Twilight Covenant by Whitney Hill

Author:Whitney Hill [Whitney Hill]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Benu Media
Published: 2024-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

It took hours to get back to our camp. We had to make sure we weren’t followed. Then we had to change cars twice before taking a roundabout way back. I was a little surprised when Pascale swapped out with some Bedoe elves, but maybe I shouldn’t have been. It did prompt me to call Sonia directly and thank her for the support, which thawed Troy’s mood a little but not completely.

The debrief when we got back was tense. Fortunately, it was just me and Troy to start, behind closed doors and a soundproofing barrier. He might have been pissed, but between his training and his respect for me, he wouldn’t argue with me in front of everyone else, no matter how angry he was about a good plan changed at the last minute.

“That was not what we agreed on, Arden,” Troy snarled. “The plan was for us to be arrested and taken to whatever facility the Bureau is working out of so we can protect the people Sinclaire threatened. That last-minute change put three triads of ours and three of Sonia’s at risk, even if she’s too polite to say so. Not to mention everyone sworn to us—to you—in the Triangle.”

“I told you, the Sight—”

“The Sight is not a military tactic!”

“Do you want me to explain, or do you want to keep telling me off?” I snapped, temper flaring.

He shut his mouth but glared, entirely the general in a full-on stand-off with his queen and not at all my fiancé right now.

I held my own tongue, taking a moment to breathe, and made sure my walls were tight. The bond would do more harm than good right now, giving us all of each other’s emotion with none of the context that would come with words that traveled more slowly between us.

When I was calm enough to speak without shouting at him, I said, “For reasons I don’t know, it’s not enough for us to be here. We need to be at the hearing specifically. We needed to push today and fall back. A…” I searched for something that would sound like a military term. “A planned retreat. A concession. They see us run this time, and they get more confident.”

Troy kept me pinned with his glare and utterly uncompromising expression.

“I know it grates,” I said. “Running from mundanes when either of us could have dispelled the crowd entirely or progressed with our original mission. But we had to get all of this in the open, and we had to be seen fleeing instead of being taken. Call it a feint.”

“There’ll be consequences for this choice, Arden,” Harqil said as they phased into the room.

I jumped. They’d been so subtle about it that I’d missed the usual flare of magic. “Goddess damn— What consequences?”

They shrugged, for once not smiling at my discomfort. “You chose the harder path.” At my stiffening posture and Troy’s growl, Harqil added, “That’s not to say it’s the worse one. There are no good or easy paths forward, and there haven’t been since you committed to stealing magic back.

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