“Are you going to get angry if I say yes?”
“No more lies, Ian.”
He sighed. “Yeah. Every day home from work after the attack. To make sure you got home okay.”
All those times she’d wished he were there to walk with her, he actually had been—just out of sight. “I can’t decide if that’s sweet or creepy.”
He winced. “I meant well. But I have no idea why Matthias would be following you.”
“Who is he?”
“He’s my former ops commander. Whatever debt he owes, it’s not to me.”
“Could he be setting up some kind of trap?”
“He could, but it’s not likely. He had both of us completely at his mercy while I was unconscious. He could’ve just as easily killed you and hauled me in for execution. I don’t understand why he didn’t. He’ll take flack for my desertion.”
Marley felt another stab of remorse. He’d lost just as much as she had. More, even.
Ian cupped her cheek. “I don’t regret it. I don’t regret any of it.” With another quick kiss, he let her go. “We need to get moving. Get your things and change into the warmest clothes you’ve got. Layer up. It’s cold where we’re going.”
“Are you sure it’s safe?”
“No. But if Matthias is somehow involved and whoever’s waiting there knows something about who you are, that someone might be able to prove your parentage.”
“Being half Mirus would stay the execution?”
“It’s worth finding out.”
What if whoever they were meeting knew her father? Her body knotted with a mix of apprehension and hope, but she fought it back. She knew better than to hope, to wish, for something so huge. No matter what she remembered, in the end, he’d
left her behind. There was no guarantee he’d want or claim her, even if they managed to track him down. But maybe, at the very least, she’d finally get some answers.
Ian linked his hand with hers. “I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
Nodding, she hoped it was a promise he could keep.
“We’ll travel by shadow. They’ll be able to track it, but it’ll get us out of here fast. We’ll pick up some other mode of transport on the other side.”
She paused, hoodie in hand. “I’m sorry, we’ll travel by what?”
“Shadow. It’s what Shadow Walkers do.”
A hundred questions sprang to Marley’s mind about the physics they’d be breaking, about their plan on the other side. But she voiced none of them, zeroing in instead on another point of confusion. “I thought you were a wraith.”
“Wraith is my race. Shadow Walker is my job.” He paused. “Or it was. Think of the Shadow Walkers as the special ops of the Mirus world. A cross between your Navy SEALS and the CIA.”
“So you were in some kind of military,” she said, latching on to the part she understood.
Ian nodded. “I went to work for the Council after my people were freed. They gave me purpose, a means to feed that didn’t involve the innocent. They saved my sanity. I’ve not been on active service in a year, but I didn’t lose my abilities. And the Council knows it. Which is why it isn’t just any team of Hunters being sent. It will probably be my old squad.”
“That’s pretty cold-blooded.”
“It’s what I’d do in their position. The Council will bank on them knowing how I think, what moves I’m likely to make. We got this far because the Hunter didn’t know I was part of the equation. Now we’ve lost that edge. So let’s move. Go change.”
It took mere minutes. Meeting him in the living room, she took in his black t-shirt and cargo pants. “You’re not dressed very warmly.”
“The cold won’t affect me the same way. Are you ready?”