning something, and we must discover what that is before it is too late.”
“And you know you’re going to go along with it,” Riley added. “So can we just skip the whining and get to the part where you actually start helping?”
“I could do that,” Wes said, scowling at him. “But then, who would tell you what an absolute wanker you are?” He sighed and opened his laptop, then bent over the keys.
I rose and slipped quietly from the room toward the hallway where the bedrooms were located. Riley watched me leave over the back of Wes’s stool, but he didn’t say anything as I continued into the hall and walked to the door at the very end. Light glimmered through the crack at the bottom, and I tapped on the wood.
“It’s open,” came the muffled voice beyond the frame.
I pushed the door back with a squeak. Ember sat on her bed with her back against the headboard and one leg drawn to her chest. She had changed out of the black suit, which lay in a crumpled pile at the foot of the bed, and now wore jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, though I could still see the slick material of the Viper suit poking up through her collar. I knew she rarely went without it anymore, just in case she needed to Shift into her real form, either to escape or to attack. Her hands rested in her lap, one of them curled around an item I couldn’t see.
“Hey, Garret.” Green eyes rose to mine as I entered the room, and she offered a tired smile. “Shouldn’t you be out there plotting our next move with Riley? Or should I say, secret agent man?” The smile widened the tiniest bit. “I meant to tell you earlier—you look good in a tie. You and Riley both. I think we should pretend to be government agents more often.”
I smiled as I closed the door, though my mind wasn’t on clothes right now. “Good luck with that. I think Riley changed out of his suit even before you did.” Walking to the bed, I gazed down at her, feeling that odd heat start to spread through my insides. “You all right?” I asked softly.
She nodded, scooting aside to make room for me on the mattress. “Yeah,” she admitted as I settled carefully beside her, leaning back against the frame. “Sorry I wasn’t out there. I was...distracted.”
Her arm brushed mine, and my pulse stuttered. Gently, I reached for the hand pressed against her knee and turned it over to see what she was holding. A small quartz crystal lay in her palm, glimmering softly in the light as her fingers uncurled. Ember smiled as she gazed down at it.
“Dante gave this to me,” she admitted, “years ago, when we were just kids. He knew I liked shiny things. He did, too, actually. Maybe more than I did.” She chuckled, though it sounded a little sad. “That’s one thing the stories get right—dragons love treasure. We each had our own little hoard that we hid from each other. I knew he wanted to keep this.” She tilted her palm so that the crystal gleamed under the lamps. “But he gave it me instead. It’s the only thing from Crescent Beach I’ve been able to take with me.” She wrinkled her nose. “Well, besides the damn Viper suit. Everything else I’ve lost or had to give up, but I still have this.”
Her eyes were shadowed. Reaching down, I took her hand, curling my fingers over hers. “I’m sorry,” I murmured. “I know you miss him.”
“What is he doing, Garret?” Ember whispered, closing her eyes. “I keep going over that email in my mind, from every possible angle, and coming to the same conclusion. I thought I knew him. I thought Talon was just deceiving him, lying to him like they do to everyone else. I was sure that if Dante really understood what they were about, what they really did, he would never have stayed with them. But...” She opened her eyes, and her expression was tortured, making my insides knot. “If he was involved with the cover-up, then he knew what was going on, what Talon was doing. He knew that they...killed everyone there, massacred an entire community like it was nothing.” She curled her fingers around the quartz again, making a fist. “What’s happened to you, Dante?” she whispered, and her voice was almost accusing. “How could you have been a part of that? Dammit, if I ever see you again, what am I supposed to do now?”
“Ember.” Reaching out, I gently pulled her against me, wrapping my arms around her. She was quiet, curled up against my side, the hand that clutched the quartz trapped between us.
“I thought I could save him,” she whispered at last. “I wanted, so badly, for him to be with us. I thought that if I could just make him see what Talon is really like...” She trailed off, pressing her face to my chest, making my heart thump in my ears. I said nothing, just holding her, feeling the heat pulse between us, until she let out a ragged sigh and drew back. “I guess I was fooling myself,” she went on, her voice harder now. “He’s one of them now. I think I’ve always known, especially after what happened in Vegas. Dante has always been one hundred percent Talon. I just didn’t want to believe it.”
“Don’t give up just yet,” I told her, running a thumb over her cheek, making her blink at me. “I know it feels like he’s betrayed you, and now it’s us against him and Talon. But you can’t lose faith that, someday, you’ll be able to make him see the truth. That he’ll realize what he’s doing, what the organization is really about, and he’ll leave. Turn his back on the entire thing.”
“I don’t know, Garret.” Ember half closed her eyes, circling my wrist with her fingers. “How long can I keep hoping? How long can I afford to believe that he’ll somehow just abandon everything Talon has taught him?” She sighed, running her palm down my arm, making my skin tingle. “I know how stubborn Dante is. And now, he’s further within the organization than ever before.” She shook her head. “I don’t know him anymore, Garret. Even if I could get to him, could I ever change his mind?”
“You changed mine.”
She opened her eyes and peeked up. I gave a half smile. “It’s because of you that I’m here,” I told her. “That I’m fighting Talon and St. George, and trying to save the rogues. I want to make up for my past, but it’s more than that.” I took her hand, holding her gaze. “Ember, because of you, I have to believe that I can get through to Tristan. And Martin, and the entire Order of St. George. To convince them that we’ve been mistaken this whole time, that some dragons aren’t soulless killers that deserve death. I think we have a chance to someday end this war, and to stop the fighting for good. To finally have peace.” I pressed a palm to her cheek. “I believe that...because I met you.”