She nodded and gazed through the windshield at the restaurant on the edge of the parking lot. “He’s meeting us at seven-thirty, right?”
“Yes,” I answered. “Though knowing Tristan, he’s probably already here.” I’d contacted my former partner almost immediately after arriving at the farmhouse, though I hadn’t known whether I’d hear from him again. After what had happened with the Patriarch, I wouldn’t blame him if he wanted nothing to do with me. Once I’d sent the message, I’d wondered if Tristan himself was all right. I might have defeated the Patriarch in battle and destabilized St. George, but from what I’d heard from Ember, it was Tristan himself who had shot and killed the leader of the Order. He wouldn’t be punished for it; I knew that at least. The Patriarch had broken the rules of the duel, confirming his guilt, and Tristan had acted accordingly. But it was still a heavy weight to bear, executing the man the Order revered above all others.
To my surprise, he’d responded within minutes, insisting we meet face-to-face. Reno was a good halfway point, and an unassuming restaurant, surrounded by witnesses, was a good spot for both of us to know we weren’t being set up. We were still enemies, on opposite sides of the war, and I couldn’t drop my guard.
Ember checked the pistol strapped to her waist, pulled her shirt down to conceal the holster and glanced at me. “Ready?”
I nodded. “Stay alert,” I told her. “I know you’re aware of what we’re up against, but Tristan is still part of the Order. We can’t expect him not to turn on us.”
We walked across the parking lot together and ducked into the restaurant. Inside, the hostess smiled brightly as we approached, not noticing the way we both scanned the room, searching for enemies.
“Good evening,” she greeted us as we stepped up to the podium. “Two?”
I shook my head. “We’re supposed to be meeting someone here,” I told her. “St. Anthony?”
“Ah, yes. He told us you were coming. Right this way, please.”
She led us to a corner booth, gesturing to the seats with a bright, “Enjoy your meal,” before walking away. I continued to stand, feeling Ember go rigid beside me. For the man in the booth, gazing calmly up at us with his hands folded on the table, was not Tristan.
“Hello, Sebastian,” Lieutenant Gabriel Martin said, and indicated the seat across from him. “Please, sit down.”
I didn’t. I tensed and quickly glanced around the room for anyone who could be a soldier of St. George. Lieutenant Martin sighed.
“Relax, Sebastian. I’m alone. There’s no one here but me, and no one in the Order knows where I’ve gone. Now, please...” He gestured to the booth again, giving me a tight smile. “Sit down. You and your dragon are in no danger, at least not today.”
Warily, we did as he asked, sliding into the seat across from him. “Where’s Tristan?” I asked, and his face darkened.
“Back at the barracks. He won’t be joining us.” Martin paused as a waitress arrived to take our drink order. After she left, he took a sip of his water and continued in a grim voice. “Sebastian, you should know that after the incident with the Patriarch, St. Anthony was taken into custody. He admitted to meeting with you outside of St. George and to conspiring against the Patriarch, both treasonous offenses as I’m sure you know. There were some in the Order who called for his execution for the part he played in aiding you that night.”
My stomach dropped. I knew Tristan had taken a huge risk in helping us, that St. George could see him as a coconspirator of the whole event. I’d hoped his actions would be overlooked in the general chaos; the last thing I’d wanted was for my former partner to be punished, too.
“Fortunately,” Martin went on, “or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, the Order is in a bit of upheaval at the moment. With all the disorder and confusion, no one has gotten around to organizing a trial. Or, at least, they have bigger issues to worry about. And I have no intention of reminding them anytime soon.
“But,” he went on as I relaxed a bit, “when the duel ended and you vanished with those dragons, I suspected we hadn’t heard the last from you, Sebastian. And I knew if you were to contact the Order again, it would be through St. Anthony. I’ve taken it upon myself to keep him under constant surveillance, so that when you resurfaced, I would know.”
“Then it was you who answered me yesterday,” I said. “You set up this meeting, not Tristan.”
“That I did.”
“Why?”
Martin didn’t answer right away. He stared down at the table with his fingers steepled in front of him, his eyes dark.
“You’re an agent of change, Sebastian,” he said at last. “For good or ill, events happen around you that no one can predict. It’s been that way since you first came to the Academy. Before that, even. Since the day Lucas found you in the Talon compound and took you in as a soldier for the Order. I’ve watched you through the years, and I’ve seen it happen time and time again. Whenever something important happens, something that could shake the very foundations of everything we know, you are always in the middle of it. Now the Patriarch is dead, the Order is in turmoil and Talon grows ever stronger because of it.” He glanced at Ember, sitting silently beside me, and his jaw tightened. “I should kill you, Sebastian,” he went on, making me cringe inside. “For turning your back on the Order and everything it stands for. You betrayed your brothers, and you betrayed me. But worst of all...” His eyes narrowed. “You betrayed Lucas, the man who saved you, who brought you to us and taught you everything you know. He would be ashamed if he could see you now.”
I kept the pain from my face, but if he’d stabbed me with a knife, I doubted it would have hurt as much as those words did right then. I thought of my mentor, remembering his words, the way he’d always pushed me to do better, to try harder. To be the best. The perfect soldier. Lucas Benedict would accept nothing less. After he’d been killed in battle, I’d thrown myself into training with a single-minded determination to become that perfect soldier. If it was Benedict sitting across from me now, and not Gabriel Martin, would my mission be the same? Would I still be the same?