{Cinder}

“Oleen, tell me, were you happy there with Triss and Razor?”

The gentle Lyrik, third in command, sat with her hands squeezed in her lap. “We deserved to be there. You were right.”

Miy frowned. Always the feistiest, she said, “I didn’t. I know we weren’t perfect wardens, Pehton, but you condemned our volition to the most immoral being in the galaxy.”

The others remained silent.

Pehton swallowed that hard truth. “You’re right, but I’m not sorry for it. I tried to convince Triss and the rest of you to free those children. I thought it only fair you got a taste of their existence.”

“For two and a half million years?” Miy looked disgusted.

Oleen looked off in the distance, her eyes wide. “I remember their screams. When it hurt. Now I know the drones hurt the most. They hurt me, and I’m a fully matured woman. I… We deserved it, Miy. We deserve the Wrong Side of Eternity.”

Miy huffed and looked away.

Oleen smiled sadly at Pehton with a shrug.

Pehton abhorred what Razor subjected them to with the power she signed over to him. But it didn’t lack for poetry.

“Fuck. I can’t even find privacy in the dungeons.”

Pehton took their voices away and looked over her shoulder. Caedes wandered into the vast space below Nox’s Castle. They stared at one another in exhausted silence. She understood the need for quiet with the Shadow all gathered under one roof in a frantic panic, like ants.

The Icarus turned on his heel with a grumble. “Sorry. Just looking for someplace quiet.”

Pehton unfolded her arms and faced him. “No sense returning to the fray. We’re plenty quiet here. A lot quieter than in there.”

When he turned around, his chain swayed. Empty. She pointed at it. “What’d you use yours on?”

Caedes glanced at his spent pendant. “An army of myself and a couple hundred Icari. You?” He came closer and gestured at hers.

Pehton nodded over her shoulder. “Army of Lyriks.”

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“We both won.”

Was that a smirk? She’d yet to see him make anything close to a smile until now. It suited him. “It’s hard not to notice that for all the trouble the Shadow get into, they have a tendency of winning.”

Caedes folded his arms and leaned back against the pillar beside her. “Then the hugging starts.” Cheekily, he slipped out a flask and took a drink.

Pehton shuddered at the touchy-feely reminder before laughing genuinely. Her first in the last few hours. “Do you think we’ll ever convert?”

Those deep green eyes of his widened with sincere bewilderment. “Let’s hope not.” Caedes tipped the flask to her, offering.

She took a drink as he scanned the women in the cell. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

Caedes gestured at them. “Why are your feathers all varying shades of fire?”

Ah. This question. Pehton rolled her eyes. “Tritans have a thing for redheads. Can you believe it?”

“I can’t believe we’d have anything in common.” He chuffed, shook his head, and took the flask back for another drink.

She laughed and accused him, “Well, don’t go thinking I’m available for your rebound.”

The attractive bald man gaped openly.

Pehton wagged a finger at him before snatching his flask again. “I remember how you looked at Tameka in our meeting in Enki—Wow. Was it only two days ago? Anyway. I’m not good replacement material for a girl like that. And I have some dignity.” She drank from it.

“Well, Korac seems a little tied up at the moment.”

She spat out the booze. Her eyes wider than her face, incredulous.

Smirking, Caedes reclaimed his flask and shoot his shot. “We could pass the time together like two adults with similar needs.”

Pehton threw her head back and laughed, full and throaty. That’s thrice he broke through the foggy cloud hanging over her. “What I need is a massage.”

“Here, here.” He toasted her and took a drink.

“He’s great at them!”

They both looked sharply at the entrance. The John human entered with a jovial smile. He nudged the Icarus and whispered loud enough for her to overhear. “Don’t worry. I’ll be your wingman.”

Pehton cackled.

“Aw, Pehton. Have you replaced me so quickly?”

Irritating. Grating. Elegant. Sexy. Korac leaned his side in the doorway, looking like a girl’s bad boy wet dream. Pehton hated that the burn of the alcohol increased her usual flush. Cruel. This was just cruel.

Caedes stiffened, hardened. Not in a sexy way. The Icarus turned to stone. Pehton knew why. She read in Nox’s Verse that Korac sentenced Caedes to a brainwashing camp for disrespecting Nox. What was that like? She noted to ask him sometime.

As if sensing the tension, the former Icarean General entered the room with his hands up. “I’m only here to invite the chief Lyrik to the safe house for scouting. Iuo has some ideas to employ the ladies throughout Reipon.”

Hand on her hip, Pehton rolled her eyes in irritation. “I don’t want them working in porn after dealing with Razor.”

Caedes’ eyebrows shot up. John hid a chuckle behind a cough. Real cute.

There was Korac’s fucking smirk. Condemn her to Hell, she would take Caedes up on his offer, if only to quell this childish obsession of hers. “No porn. Unless they want it, but he thinks they need to keep a low profile. Being an endangered species with highly distinct features and what not.”

“Right. I’d love to go with you.” Pehton turned to the comedic duo. “Do you two mind watching them for me? I’ll owe you.” She winked at the Icarus.

John grinned big and goofy at his friend. “No problem.”

Caedes tipped the flask at Pehton again. “I’ll hold you to it.”

They might not live up to the other one’s fantasy, but they’d make an amazing exercise of it.