Chapter 10 #2
Falcon put a hand on her hip and gave a quick nod.
Celine and Taewyn gave each other a quick knuckle bump, and the skin around their eyes crinkled with smiles.
I was going to be sick again. They didn’t understand, they didn’t know what it was like out here once the sun went down.
Pyro put a hand over her belly and started pacing. At least she had some sense.
Ghost tugged down her mask and folded her arms. “It will be dark before they return. There could be many more than three. The apprentices aren’t ready for this.
Commander Ace doesn’t approve of night vampire hunts until months into training, not weeks.
You would have to get approval for a mission like this. ”
Vander leaned his back against the tree, tossed his dagger up and caught it, then repeated the motion.
“We had direct intel on this and Commander Locke said to take care of it. That pile will get higher if we don’t do it today.
If you don’t believe your apprentice is ready, head back now. You won’t get any judgment from me.”
As much as I agreed, as much as I wanted to protect the people out here, that voice in my head whispered, This is too dangerous. Go back. Run. Running is what you’re good at.
Falcon stepped up to Ghost and Vander, forming a small circle. “He’s right. We need to stop this pack before it grows. When the wildlings band together it’s never good. This village they’re terrorizing is the city’s main supplier of wheat. We can’t lose the harvest.”
Celine nodded beside Taewyn. I didn’t think she was truly prepared for what would come out in the dark.
Ghost scoffed. “It’s against the rules, Falcon. And those two have never even been outside the wall until today.” She tossed a hand at Celine and Taewyn.
“I’m fine with staying,” Taewyn added. “Uh, if anyone cared to know.”
I quietly laughed to myself. Clearly his opinion didn’t matter, none of us lowly apprentices did. It felt like we were children listening to our parents talk. I hated it, but I also didn’t feel it was my place to speak up.
Scout stood from analyzing the footprints and joined the other trainers. “In one way I agree with Ghost, the apprentices aren’t ready, but we need to complete the mission.”
Ghost scowled. “Commander Ace—”
“Commander Ace isn’t here, is she?” Viper purred, a darkness laced in his tone. “So that leaves who in command?”
“You.” She sounded bitter admitting it.
“Exactly. And when the mission calls for it, the Lead can override rules. Pyro is your first apprentice, so you are being cautious, but this is a simple task. They’ll be fine.”
“The apprentices are more important than these people. It’s not a risk worth taking when we could lose one of them. What’s another body out here really?”
Every muscle seemed to lock up, and a cool fire burned slowly in my chest. I pictured myself flying at her and hammering my fists into her face.
No one had said it out loud before, but she just voiced what I knew deep down.
They didn’t care about us, and the only reason they did now was because this village was useful to them by providing food.
“What did you just say?” My hands began to ache from clenching them into fists at my sides.
She barely regarded me. “I’m saying that your life and the others are too important to risk and we should go back.”
“But a couple weeks ago I would have been just another body, right? My family are just bodies not worth protecting.” I stepped toward her.
“The people out here have families. They are mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters. There are babies and children and yet you disregard those dead over there as if they meant nothing. Someone loved them.”
Ghost’s brows shot up. “I didn’t mean—”
“Yes, you did.” Before I even knew what I was doing, I shoved her.
She stumbled back into Scout’s chest and looked at Vander, surprised.
He didn’t step in to defend her the way I thought he would.
This was his woman, wasn’t she? Rather, he tilted his head curiously.
His eyes sparkling with a sort of mischief, almost as if he dared me to push further.
Ghost’s gaze flicked between everyone, as if waiting for someone to reprimand me, but their silence was felt.
She straightened and lifted her chin. “I didn’t mean to offend you, and I understand how you may feel, but it’s the truth.
Ducai are superior to the humans in Lothleton and are protected as such.
If a few more humans die, it doesn’t matter. It’s just the way it is.”
I punched a fist at her jaw—and it connected.
Her head snapped to the side and she snarled.
She weaved, narrowly escaping the next punch.
Scout and Falcon backpedaled out of the way as I swung again and again.
Each time she bobbed and moved. No one stepped in.
No call to stop came from Vander or the other trainers.
She slipped behind a tree trunk and held up a palm like it would stay me. “Stop before you embarrass yourself.”
It was like my inner rage had been locked in a trunk and the lid finally flipped open.
I charged, my shoulder rammed into her gut, and I tackled her to the ground.
She bucked her hips, tossing me off and her boot heel smacked into my chin.
Copper filled my mouth, but I scrambled to stand.
Her leg swung out, sweeping my feet from under me and my back smacked into the ground.
I quickly rolled into a crouch, itching to take another shot, but I knew it would end with me looking like an amateur fool.
I jerked down my mask and spit blood from my mouth. The vampires would smell it.
“Enough,” Vander drawled, stepping between us.
The barest hint of a smile played at the corners of his mouth.
Was that approval? I thought he’d be furious with me, and yet there were no harsh lines of anger, not even a disapproving pinch of his brow.
I’d gathered in my time here that respect was one of the highest priorities to assassins, and she disrespected me and my people.
Maybe they understood that. “We’re staying until the vampires are killed. ”
No one else objected. Not even me. I’d rather die for the people Ghost so callously dismissed than side with her against my own by running back into the safety of the wall.