R I L E Y

"I have news," Benton said, sliding onto the bench opposite me. Finn put down his fork and knife, but Jaxon and I continued eating as if nothing had happened.

"Does it have anything to do with your mysterious disappearance after the battle?" Arlo asked, mouth full.

Giving him a flat look, the assassin said, "I was just getting to that." His voice dropped. "I was speaking with the government officials here about something I saw in the Imperium soldier's minds. Apparently, Orion wants us just occupied enough here to leave America open to attack. He sent his children, as he calls them, to destroy our largest military stronghold in Washington D.C. If they succeed, it will significantly cripple us."

"And what did they say when you told them?" Jaxon asked, having finally ceased eating.

"They need us to intercept them—not all of us, because there will inevitably be another attack. Specifically either Delphinium or me was requested to go, since we were his children ourselves. They were unwilling as we were; they could be swayed—"

"Speak of the devil," Arlo said, nodding to the entrance of the mess hall, where Delphinium was making her way to us. As she came to stand behind me, I gave her a once-over, taking in her pink-dusted cheeks and lips stained redder than usual. My smirk grew.

She was visibly wary about our gazes on her. "What is it?"

"You were ordered to go with a few of our other teammates to intercept Orion's children in America," Benton answered smoothly. He wore his usual superior air, but I knew he'd sacrificed himself to stay here and fight in another attack while she went to a significantly less dangerous situation, if the children of Orion were truly as disloyal as he claimed. I raised an eyebrow, wondering at his uncharacteristic selflessness.

"I'm going alone?" She asked, not seeming alarmed about that prospect.

"No, we need others that are good with diplomacy." Benton leaned to see past Arlo. "Finn?"

But Finn shook his head. "If it's alright, I would prefer to stay here." His light eyes then flicked to Arlo and they shared a quiet glance.

"You should go with her," Kane murmured from beside me.

My face screwed in annoyance. "If that's a politely-put insult to my fighting ability, I'll have you know—"

"It wasn't." He rolled his eyes. "You're good at convincing people to do things."

"You mean manipulation," Benton said, a smirk playing on his face. "You're right, Kane. We all know how good she is at it."

Jaxon narrowed his eyes at the assassin like he was trying to explode his head with his gaze alone. "You're provoking others now, of all times?"

Benton was unperturbed. "I suppose we have that in common."

"As dramatic as it is, your manhood-measuring contest is getting predictable," I drawled to them, making them both deliver me dirty looks. But I ignored them, glancing down at Gigi, who was quietly eating her food.

As bad as the things she did were, she had changed. I should know how terrible decisions weren't always irreversible. And her closest friend had just been torn apart before her eyes. She deserved a rest from fighting, maybe more than the rest of us.

"Gigi, you should come with us," I said loudly. She only looked up in surprise, clearly not expecting me to say anything to her. There was a moment in which we all watched for her reaction. Then she gave a nod, the dark waves of her hair falling over her shoulders.

"It's settled, then," I said to the others. "Try not to implode without a female presence on the team."

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The tension between Gigi and Delphinium grew as we ventured outside in the noontime heat. Though I'd done my fair share of talking, they'd barely said a word to each other. Nevertheless, the air between them wasn't malice-filled or heavy with ill intent. I knew they wouldn't break into another fight, but that was the only thing I could foresee about this mission.

Gigi slipped off to find high ground, searching for the children of Orion before they reached us while Delphinium and I stayed together on the outer edge of the military base.

From what we learned on the way here, this military base was the main source of opposition to Imperium in America. Soldiers had to go through here to be shipped off to fight our enemies in Romania. It was also where our battle plans were formulated. Benton was right when he said we'd be doomed if Imperium took it.

I looked to Delphinium, who was watching the base intently. "How do you think they'll receive you?"

"I don't know." Her shoulders slumped. "I've been on both sides too many times for them to trust me. And no matter which side I've been on, I've shown nothing but cruelty to them."

"I suppose that's what Gigi and I are here for. And if Benton was wrong, and they're loyal to Orion..."

"I don't know about that either. Even when I was Orion's right hand, they were never a threat to the operation. Orion never suspected them."

