Legion

by Julie Kagawa

  Ember drew back and sighed, resting her forehead against mine. “Thank you,” she said as I drew in a cooling breath. “You have no idea how glad I am...that you’re here.” Her fingers traced my neck as she sat up, making me shiver. “Sometimes, I think you’re the only thing keeping me sane.”

  “I doubt it, dragon girl,” I replied, offering a wry smile as she cocked her head. “I doubt you need me for anything, but...” Reaching up, I stroked her cheek. “I’m glad I’m here, too.”

  She gazed down at me, eyes shining emerald, her fingertips brushing the side of my face. “I love you, Garret,” she said softly, making my heart turn over. I hoped... I thought I’d heard those words before, on the salt flats of Utah right before I’d slipped into darkness. But that had been a hazy dream; this was real. “You know that, right? I was afraid I’d never get the chance to say it, and I should have told you a long time ago.”

  “I love you, too,” I whispered back. “For the rest of my life. However long that is.” It was amazing sometimes, how quickly she could make me forget. Forget the war, and the Order, Talon, everything. Outside this room, Riley and Wes plotted how we were going to sneak into another Talon facility; the organization was up to something big, and I had no idea what was going on in my own body. If I should be worried about the constant sensation of molten fire in my veins. But, much like in Crescent Beach, nothing seemed quite as urgent when Ember was this close. I could let go of the perfect soldier’s discipline and be myself, the Garret I’d had no idea existed before I met her. And I could say things I never would have considered a year ago.

  I met those emerald eyes and gave a rueful smile. “We might not have a lot of time,” I said quietly, and ran my hands up her arms. “But however long we have, I’m not going anywhere. I’m yours, dragon girl. I always have been.”

  Her eyes went a little glassy, and she kissed me again. I leaned back against the headboard and closed my eyes, feeling the inferno flare between us once more. It flickered and pulsed, like my blood was boiling on the inside, and Ember was the fire that ignited it. But rather than wanting it to stop, it pushed me to continue, to drag the girl closer until nothing separated us. Until the flames rippling under my skin burst free and surrounded us, burning but not consuming. Ember’s fingers dug into my shirt, the echo of a growl rumbling in her chest, and I felt something inside me respond.

  A crash from the living room made us freeze. Both our hearts were pounding wildly, and the tiny space between us almost shimmered with heat as we listened to the muffled voices through the wall, ready to rush out if there was trouble. But after a moment, it appeared that nothing was wrong; someone had just dropped a mug on the hard wooden floor. Wes was applauding someone—probably Riley—who growled at him to shut up. Ember gave a small smile and drew back.

  “I wish we could stay here,” she said, her voice a little breathless. “But I guess we should head out and see what the others are planning, huh? Before Riley comes banging on the door.” She winced. “Or...through it.”

  I echoed her wince. I wanted to stay here, too, but angry dragons in log cabins seemed like a bad idea. “You ready for this?” I asked, and she nodded.

  “Yeah,” she sighed, sliding off the bed. “Back into Talon. Back into heavily-armed facilities crawling with security guards and people shooting at us if we’re caught. With no real idea of what we’re actually looking for. What’s one more crazy suicide mission, right?” She grinned at me and held out a hand to pull me to my feet. “We lead an exciting life, huh?”

  “Yes, we do,” I agreed, lacing our fingers together as we headed for the door. Riley might see us and be angry, but I wasn’t going to hide what I felt any longer. “And I have a feeling it’s going to get more exciting from here on out.”

  When we reentered the living room, a man stood just inside the front door. He was bald, wearing orange robes, and he was talking to Jade in low, furtive Mandarin, while Riley and Wes hovered close by and watched warily.

  “What’s going on?” Ember asked as we swept inside.

  “No clue,” Riley muttered. “This person showed up a few minutes ago, banging on the door with an ‘urgent message’ for Jade.” He shrugged. “I’m guessing a temple is in danger or a group of monks need her help with St. George.”

