No. Everything was not okay. I could feel them both gazing at me. I could feel Riley’s protectiveness and Garret’s torment pulling at me, tearing me in half. It was too much. I had to get away from them both.
“I need some air,” I said, and lurched away from them, backing down the corridor. Both started after me, concerned, and I pointed at them in warning. “Don’t!” I said, almost a snarl. “I’m fine. I just...have to think. Alone. Both of you stay right there.”
And before they could say anything else, I turned and fled down the hall through the first exit I could find, and out into the sun.
RILEY
I watched Ember leave, nearly tripping over herself to get away from me, and was torn between going after her and risking the hellfire sure to be spat in my direction, or turning around, grabbing the soldier and smashing his head through the wall.
“Okay.” I breathed deep, opting for the less violent approach, and shoved Cobalt down. Enough was enough. I could either be a bastard to the human and drive him off for good, or I could accept that something was happening that was bigger than all of us, and having a former soldier of St. George backing us up wasn’t a bad idea. “I think we’re gonna have to have a talk, St. George.”
“It’s not necessary.” The soldier’s voice was flat. “If this is about Ember—”
“No.” I narrowed my gaze. “It’s not about Ember. I don’t have a problem with you being here—let’s get that out of the way right now.” He blinked in surprise, probably wondering why I wasn’t in dragon form already, snarling at him to back off. I twisted my lips in a smirk. “I’m actually a pretty reasonable guy, most of the time.”
He raised his brows in a very dubious manner, and I rolled my eyes. “When I’m not dealing with genocidal maniacs trying to murder all my friends, anyway. Then I get a little bad tempered.”
“Fair enough.” St. George seemed to relax a bit. “What do you want to know, Riley?”
“You knew about that trap with the Order,” I continued. “That’s why you came back. But there’s more to it, isn’t there? Last I heard, you were in England snooping around St. George central. And then you suddenly turn up, with an Eastern dragon, of all things, to save our hides. So I’m guessing you found something, am I right?”
The soldier didn’t answer, and I crossed my arms. “Come on, St. George,” I cajoled. “Spill it. Something is going on, and I hate being kept in the dark. Wanna fill in the missing pieces for me?”
The soldier sighed. “I was hoping to tell everyone together, but that might not be an option now,” he said, glancing in the direction Ember had fled. I suppressed a wince, planning to talk to her when this was resolved and we had an actual plan. Human stuff, I reminded myself. You’re trying to be more human for her. Find her and talk to her, make sure she knows she’s yours. That she doesn’t ever need the soldier.
I would do that, as soon as I knew what the hell was going on.
“You’re right,” St. George went on, leaning against the wall. “The Order is after you specifically. Ever since you and Ember broke me out of the Western Chapterhouse, they’ve been looking for you. For all of us.” His expression darkened. “But Griffin wasn’t sending St. George after you,” he went on. “Talon was.”
I blinked. “I’m sorry, what?” I stared at him, thinking that either he had lost his mind, or I had. “I think I just heard you say that Talon was responsible for sending the Order after us. But, that can’t be what I heard, right, St. George?”
“I met Jade in England,” the soldier went on, as if he hadn’t just dropped the biggest bombshell ever on my head like it was nothing at all. “Her temple had been destroyed by the Order, right after she got a visit from Talon. We were both following the Patriarch when she found me.”
I resisted the urge to curl a lip. The Patriarch. The so-called spiritual leader of St. George. Talon had always kept a close watch on the different Patriarchs over the years, but even with all their power, the leader of St. George was nearly untouchable. It was too costly to go after the Patriarch directly, since he rarely left London and was surrounded by so many of the Order. In my time as a Basilisk I’d learned that, long ago, there had been exactly one attempt on a Patriarch’s life, and the resulting backlash from St. George had been immediate and terrible enough for the organization to decide that maybe that course of action was a bad idea. As a result, as long as the Patriarch remained in St. George central, the organization was content to leave him alone. After all, if they got rid of one, another would just take his place. And the human life span was so short, even if one Patriarch was giving the organization grief, he wouldn’t live long enough to make a real difference.