I shrugged. "He never suspected you at first either. Love—or what he thinks it is—can be blind."

She let out a breath between clenched teeth. "They could have been us—they're the children that didn't respond to Krasowski's experiment. And Orion...just took them, like he had the right to them. I was brought to him as a fourteen-year-old, but I never even bothered to find out when they'd been stolen from their homes. Maybe even as infants." Her gaze dropped to the knives sheathed on her thighs. "That's what scares me. They didn't even have to go through the Mind Sweeper to obey him. If it's all they know, I fear there could be no hope for them."

"There was hope for you and Benton," I said. "Orion is a sick monster. You might have obeyed him, but even you knew that. If they can't see it on their own, we'll have to make them see it."

She didn't bring up another argument, but I could see she wasn't completely convinced. So I said, "If they refuse to, we'll just utterly destroy them."

When she saw my wry smile, she relaxed and leaned back. "You're right. If Benny thought they could be turned, they probably can. Especially because he knows their thoughts." It was almost as if she was convincing herself. I'd become accustomed to her constantly switching between confident power and the festering paranoia, especially now that the day she would reunite with her enslavers was nearing.

I was about to reply, but Gigi appeared at our sides. "They're here." I followed the line of her vision and saw the group of approaching figures, looking as though they were more than ready to take the entire place.

Gigi gripped her bow in determination while Delphinium's eyes narrowed on our targets. I crossed my arms, aware of every dangerous creature within a mile's radius.

The ground split before the children of Orion, stopping them from continuing on without being swallowed up into the depths. It wasn't openly hostile, but it was a warning.

I ran my eyes over the group, sizing up their body builds and weaponry. Four men—powerfully-built enough to almost rival Kane—that looked like they could snap me in half with ease. Another lean one holding a machine gun against his shoulder. One girl with lowered brows and two more that were blank-faced. Twin girls, each with a set of carving knives and thin, wry smiles. They had a few gun-wielding soldiers with them, most likely to ensure a smooth operation.

The youngest soldier—most likely a year younger than us—stepped forward tentatively. "You're Julia Henderson," she addressed Gigi with a slight accent. I raised an eyebrow—Gigi's rich brown skin had gone ashen.

Then I made the connection: this girl looked almost exactly like Neve. They had the same wide brown eyes, sculpted brows and perfect skin—even their heights were near-identical. The only obvious distinction between the two was this girl's slightly shorter hair that hung a few inches above her shoulders. It was like looking at Neve's reanimated body.

"Arezo," Gigi said back, looking like she'd been punched in the stomach.

"My sister told me about you. And how Benton Shires left the both of you to die." Arezo looked around as if Neve was hiding. "Where is she?"

I felt sick, especially when I saw how the others were eyeing Gigi like she'd done something horrible to Neve. Gigi wouldn't say anything, not when all the eyes were on her.

After a long silence in which I saw Arezo begin to suspect her sister's fate, I said softly, "Neve was killed in the aerial attack in Ukraine."

I watched as Arezo's face crumpled in grief, the full weight of loss falling on her shoulders as they slumped down. It made me nearly regret telling her. She covered her face with her hands, body racked with silent sobs. Gigi took a wary step closer to her, but Arezo raised her tearstained face and backed away.

"You see what Orion has done?" I asked the others. "He causes death and suffering. Neve was only one of thousands of innocents that he murdered in cold blood. Without even looking at their faces. Surely you don't agree with his methods."

"Please don't twist my sister's death only into a way to convince us to join you," Arezo said softly. God, she even talked like her sister.

"I knew your sister," I told her, speaking gently. "She was good and brave. She didn't deserve anything that happened to her. Not at the hands of a master that only used her."

"Neither do you," Delphinium said mildly, as though she wasn't sure if she should be speaking or not.

The narrow-eyed girl snapped to look at the assassin. "You didn't have this mentality when you ruled at Orion's side, Reaper."

"We all felt your wrath," said a tall boy with dark skin. "We've all heard the stories of what you did. You're no better than us."

"I know," she said, and I expected her to assume a submissive position. Instead, she continued, "I'm no better than you. I am you. We're all Orion's children, the people he stole to make killers out of. We've all done terrible things."