  “No.” Jade turned to us, her eyes grave. “Worse, I’m afraid. I am needed elsewhere. I will depart tonight.”

  “Again?” Riley frowned. “Can’t these monks do anything themselves?”

  “It is not the monks,” Jade said. “I have been called home, to China. A summons has been issued, the first one in over two thousand years.” She looked away, her eyes distant and troubled. “The shen-lung are gathering. I must go.”

  “You’re not coming back this time, are you?” I said. It was a heavy blow. Jade was not only a powerful, dependable ally; I had come to see her as a friend, as well. The Eastern dragon paused as she glanced at me, her eyes troubled.

  “I do not know,” she replied. “Perhaps. I know that our work here, against Talon, is of utmost importance. But this cannot be ignored. My people are a solitary race. A gathering is called only in the most dire circumstances, when the fate of our very existence hangs in the balance. I suspect that the upheaval within the Order and Talon’s move to destroy my kin are at the heart of it. If they have called a summoning, then I must be there.”

  Riley shook his head. “Well, if you have to go, we can’t stop you,” he said. “Lousy timing, though. We could’ve really used your help inside Talon. But if this summoning thing is that important...”

  “It is. And I am sorry I cannot go with you to Talon. But my duty to my people comes first.”

  “Keep in touch,” I told her as Riley crossed his arms. “At least give us a call when you know what’s going on.”

  “I will.” Jade took a step back, toward the door. “If I can, I will return as soon as I am able. That is a promise from a shen-lung.” She turned to the monk and said something in Mandarin; he bowed deeply and walked out the door. “Good fortune to you all,” the Eastern dragon said, and gave me a slight bow before turning to follow the human out the door. “Hopefully we will meet again.”

  EMBER

  I hated long stakeouts.

  I wasn’t going to complain. Sitting on the top floor of a parking garage, peering at a building across the street through a pair of binoculars, was better than fleeing through twisty aisles while being shot at by human maniacs. And it was certainly better than sitting alone in a hotel room, waiting for something to happen or for someone to return. But after a few hours of nothing—seeing the same building, same street, same everything—I began to get restless. I wanted to get out and do something. Not something frivolous; I knew what was at stake. I knew I couldn’t be distracted from our mission. But I wasn’t good at sitting still for long periods of time without getting incredibly bored.

  “What are we looking for again?” I asked Riley, who sat next to me in the driver’s seat with the windows halfway down, also peering through a pair of binoculars. Wes perched in the back with his laptop open, of course, and Garret had been sent to scout the other side of the building. I’d wanted to go with him, but Riley wouldn’t let me, saying that I was way too recognizable by Talon to casually stroll around the building, where any guard or security camera could pick me out of a crowd. Garret, while he wasn’t exactly unknown to Talon, was less familiar, and could blend into the throngs of humanity wandering the streets. He was also better at spotting undercover guards, cameras, concealed weapons and other threats. So he was down at street level, doing the soldier thing, while I sat up here with Riley and Wes and watched the office building, not really knowing what I was looking for.

  Riley sighed and lowered the binoculars. “This is just surveillance, Firebrand,” he explained, giving me a sideways look. “We don’t want to go charging in half-assed, without knowing
what we’re up against. I want to know when the security shifts change. I want to know where their guard posts and cameras are located. I want to know if anyone I recognize is working here now, because they’re sure to recognize me, as well. This is Talon.” He raised the binoculars again, peering down at the huge glass doors across the street. “I’m not leaving anything to chance if I can help it. Wes? Has St. George placed the camera? Do you have a visual of the other side yet?”

  “Hold your bloody horses, I’m working on it.”

  The side door opened, and Garret slid into the back, hoodie and dark glasses making him appear like a stranger for a moment. “There’s an entrance to an underground garage on the other side,” he announced, brushing back the hood and stripping off the shades. “But it’s guarded, not open to the public. I put the camera under a bench across the street from the garage entrance. So we should be able to see who’s going in and out.”

