“Huh.” I gave her a scrutinizing look. “So, what you’re saying is, after our escape from Talon, your employer doesn’t want you anywhere near him, in case the organization sees you together and figures out he’s the mastermind behind it all.”
“More or less.” Mist sighed. “I certainly can’t go back to Talon. They would kill me on sight. And I can’t risk exposing my employer. There’s nowhere for me to go that will be safe.” She bit her lip, and for just a moment, she wasn’t a Basilisk, but a scared young woman whose future was uncertain. She looked lost, strangely vulnerable, and my heart went out to her. Then she made a face and glanced back at me. “So, it appears I’m a rogue now,” she said, annoyance and defiance coloring her voice. “Just like you wanted, Cobalt. You must be proud.”
“Not really,” I said. Apprehension stirred. Mist was a Basilisk, I reminded myself. Not only that, mysterious employer or not, she had worked for Talon. “I do have a few questions for you,” I went on, narrowing my eyes. “If you’re going to be hanging around, I need to know a few things. You’ve seen my underground—that means I can’t take any chances. If I suspect that you’re a danger to everyone, or that you’re going to sell us out to Talon, I will kill you, Mist. You understand that, right?”
She gazed at me steadily. “Yes.”
“All right.” I nodded. “Then here’s the most important question. Who’s this mysterious employer who ordered you to help us escape?”
Her expression shut down instantly. “I can’t tell you that.”
“Why not?”
“Because if he discovers I told anyone, he will kill me.” The girl’s voice was flat and completely serious. “I simply wouldn’t wake up one morning. And don’t think he wouldn’t find out, or that he wouldn’t be able to get to me—he has eyes and ears everywhere. Gathering information is his specialty, it’s literally all he does.”
“He wouldn’t be able to get to you here,” I insisted. “I don’t care who he is, no one is going to find you when you’re with me.” I narrowed my eyes, the hint of a growl creeping into my voice. “But this is my underground we’re talking about. I need to know you’re not a threat, Mist. I need to know I can trust you. So tell me who your employer is.”
“No,” Mist said calmly.
I glared at her. “You’re going to make this hard, aren’t you?”
“You could always interrogate me, if you want,” Mist replied, the hint of a dark smile on her face. “You went through the same training I did. Though I will warn you, I’m just as resistant to pain as you are. Without drugs or some kind of truth serum, it might take a while.”
“As if I’d ever do that,” I said, my lip curling at the thought. “I’m not Luther. I don’t interrogate people for shits and giggles.”
“Then I’m afraid we’re at an impasse.”
I exhaled. “All right,” I growled. She wasn’t going to tell me, and I wasn’t going to “interrogate her” to get her to talk. “But answer me this—who were you working for that night in Vegas? When you were trying to get me to reveal the locations of my safe houses?”
“That night?” Mist furrowed her brow slightly, remembering. “I was working for Talon.”
“So, you understand why I’m a little confused. Who are you loyal to, Mist? Your employer, or the organization?”
Mist glanced away, staring down the hall, as if gathering her thoughts and weighing how much she wanted to reveal. “My employer is part of Talon,” she finally said. “He has his own agents, his eyes and ears within the organization, though no one knows of them. Not even I know the identities of his other informants. Officially, we all work for Talon. We do our jobs and follow orders per normal, unless our employer tells us differently.
“That night in Vegas,” Mist went on, “I was following Talon’s orders. My mission was to separate you from your friends, discover the locations of your safe houses and then kill you. It was business. I was just doing what the organization required.”
“And your employer was okay with it?”
“Yes.” Mist nodded. “Back then, we didn’t know Talon was going to use the vessels against the Order. We didn’t know about the Night of Fang and Fire, or what the Elder Wyrm was truly planning.”
“Did you know about the clones?”
“I didn’t,” Mist said. “But I suspect he did. After I...failed the mission in Vegas, I expected to be punished, or at least reassigned somewhere horrible. But he pulled some strings and was able to reassign me to the lab, where you ended up.” Her expression shifted to a faint look of awe as she shook her head. “I think he knew, somehow, that our paths would cross. That he could use you to get the information he wanted.”
“Why help us escape, though?” I asked. “You could have easily left us there, after you got what you needed. The easier plan would have been to abandon us or turn us in, instead of having Luther see you with us and blow your cover.”
“Yes, it would,” Mist agreed. “But that’s not what my employer desired. He wanted me to help you escape, so I did. Don’t ask me why—I’m not in the habit of questioning his orders. And lately...” She paused again, a brief frown crossing her face as if she were annoyed that she was revealing something else. “He’s been at odds with the Elder Wyrm for a long time. Perhaps he realized that you would be more useful alive and free. That you and your little resistance will be instrumental in stopping the Elder Wyrm’s plan to destroy the Order.” She shrugged. “Or maybe he just wanted another way to twist the knife. You’ve certainly been a thorn in Talon’s side. Maybe that’s why he chose to help you.
“In any case,” she continued, giving me a defiant look. “That’s all I’m willing to reveal right now. Have I sufficiently answered your questions, Cobalt? Are you satisfied that I am not going to run off and betray you to Talon at the first opportunity?”
I crossed my arms. “For now.”
“Well.” Mist gave me that faint smile. “Do let me know if anything changes.”
Downstairs, the front door opened and closed softly.
We both froze. To my knowledge, all the hatchlings were asleep and accounted for. Ember and the soldier had left a few hours ago, but I’d received a text from Ember earlier tonight, letting me know she was fine, that she was on her way back and that there was something we had to discuss. That was ominous, but it wasn’t like her to quietly sneak into a room, and I’d heard only one pair of footsteps come in instead of two. I wouldn’t put it past a couple of my hatchlings to sneak out of the house and wander off alone, and a Viper certainly wouldn’t use the front door, but right now, I wasn’t taking any chances.