"You're right," said one of the twins. "Except the only difference between us is that none of us have done terrible things to each other but you."

"You left us, Delphinium," a blank-faced girl added. She looked as though she'd already accepted her fate. "You didn't just leave and betray Orion, you left us."

I narrowed my eyes. Benton was right—they weren't completely loyal to their master. And as I looked at them now, standing together as our team did, I realized that they had formed a crew of their own. They might not even have found friendship in each other, but there was certainly understanding. A group bound together by shared abuse. If my deduction was correct, it was understandable they felt this way about Delphinium.

It was then that I realized the reason Delphinium had only mentioned Orion's children a few times, and even the information given in those times had been sparse: it was because they had possibly had a secret pact as Orion's abused children—a pact that Delphinium broke when she burned the fortress and left without them. She was guilty for it now.

But she didn't break. "I know that too. I was scared out of my mind and I made decisions without thinking of their outcomes. I don't regret leaving Orion. But I do regret being the only one to do so."

The thin boy still didn't put his gun down. "It doesn't matter now. What's done is done. You're on the opposite side now and we're on Orion's. We've shed oceans of blood in his name. And we're meant to do it again and again until we are victorious."

I couldn't sense if his statement was a threat or simply a demonstration of their being stuck in their situation. And from the looks of it, neither did the other two.

After a beat, Delphinium said, "I'm not asking you to switch sides or assassinate Orion. I'm asking you to leave this base in peace. I don't want to hurt you. We've been through too much pain together." She shook her head. "War is here. And I don't want you all to be on the wrong side."

There was silence. I secretly hoped Delphinium's words had struck a chord in them that their orders and bloodthirstiness couldn't overcome.

"We'll see you on the battlefield," the other twin said, eyes hard. Then, one by one, they turned and began walking away.

Arezo was last, the whites of her eyes bloodshot from crying. "You don't have to go with them," Gigi said, voice low.

But Arezo wiped her eyes and turned away from us—her enemy. Imperium had hurt her deeply, but perhaps Orion's children never had. They were all she knew now—perhaps her only semblance of friends. Gigi watched her leave.

"We can't be sure if this is just a ruse," I said quietly enough for only Gigi and Delphinium to hear. "They could come back."

"You're right." Delphinium was still staring at their turned backs. "We'll stay until they leave for good."

The three of us went up to the place we'd been before, the hill before the flat land of the military base. The abandoned buildings there sheltered us from sight from below.

I caught a glance of the emptiness in Gigi's dark eyes and nudged my shoulder against her own. "It's not your fault, you know. She chose to go."

"I told Neve I'd protect her. And now I can't help but think..." She trailed off. "I'm afraid she thinks she's safer with them than she is with me."

Delphinium spoke in a small voice. "That's not true."

A weak laugh escaped Gigi's parted lips. "How can you say that? You, of all people...after what happened at that airport?"

"I don't blame you. Not anymore," Delphinium replied, tone grave. "If I could avenge my family, I would."

"But Orion did that to you, and your relationship with him was completely different than..." Gigi sounded as if she was seconds away from breaking down as Arezo did. "I called you my friend, for God's sake. And then I let myself be easily manipulated into hurting you."

A wry smile growing, Delphinium shrugged. "I tried to tie you up and cut your head off. I'd say we're even."

"It's not just that. It's—it's everything. It's the way I can hardly protect myself. It's the way Neve told me I could beat this madness inside me and now she's gone. And I'm terrified I might turn back to my old self."

"You're not your old self. Neither of us are. Sometimes it kills me, but...all we can do now is forge on. For the people we've lost."

Hand over her mouth, Gigi sobbed and said, "I'm sorry." A second later, she and Delphinium were embracing —words weren't enough anymore. The assassin's eyes were closed as Gigi cried onto her shoulder, this time out of relief.

In spite of myself, I smiled at the sight I thought I'd never see. "I'll admit," I said, arms crossed, "When we came here to talk with a group of assassins, I didn't expect things to take such a wholesome turn."

Delphinium held an arm out to me, wearing a smile that said, if you must. Grinning, I threw both arms around them, knowing it could be the last time I would get to do so.