Martin didn’t look at me, but I wondered if he remembered, too.
As he pulled out of the parking lot, I caught a glimpse of a red-haired girl in the rearview mirror, watching us drive away, and my stomach twisted. I would see her again, I told myself. Riley detested the Order and was dangerously protective of his underground. He would be understandably appalled at the very notion of helping the people who had killed so many of his kind. The hatchlings weren’t soldiers; they were teens who had been persecuted by Talon and the Order and had every right to fear and hate them both. But if anyone could convince them to come out of hiding and stand with their ancient enemies, it would be Ember. Once she put her mind to something, there was very little that could stop her. She had changed so much from the girl I’d met in Crescent Beach; she had become a true soldier who understood what was at stake and was willing to make sacrifices for what had to be done.
I just prayed that, when this was over, the sacrifices were ones we could live with.
RILEY
“Well, that’s everything,” Wes muttered. “All the safe houses have been evacuated. And all communications have been severed. The network is officially dead.”
“Good,” I said shortly. “That should make us harder to track down. And when Talon comes for the safe houses, there’ll be nothing left for them to find.” I stood in the small bedroom Wes and I shared, the human sitting at the desk with his open computer, myself standing behind him. A pair of twin beds sat on opposite ends of the wall behind us, but I hadn’t so much as lain down since we’d arrived. Every moment of my time had been spent securing my underground, making sure the hatchlings were settled in, going over emergency escape plans with Wes should an army of soulless dragon clones appear in the middle of the night.
“Everyone accounted for?” I asked.
“As far as I can tell.” Wes leaned back in the chair, rubbing his eyes. He, too, was exhausted, having worked all night tracking everyone in the underground, contacting all our people, shutting down networks and communications behind them. “We lost several this year, Riley,” he muttered, shaking his head. “More than we’ve ever lost in the past. The Order has been bloody relentless.”
I nodded wearily. Seventeen hatchlings had made it. Seventeen, out of what had been twenty-five a year ago. It made me sick. I remembered their names, their faces, their stories and backgrounds. I knew each and every death, and it ate at me like a cancer, making me furious with myself. I was supposed to keep them safe. They’d come to me for protection, and I had let them down.
No more. I couldn’t let any more die. There were still seventeen dragons down there who were counting on me, who looked to me to defend them from Talon and the Order. I was still the leader of this underground, and I couldn’t let past failures or personal shortcomings stop me from what I had to do.
Even though, in the darkest, blackest corners of my soul, a tiny part of me didn’t care what happened next. Let everyone die, it whispered. Let the world burn and everything be charred to ashes by dragonfire. What do we care, now that she’s gone?
“Cobalt.”
I turned almost guiltily. Mist stood in the door frame peering in at us, long silvery hair glowing softly in the dim light. I hadn’t seen the ex–Talon agent much since we’d arrived, having been distracted with Wes, the hatchlings, the underground...and Ember. Truthfully I had almost forgotten about Mist. But it occurred to me that I had no idea what she had been doing since we got here, and that was a little disconcerting. She had been a Basilisk, and she had worked for Talon. Both were reasons to treat her with caution, to watch her closely.
“I need to speak with you,” she announced in her calm, pragmatic voice. “Can we talk?”
I shrugged. “I’m not stopping you.”
Mist frowned. “Alone.”
Wes gave a snort and hunched his shoulders, staring down at the laptop. “Oh, please, don’t let me stop you,” he muttered. “I’m just the other half of this bloody operation, no one special.”
I rolled my eyes. “Wait here,” I told Wes, stepping around the chair. “Keep doing what you’re doing. I’ll be right back.” I gestured at Mist, and she backed silently out of the room.
The farmhouse was dark as I closed the door behind me and stepped into the hall with the other dragon. Most of the hatchlings were asleep, exhausted from travel and the stress of getting here. Though I did have to enforce a strict “lights out” rule to prevent a few of the older ones from keeping everyone else up. That, too, was part of the talk I’d had to give once everyone arrived, laying out ground rules and the things you absolutely could not do while on the farm, Shifting, fighting and wandering off alone being the top three. I didn’t like being so strict, but with seventeen young dragons under one roof and only three helpers to manage them, including Jess, the woman who took care of this place, I had to maintain some semblance of order or things would quickly spiral out of control. Fortunately, everyone here recognized and respected Cobalt, almost to the point of reverence. Except for the one incident with Kain, there hadn’t been any problems.
Mist waited for me at the end of the hall, staking out a dark corner near the bathroom. Her face was somber as I came up, and the look she gave me was a mix of annoyance and resignation. As if she would rather be anywhere else. For some reason, that bothered me and I frowned, crossing my arms as I glared down at her.
“So, what’s this about, Mist? Are you disappointed?” I nodded to one of the bedrooms down the hall and smirked. “You finally saw my underground, and you didn’t even have to torture me to get to it. Is it not what you were expecting?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Actually, it’s pretty much what I thought it would be,” she answered coolly. “A group of rebels and runaway hatchlings. Not particularly dangerous or inspiring. But that’s not what I wanted to talk about.” She drew in a deep breath, a hint of uncertainty crossing her face, as if she wasn’t sure what to do now. “My employer contacted me,” she went on, frowning slightly. “It seems I am to stay with you and aid you however I can, until he deems otherwise.”