  “All right, then,” Wes muttered, typing something on his laptop. “And...there we go. Huh, well not bad, St. George. I can see every bastard coming and going, down to the license plate numbers. And it’s not in a planter box where all I see are leaves.”

  “One time, I did that,” Riley growled.

  “There was also that instance when a dog peed all over the camera because you stuck it on a hydrant.”

  “Shut up and watch your computer.”

  I gave Garret a smile and turned back to the window, raising the binoculars. Below, the streets and sidewalks bustled with people like every other city. Cars and humans cruised blissfully past the office building, unaware of its true nature. Unaware that, right above their heads, their movements were being watched by a pair of dragons and a modern-day knight.

  A black sedan with tinted windows pulled in front of the building and stopped at the curb. The front passenger door opened, and a large man in a suit and shades stepped out, looking distinctly bodyguard-esque. I was about to prod Riley, to see if he recognized whatever Talon hotshot was about to leave the car, when the bodyguard reached out and opened the passenger door.

  And Dante stepped out of the vehicle.

  I gasped, and for a moment, the world lurched to a stop. I hadn’t seen my twin since that fateful night I’d fled Crescent Beach, when Dante had sent Lilith after me and Riley. The night he’d betrayed us to Talon. I remembered him in shorts and a T-shirt, with a baseball cap perched atop his head and a backpack slung over one shoulder.

  He looked different now, in an expensive black suit and tie, his previously longish red hair cut short. He looked poised and important and busy as he stepped onto the sidewalk, talking into his phone and ignoring everything around him. He looked...like a true Talon executive.

  My heart ached, and I swallowed hard, watching as my brother hung up the phone and slipped it into his jacket pocket. I’d been secretly hoping Dante was unhappy in Talon, that he had realized his mistake and was regretting everything that had happened. But seeing him like this, watching him straighten his tie, gaze imperiously down the street and head briskly toward the office building...it was like he had stepped into the role he was destined for.

  “Well, well,” Riley growled beside me, and I heard the anger in his voice as he peered through his own binoculars. “Look who showed up. The little snitch himself.”

  “Dante is here?” Garret echoed as the lump in my throat grew bigger. He leaned forward, gazing through the windshield at the street as my brother and his bodyguards walked up the steps and vanished through the glass doors. “Why do you think he’s come?”

  “Who knows,” Riley muttered. “But I’m guessing it has something to do with that evidence. If he was involved with what happened at the crash site, maybe he wants to see it for himself.”

  My hands were shaking as I lowered the binoculars, but I wasn’t sure which emotion it was attached to. Grief, rage, excitement? Something else? All three? “I have to see him,” I said quietly, making both Riley and Garret glance at me. “I have to talk to him before he goes back to Talon. This might be my only chance.”

  “Ember...” Riley began, his voice a warning. I turned on him with a growl.

  “It’s Dante, Riley,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “I don’t care that he’s part of Talon now. He’s still my brother.”

  “Dammit, Firebrand, you know what he’s like,” Riley snarled back, gesturing down at the street. “You know we can’t trust him. Brother or not, he sold us out to Talon. Hell, he sent a Viper to kill you. Remember that? Remember Faith, and Mist? That was all Dante, Ember. Family doesn’t matter to him anymore. After everything he put us through, you should know that by now.”

  “I know,” I said in the most reasonable voice I could manage, though it was hard not to snarl back at him. Frustration and anger boiled, made worse by the dragon and the sudden heat erupting inside me, but I kept my words calm. “I know I can’t trust him. I know he’ll sell us out to Talon again.” I gazed down at the office building, at the doors my twin had vanished through, and clenched my jaw. “I want him to confirm it. I want to look him in the eye and ask why he would give the order to have his own sister killed because she wouldn’t conform to Talon.” My voice trembled a bit on the last sentence, and I took a breath to steady it. “I want to ask why he chose the organization over me. And I want to see his face when he answers.”

