"Until tonight, my brethren," said the synthesized, inhuman voice Benson would hear in his nightmares for probably the rest of his days. "And a word of advice, Director. The eyes of Opus Nostrum are everywhere. Don't even think about betraying our trust again."
Benson nodded. He waited until the group signed off, then he closed his computer and exhaled, collapsing in a boneless heap onto the top of his desk. "What have I done?" he moaned into the crook of his elbow. "God, forgive me. What have I done?"
Chapter Twenty-Four
MIRA HAD JUST TURNED ON THE SHOWER WHEN A KNOCK sounded on her bedroom door at the Order's mansion. Still dressed in the clothes she'd arrived in a few hours before, she cut the tap in the bathroom and walked out to see who was there.
"Nathan."
A study in black, from his short ebony hair, to his fitted T-shirt, fatigues, and combat boots, he stood in the hallway, grim and unsmiling. "I heard Tess healed your sight. I'm glad you're well. How are you holding up?"
She lifted her shoulder in a faint shrug. "I'll be better once I see Kellan again."
Nathan didn't respond; instead he glanced down to the object he held in his hand. "I wanted to return this to you sooner, but with everything else going on . . ."
He handed her the blade she'd lost the day her whole life veered off the rails.
"You found my dagger."
He nodded. "The first night you were missing, Rafe, Eli, Jax, and I went looking for you. We found the blade in Ackmeyer's lawn. I kept it for you."
"Thank you." Mira turned the weapon over in her hands, grateful to finally have it again. Although her eyes took in the delicate hilt's intricate design and lettering, her mind raced back over everything that had occurred in the time since she'd lost the cherished blade. God, it all seemed like a hundred years ago. "Thank you for being a friend to me, Nathan . . . and to Kellan. I know things could've gone much worse for him last night."
He grunted. "I wanted to kill him for all he'd done. To you, to the Order, to everyone hurt by his deception."
Mira looked at her friend, the laboratory-bred assassin who was forever so unreadable and remote, always the most stoic warrior. She saw true hurt in him now. And he was angry too. His handsome face was schooled to stony neutrality, but Mira didn't miss the flicker of amber crackling in his greenish blue irises. "You're angry, but you don't hate him, do you, Nathan?"
He scowled, seeming to consider the question. "Last night, when I found the Archer insignia at the rebel bunker and suddenly realized the truth, yes, I did hate him. I never felt so strongly or so certain about anything before in my life. I was prepared to kill him, Mira. Until I saw him and realized I couldn't hate my friend. Not even after discovering he was my enemy." He exhaled a heavy breath. "I can't guess how you must feel. He's surely hurt you the deepest of all."
"He has," she admitted quietly. "But nowhere near as badly as it will hurt if I lose him all over again. I'm not going to let that happen, Nathan. If the GNC wants to take Kellan away from me, put him on trial to make some kind of political statement, they're not going to get him without a damned bloody fight."
Nathan's mouth pressed flat, his dark brows drawing together. He started to shake his head. "Mira, you can't expect - "
"I have to try," she insisted. "I'm not giving up on him. Fuck the GNC, and fuck fate too. I won't let go of him, even if that's what he wants. And I plan to tell Kellan the same thing when I go see him today, wherever JUSTIS is holding him."
"Mira," Nathan said, and something about his tone - so full of concern, so gentle - made her blood start to freeze in her veins. "Mira, there won't be time for any of that. Not now."
Her heart dropped, heavy as a stone. "What do you mean?"
She looked at him, realizing only now that his returning her dagger was only part of the reason he'd come to see her.
"Tell me what's going on, Nathan."
He glanced down, swore a low curse. "Since Kellan's former Order, Lucan got the GNC to agree to hearing the charges and handling the situation privately rather than turning Kellan over to the criminal courts for a full-blown trial."
"Okay," Mira said cautiously. "That's good, right?"
Nathan merely looked at her. "Because of the riots and public calls for justice, and because the peace summit opens tonight, the GNC feels it needs to demonstrate decisive action to avoid potential disruptions during the gala. It's agreed to the private hearing, but the GNC will be conducting it - and determining Kellan's sentence - at a special meeting. It's taking place at GNC headquarters today."
All her fears came rushing at her in a buffeting wave. She staggered back on her heels, feeling as if the air had been sucked out of her lungs. "They're going to decide Kellan's sentence . . . today? Can't Lucan delay it? There must be something more he can do."
"He's calling in every political favor he's got, Mira. He's been in touch with each member of the Council, trying to bargain with them for a promise of leniency."
"How many?" she asked, going numb with a dread that made her stomach roil. "How many have agreed so far?"
Nathan didn't speak for a long moment. "There are sixteen Council members, representing eight key nations, with one human and one Breed member each." Nathan cleared his throat. "He's got confirmed votes from a few, but there are still several more Council members left to persuade in order to have the majority. Lucan's making a lot of promises, Mira. He's putting his balls on the line for Kellan. He's doing everything he possibly can."
She wanted to feel hope. She wanted to believe that everything would somehow work out and that, by some miracle, she and Kellan would come out of this terrible situation as one, together. But dread was a cold weight in the center of her chest.