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I narrowed my eyes but waited for her to continue. Amber took a deep breath. “I know Conii’s compound pretty well. I could go in and get some intel. Maybe even the evidence we need to prove Conii’s behind this so we can launch a full-on raid.”
My whole body tensed. “Absolutely not.”
She huffed. “I know you don’t want me going into danger, but think about it. They’re much less likely to notice me than a Vinduthi. As a human, I get overlooked every day by other species. Let’s use that to our advantage.”
“I noticed you,” I pointed out. “And let’s also not forget that some of them know who you are.”
She threw her hands up. “Then I’ll disguise myself. The point is that we don’t have a lot of options. This is probably our best bet of ending all of this and getting Isa back.”
My mind and my heart warred against one another. On the one hand, she was right. This was the most tactically sound strategy given our current situation.
On the other, Amber could get caught at any turn. She may have been able to work the Black Star, but this was a whole other viper’s nest she’d be stepping into. And if Conii got a hold of her…
I opened my mouth to point all this out and more, but Amber spoke first. “I know you’re going to say that it’s risky and dangerous, and I already know all of that. Believe me. But I’m also not just going to sit on the sidelines when I know I’m our best shot at not only getting back my friend but taking down Conii.”
She gave me a steely look. “Maybe I’m not as good as you or your Vinduthi brothers, but I’m what we need right now. If I can help take down Conii, if I can repay even a bit of the grief she caused me, that’s what I want.”
I stared at her expression for a moment, the utter conviction on her face. Hadn’t I just praised her in my mind for having guts that surpassed even soldiers and gangsters? At this particular moment, I wished she didn’t.
But then she wouldn’t be who she was. And she was valiant.
More than anything, I wanted to tell her no. I tried to rack my brain for an alternative scheme. Some sort of solution that kept her out of harm’s way. But nothing came to mind.
The crazy thing was, if it had been any other person, I think I would have agreed to it readily. But I’d admitted, if only to myself, that she was different for some reason.
Letting out a long breath, I reluctantly nodded. “Fine.”
Amber’s smile was grim but still strong. “Then we’d better get started.”
AMBER
“Now, hold still!” Ryrik scolded me with his hands on my scalp.
How we got like this, I couldn’t remember. Nor how I let him be the one to choose the color, but somehow, Ryrik decided an old-fashioned dye job was the final touch of my disguise. He hated sending me in there, but there was just no other way.
“You’re getting it in my eyes!” I screeched through lids shut tighter than a Uune’s mouth.
“Well, if you would stop wriggling,”
“Well, if you would stop scratching me. It says massage, not claw.”
“Do you want me to get dye all over that white shirt you had to have?”
It wasn’t so dark behind my shut eyelids that I couldn't see his point. “Okay, fine. But don’t rub it into my ears.”
As I bent over the sink, I couldn't help but stop to relish the touch of his palms across my scalp. I was always a sucker for a head massage, who isn’t? But the way he cupped my scalp with one hand while he rubbed the dye in with the other made me feel cradled in a way I’m sure I never was before.
I would’ve argued with him all day if it meant adding anything to those precious minutes. In all my years of running and the skills I’d had to cultivate to make it through, it felt so good to let myself go for once. To be natural and easy in the presence of another was something I’d only shared with Isa before.
For once, I didn’t have an agenda, and there was nothing better that I could squeeze from the situation. So I relaxed there, letting the cold dye seep into my scalp while his warm hands gently massaged it into place. Just when I felt ready to drift off, he snapped a plastic cap onto my head with a loud pop.
“Hey!” I looked back to see that he had done it on purpose. The look on his face, the childish, impish look of joy told me everything I needed to know about this Vinduthi.
“No dozing off,” he teased, his green tracery catching the light as his cheeks turned up in a smile. “We’ve got work to do.”
That time, he shook his head, turning away from me, and I knew my good luck wouldn't last. It was time to be ‘on.’ We had a job to do, and I couldn’t have him back down. What came next was something I had to do myself.
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” he said, finally facing me from across the bathroom. I saw him in the mirror, the tension rising in his voice. It took so much work to get him to agree in the first place that I had to keep him in my corner.