  Garret placed a hand on my arm and squeezed gently before turning to Riley. “If Dante was involved with what happened at the crash site, then he’ll likely know what Talon is up to,” he said calmly. “If we want answers, he might be the best one to ask.”

  “If we can even get to him,” Riley muttered, crossing his arms. “And that he’ll actually talk when we do.” He gave me an exasperated look. “If he’s as stubborn as his sister, I foresee all kinds of problems.”

  “Also, not to be the voice of reason or anything,” Wes broke in, “but this is a Talon facility. You’re not going to just stroll in the front doors and say, ‘Hello, we’re your most wanted dragons and we’ve wandered right into your office. Cooperate with us please.’ I say ‘you’ and not ‘me,’ because there’s no way you’re getting me anywhere near that building. I will stay up here with the sane people, thank you very much. Which, I think, is just down to me, at this point.”

  I narrowed my eyes at the rogue. “You know I’m going to see him, Riley, with or without you.”

  “Shit, yes, I know.” Riley sighed, raking a hand through his hair. “I just want you to be very sure, Firebrand. Dante is part of Talon. I don’t want you going down there thinking you can convince him to leave. He’s dangerous, because he’s your brother and you’re not seeing him as the enemy. But he is, do you understand? He is just as dangerous as Lilith or Faith, maybe even more so. A Viper will kill you without blinking an eye, but you at least know where you stand with them. Chameleons, though, are masters of manipulation and lies. They’ll tell you exactly what you want to hear, and they’ll screw you over while smiling at you all the while.” He shook his head in disgust, giving me a piercing glare. “So, you can’t trust anything he says, Ember. No matter how much you want to believe it. He’ll try to get us to lower our guard, to relax around him, and then he’ll sell us out to Talon at the first opportunity.”

  “I know,” I said, though my chest squeezed tight at Riley’s words.

  “Repeat it back to me, Ember. Just so I know you get it.”

  “I can’t trust him,” I echoed bitterly. “Dante is part of Talon and will betray us all if we give him the chance. Satisfied?”

  “Wish I wasn’t.” Riley exhaled and peered down at the building again. For a few moments, he stared out the window, eyes narrowed, mouth drawn into a thin line. I saw the echo of Cobalt in his profile, a phantom blue dragon with sweeping black horns and bright golden eyes, and felt a flicker of heat pulse through my veins. “All right,” the rogue muttered at last. “This is what we’re going to
do.”

  DANTE

  “Welcome, Mr. Hill,” the man in the business suit greeted me as we came through the front doors. “We cannot express what a pleasure it is that you are here. How was your flight?”

  “Fine,” I returned shortly. Then, in an attempt not to let my mood get the better of me, I added, “Mostly uneventful, thank you.”

  “Good to hear, Mr. Hill,” the human continued, and began rambling about how truly privileged they were that I had arrived, how they hoped this office was doing wonderful things for the organization, and other useless compliments that were mostly lip service. As if I couldn’t smell the fear that radiated from the human like body odor. How he was trying so hard to appear normal and conversational, when he knew exactly what was happening.

  “Have the packages arrived?” I asked when there was a break in the stream of endless chatter and adulation. The human bobbed his head as we stepped into a narrow elevator, squeezing into the center of the floor. My two guards loomed over us, silent and menacing, and the human eyed them nervously as the elevator climbed toward the higher floors.

  “Yes, Mr. Hill. All arrived safely this morning.” The man pulled a handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and dotted his balding head with it. “And the boxes you requested were delivered to conference room C for your inspection. We’re headed there now.”

  “Good.”

  The elevator stopped on the eleventh floor and opened with a ding. I followed my bodyguards out and immediately turned, pressing my palm into the doors to stop them from closing. The human blinked at me across the threshold.

  “I can find my own way from here,” I told him. “Thank you for your assistance, but I’m sure you’re busy enough without having to escort me around the building. We’ll be fine.” He hesitated, and I gave a wry smile. “I’m actually fairly adept at finding my way around Talon offices. It’s no trouble at all. You can return to your work.”