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Without a word, his mouth claimed mine, his tongue slipping inside the second I parted my lips. He pressed into me, the heat from his body coiling around us.
I breathed in, sucking the stench of Hendrix’s noxious body fluids into my lungs. I pulled back from Luce so I could cough, the odor tickling my throat.
He rested his forehead against mine, laughing softly. “I’ve got a lot to teach you, Star.”
“Ugh. Not about that.”
“Most definitely about that.”
I glimpsed over at Hendrix again. “I really hated him. He was the worst of the bunch.”
“Wish you’d told me that sooner. I’d have taken him home so I could remove pieces of him one at a time and ensure he watched.”
“You can do that to the next guy who pisses me off,” I soothed, stroking his cheek.
“I’m holding you to that.”
The mess hall doors swung open, causing us both to turn at once.
A wheelchair with an older man appeared first, Cam seconds after.
“Do I even want to know what you’re doing?” Luce asked, keeping one arm around my waist.
“I’m not abusing the elderly,” he laughed, parking the wheelchair so it was facing us. The man within it stared, his eyes resting solely on me. Had it not been for that, I wouldn’t have recognized him.
This was the Cardinal.
I watched acolytes drag body after body to the hole in front of the angel. Some A.R.C girls that had been slain. Guerillas, Stags, Exarchs, and even some of their own. Those that weren’t fully dead were well on their way, moaning or sobbing in pain.
I rested my arms on the wheelchair handles, staring down at the Cardinal’s white head of hair.
“He doesn’t even talk,” I muttered.
“Nope. But there was some paperwork in a desk that said something about a stroke,” Cam said, squeezing up beside me.
“So, he was essentially a puppet?” I asked, propping my head on his forearm.
“Whoever was pulling the strings was desperate for an alliance with the Stags. This must have been why,” Luce replied. “Whoever the fuck this guy is, there isn’t much life left in him, or purpose.”
He, Bella, and Ice were all standing on my other side.
“But we don’t know who?”
“We don’t know who, yet,” Luce corrected. “Give me a few days, and I’ll have an answer.”
I had a ton of questions, wanted to know how many girls got away and how many were taken, but more than that, I was ready to sleep this night away.
“I think someone wants to talk to you,” Luce said.
I lifted my head from Cam’s arm and followed his stare. Partially submerged in the trees was Amo, watching us.
“I’ll go with her,” Ice volunteered.
“We’ll be right here,” Cam said.
I didn’t bother telling them I wasn’t afraid of my brother. It would have been a waste of breath. Ice and I walked over to where he was standing, me going a few steps closer.
“How was it?” he asked once I was within casual hearing distance.
