Chapter Thirty-Five
Christian’s arms were still around her when Gemma woke in the morning. The ultralights around the base of the floor had brightened gradually, identical to the flats in Perileos, providing a natural sleep cycle. Now, Gemma’s room was bright, as if the sun’s rays flooded through large windows.
She couldn’t tell if Christian was still asleep, so she lay a little longer, soaking in the feel of his strong arms around her. But then her body began to ache from having remained in one spot all night.
Hoping to free herself from his unconscious embrace, she ran her fingers along his chest and played with the fine hairs she found there.
“Oh, thank the stars you’re awake,” he grumbled. “I can’t feel my arm.”
Christian slid his arm out from underneath her and held it straight in the air as Gemma plopped onto the pillow next to him.
She almost laughed as he started shaking it like a floppy noodle. “You didn’t have to let me keep sleeping,” she said playfully.
“Yeah, I did. Ah, blast—it’s waking up.” He grimaced, chuckling through clenched teeth.
Gemma grinned. She loved that sound and the way his eyes creased at the corners when he was happy. She could lie here all day and watch him.
But she had a new mission to accomplish, and that meant getting out of bed.
Her face fell. Today was going to be rough.
After they both showered—separately to avoid temptation—they used the costumery to fashion outfits and readied themselves.
Christian was seated on the two-person sofa when Gemma emerged from the bathroom. His gaze moved back and forth like he was watching something through his eyepiece. She cleared her throat before sitting next to him, so she didn’t startle him half to death.
His eyebrows danced. “Wow, you look nice.”
Gemma smiled but didn’t reply. Her stomach was knotted too tightly.
Christian read her in a second, and his face tightened. “What’s wrong?”
She scratched her cheek. “So . . . Rami didn’t just let me go.”
He sighed, leaning back into the couch. “I figured. What does he want from you?”
She pursed her lips before answering. “To find the real operative.”
“What do you mean?” He cocked his head.
Gemma explained what Rami had told her, making sure to leave out the parts that would get her killed, and how he’d make sure she’d walk free if she followed through on her end of the bargain.
“Then we find this person as soon as possible,” Christian said, his eyes fierce. “You are not going to die for something Reymond tricked you into doing.”
Gemma squirmed. “You can’t get involved. The Dissent is dangerous. If they find out you’re trying to expose them—”
He put a finger on her lips. “You should know me better by now. I’m not letting you do this alone.”
Gemma closed her eyes and sighed.
A loud buzz made them both jump. Gemma’s comm lit up, and the visualization from the camera above her door appeared on her eyepiece. Hawk and Imara had come to pay her a visit, and they were angry.
Gemma gripped the edges of the sofa’s cushion, the heat draining from her face. She did not need this right now.
“I’ll get it,” Christian said, despite not knowing who was on the other side. He sighed loudly after opening the door. “Not a good time, guys.”
“Wow. Her sex must be mind blowing if you actually came back to her that fast,” Imara seethed. She crossed her toned arms over her chest and stared daggers at Gemma from the doorway.
“Watch it,” Christian warned, pointing a finger at her.
Hawk put an arm in front of Imara. “We want to talk to her. That’s all.”
Christian’s hands balled into fists, but Gemma stood. These were her three closest friends—well, they used to be anyway—and she was not letting them fight because of a foolish decision she’d made.
“It’s fine, Christian. Let them in,” Gemma said.
His jaw twitched, but he stepped back, sarcastically waving an arm wide. The door closed once Hawk and Imara had passed through.
Gemma held her ground as her two teammates approached, though her legs had begun to weaken. You’ve earned this. She’d let Reymond play her; she deserved Hawk’s and Imara’s justified wrath.
“So, imagine our surprise when we get called to attend an announcement after we saw you tear out of that ballroom,” Imara started, her dark eyes burning with fury.
“And Rami says that Ivan’s murder is ‘under investigation.’ Not ‘the killer has been apprehended.’ What’d you do, Gemma? Open your legs to Rami too?”
“Imara,” Christian growled, his nostrils flaring. If Imara wasn’t careful, the part of him that kept his emotions in check was going to disappear.
Gemma swallowed and lifted her hands in defeat. “You’re right, okay? I did kill Ivan. But there’s a lot more to this story than you know.”
“Like how you’re with the Dissent?” Imara shouted. “Yeah, we figured it out. This entire time we’ve been teamed up with a fucking terrorist!”
Hawk spun Imara away when she lunged for Gemma. Christian was poised on the balls of his feet, ready to fight, but Gemma placed a hand on his arm.
“You promised you could do this pragmatically,” Hawk said to Imara.
“I’ll give you a pragmatic foot up your ass,” she snapped back. “The Dissent killed Jeramy, and this whole time she pretended to be my friend.”
Gemma’s heart sank to her knees. Rami had mentioned several hundreds of people had been murdered or gone missing from Perileos.
“I didn’t know,” Gemma said, her eyes filling with tears. “I didn’t—they told me my sister was murdered, and that they’d help me get revenge. That’s as deep as I went into the group. I promise I had no idea who they really were.”
Hawk held tight to Imara as he urged Gemma to explain.
She recounted her story in detail as she had with Christian, leaving out the parts about Rami’s past that she swore she’d keep to herself.
She told them of the deal she’d made with Rami to stop the Dissent before they could enact a major plan and how she planned to kill Reymond herself the second she got the chance.
The deeper into the story she got, the more Imara seemed to calm down, which helped Christian visibly relax too.
“So, that’s it? That’s the plan? Find the operative and you don’t die?” Hawk’s eyebrows pressed in confusion.
“Rami said he’d get in touch with me today to brief me on details. Between Christian and I . . . we’ll figure something out,” Gemma replied.
A long, awkward pause settled in the room. Imara visibly relaxed, and Hawk released his hold on her.
“What about us?” Imara said. “There’s no way in all the hells I’m not getting revenge for Jeramy.”
Hawk nodded. “And I’m not just gonna sit here and wait for a blasted shuttle. I’ll help, too, and convince Colton to join us as well.”
Gemma adamantly shook her head. “No, it’s too dangerous. If the Dissent finds out—”
“Look,” Imara interrupted, “I’m not gonna pretend I’m not peeved at you.
If you’d killed Rami, I would’ve had to spend the rest of my life ‘dancing’ in my mom’s club, and Hawk never would’ve had the chance to meet his family.
” Her eyes softened. “But I also don’t think it’s fair that you should die for what they made you do.
You’re a victim of the Dissent, just as much as me. ”
Gemma fell onto the couch, speechless. Who were these people that they were able to see past someone’s poor choices to the motivation behind them? Would she have been able to do the same if roles had been reversed?
She wasn’t so sure.
“We’ll let you know when Gemma hears from Rami,” Christian said.
Imara stopped and turned to face Gemma before she left. “I’m sorry for what I said.”
A single tear rolled down Gemma’s cheek as her door closed after her friends, a sliver of peace returning to her soul.