6. Callum #3
I stepped over and then studied the screen beside him. A glance to my side told me the female in the chair was still unconscious. We had maybe five minutes before the priestess reentered the room, expecting to find only a newly-marked angel in the space.
It wasn’t much time, but just enough time to review the files we needed to assess.
With hurried movements, I began to scan through the female’s file, looking into her relatives and those with whom she had ties.
My eyes stopped, my pulse increasing as I took in a particular female’s photo, recognition flaring in my mind as I stared at sea-glass hazel eyes threaded with starlight and wavy brown locks of hair.
Her.
I stared at the photo of the female from the tavern the other night. My eyes scanned over the name on file, Raelyna Kingsley.
I committed it to memory, her name rolling off my lips perfectly.
I looked further into the files. Yes, they were definitely sisters.
“Look into her results as well,” I said to Axel, a slight nod in the direction of the photo that had caught my eye, before my gaze once again flicked toward the female in the chair.
I leaned closer, pressing against the markings on her forearm as I studied the symbols. They were identical to the golden symbols on both Axel and my arms. Only, instead of a shimmering gold ink appearing, the ink embedded in her arm was a deep onyx color.
The inkings and our markings could only come from Aeternus. It’s why we still followed the Eternal, even when the other three Quarters chose to follow their own gods after The Rift divided Aurelia.
Everyone in Aurum Quarter knew The Rift appeared shortly after the first angels stopped following Aeternus. The corruption that spread across our world caused irreparable havoc in the form of the divide separating our Quarters.
A permanent reminder of the consequence of turning from the Eternal God who’d created our world.
“We’ve got to be missing something,” Axel bit out from beside me as he tapped furiously across the screens, “these reports and filings for every single one of the unmarked angels as they come in all have the same coding.”
I frowned, rubbing my jaw as I looked toward him. “What do you mean by the same coding?”
“Well . . .” He paused dramatically, and I nearly snapped before he continued.
“Each individual’s file should have a slightly different coding system.
It should just be slightly altered—individualized just for them.
However, if you look here, here, and here.
” He pointed to a few different files as he pulled them up on the screen.
“Each of these has a telltale trait. It’s the same coding frequency that is utilized on her file,” he stated confidently.
“Meaning?” I prompted as I stared at Axel before narrowing my sights back in on the profiles he pulled up.
“Meaning that the male who came in here and messed with her file has messed with not just her reports, he’s tampered with multiple other unmarked reports.”
“Stars-damned,” I muttered, regretting allowing the male to leave the room as I stalked across the room.
“There’s more,” Axel stated, and I shot him a look to continue. “I recognized the coding because it’s the same as the encrypted messages we get from the Remnant.”
“We need to get in touch with our contact here.”
Axel nodded as he tapped across the screens. “Once we’re back at the safe house, I should be able to tap into the systems and hopefully make contact.”
I nodded, noticing the female shifting in her seat more as her wings fully emerged.
Was she just waking? Or had she been awake for longer than we’d noticed?
“Do you want me to go ahead and head to the safe house now to start looking into these reports?”
“No, not yet. First, I think we need to pay a visit to the king.”
Axel tapped on the displays once more, leaving behind no trace that we’d been in here.
I turned, casting only a hesitating glance toward the female before I memorized her name—Kira—as she began to stir.
And then, just as silently as we had entered, we slipped from the room, slowly, making our way from the main chambers of the High Temple.
I couldn’t shake the feeling of disgust and disdain that crept through me as I realized how little Elion truly had been able to gather regarding the downfall of Solis Quarter.
We had had our suspicions for the past few decades, especially when all communication outside of the Quarter failed to be received.
However, I never expected this.
I never expected that they were physically tampering with markings from Aeternus.
That they were actively rebelling against the Eternal, and altering the marks on every one of the citizens residing within the Solis Quarter.
The reports we’d received from the Remnant hadn’t been this detailed, yet at the same time, most of the Remnant had been relocated decades ago.
To say the discovery was horrifying would be an understatement. My jaw tightened as we slipped from the temple grounds, unbeknownst to the high priestesses that resided within the temple walls, and headed toward the Solis Court in search of Lucanus.