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“No, I didn’t think so,” Isa said when Clover said nothing.
Isa palmed one of the amulets. Clover took a step forward, but Isa held her hand up.
“This is an interesting contraption. This is what all those laborers are coming and going for?”
Clover remained silent.
Isa laughed and tossed it back on the table. The pieces rattled and shook. Clover tried not to grimace at the careful work coming apart.
“Are you here to kill me then?” Clover asked.
Isa tilted her head. “Why would I do that?”
“Because of who I’m associated with.”
“Ah. I see. I don’t think so.”
Clover shot her a skeptical look. “Why not? What do you want?”
“What if I said we should work together?” Isa asked to a disbelieving Clover.
She held the amulet tighter in her hand, prepared to use it however she needed to take down this girl. Anything to save her people.
38
The Assassin
ISA
“I’d say you’re insane,” Clover said.
Of course that was what she’d say. It would be so much easier just to kill the girl. So much easier.
She had spent years at the assassin’s school, preparing for just such missions. She’d infiltrated an underground organization set on taking down the Red Masks. They were building … well, she still wasn’t sure what exactly they were constructing. Some kind of medallion or necklace. Something dangerous, she was sure. All she had to do was steal them, kill everyone who knew about their existence, and she’d walk in as a hero to the Father.
She pursed her lips in irritation. But that wasn’t even what he wanted from her. He wanted Kerrigan Argon. He was as obsessed with the redhead as Isa had once been. Determined to kill the stupid girl before she could become a threat. Too late for that. Especially after the Father’s indulgence in her. He’d made her the martyr that she was, and he had to reap those consequences.
No, she’d known from the get-go that Kerrigan wasn’t here. He wouldn’t care about a few dissenters tinkering in a hidden facility. He’d only be satisfied with her. His little mentee and the one person whose absence could hurt his cause.
Isa was beginning to think that Kerrigan was well beyond their reach. If even her closest friends hadn’t known that she still lived, then she wasn’t working with any of them either. Clover wasn’t a good enough actor for that.
Which meant that Isa was wasting her time and should have already dropped out of her search of Kinkadia and moved to the thirteen tribes beyond the great city. Following those leads would be much more difficult, but she had an idea of where to start. That dark mountain on the horizon, where her lover boy called home.
Not that any of these thoughts had anything to do with Clover standing half-dressed and terrified in front of her. The little necklace still emitting a soft light that should have been impossible. She was human as far as Isa had gathered. She shouldn’t be able to wield even a flicker of light. And none of that was why she was here.
“Perhaps I am insane,” she finally conceded.
Clover huffed. Her hand shook slightly. “At least there’s one thing we can agree on. If you’re not here to kill us, why don’t you tell me what you’re doing here?”
“I’m looking for Kerrigan.”
Clover glared. “She’s far beyond your reach.”
“Officially,” Isa continued, as if Clover hadn’t spoken.
She couldn’t believe she was telling this human this much, but Valia … Valia had believed in a new future. Her sister had been stupid enough to get caught. She had been stupid enough to die rather than come to Isa. Isa didn’t believe in this petty rebellion, but she believed in Valia. And she wouldn’t forget her father’s casual destruction of the person she loved most in this world.
“What does that mean?”
“That powerful people are interested in her whereabouts.”
“And you aren’t?”
“Interested. Sure.” She strode around the table.
Clover stiffened. “Stop where you are.”
Isa didn’t listen. She was surprised when the girl had the backbone to move in front of her, blocking the other exit where Isa knew the two Fae slumbered.
She raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want to get in a fight with me.”
“No,” Clover agreed. “I want you to spit out what you’re doing here and get the hell out.”
Isa smirked. “Fine. The Red Masks aren’t invulnerable. There are lines they crossed that I don’t agree with.”
“You’re an assassin. What lines could they have possibly crossed that would offend you?”
“They killed my sister.”
Clover’s jaw dropped. “Oh.”
“Yes.” Her skin crawled at the admission. At the admission of any of this. She didn’t want them to know. She didn’t want their pity. She should have known if they had done it to others, they would do it to her. “Anyway, I believe you and I can work together to stop this.”
Isa waited as Clover assessed her features. She wondered what the girl was thinking.
