Page 101 of Fallacies

PART II

25

Callan

It’s a half-day trek to the bunker just outside Streatham where we’ll stay for the night. Hunter and Devon will go ahead to the border and take inventory of guards and any notable activity outside the Estate walls. I won’t send Lucina past the border until we are aware of any threats. I can’t help her once she’s inside, but I can make sure she gets there safely. It’s all I can do really.

“Just do it,” Lucina whisper-shouts from beside me, pulling me from my thoughts.

We’re approaching the small grove of trees that surround our underground bunker, and her an Nix are going back and forth about something.

Phoenix shakes his head, but Lucina nudges him towards me anyway, her voice stern, “Do it or I will.”

The rest of our coven has now stopped to witness…whatever this is…It can’t be worth losing daylight.

“Fine,” Phoenix huffs, shrugging her off and moving in beside me. “Boss.”

“What is it, Nix?”

He glances past me, to where our coven continues on to the bunker. “Lucina wants me to remind you that um…there’s a Rogue in there.”

I freeze. “Shit.”

Phoenix’s damn girlfriend. The Rogue he’d left there before initiation. With all the fires I’ve had to put out since then, I’d forgotten all about her.

Running my hand across my face, I force my feet forward. “There’s no way she’s still alive.”

“I don’t know, Boss.” Nix hurries after me. “She’s pretty resilient.”

I fight the urge to trip him, turning to my coven instead. “Stay here,” I order them. Phoenix stops walking. “Not you, Nix. This is your mess.”

He smirks, gladly following me through the hatch in the ground and down the few concrete steps to the bottom of the bunker.

The cool, damp air is stagnant, and with a flick of my hand, the lanterns along the wall catch fire, illuminating the space.

“Chiaros, Nix,” I curse.

His footsteps are hesitant as he comes to stand beside me. Phoenix inhales deep, then exhales slowly. “Damnit,” he swears.

She’s dead. Very dead. The Rogue’s skin is nearly translucent, dried blood crusted around her restraints from where she’d tried to get free, and her head has fallen to her chest. I’ve inflicted and overseen plenty of Rogue torture, but even I can admit the cruelty in the scene before me.

Phoenix, on the other hand, doesn’t think or feel in the way most people do. There’s a disconnect in his brain, and it isn’t his fault. He was born that way. I’m willing to bet he has no idea how to feel about this.

At his silence, I glance in his direction. Nix’s expression is blank, save for the small crease between his brows. It’s not concern or remorse; he’s trying to understand what he’s looking at. Like he seriously can’t figure out how this happened.

Turning from him, I nudge the dead Rogue’s foot with the toe of my boot—just to be sure—but her joints are unmistakably stiff. Definitely dead.

Sighing, I pat him once on the shoulder. “Sorry, Nix.”

“I’m not.” Phoenix shrugs, casually stepping over her corpse. “She’s a lot safer in death’s hands than in mine. I never would have let her go on my own, and this way she can actually help us.”

“Help us?” I raise a brow. “How can she help us, Nix?”

“Well,” he grunts, heaving her up into a sitting position, and I wince as he pulls her hair back, revealing her lifeless face. The dark veins beneath her eyes and the bloodless, waxen look of her skin is harsh in the dim light. Phoenix smiles. “Little Reenan has a Rogue to memorize.”

He watches me for a moment, gauging my reaction, and when what he’s insinuating dawns on me, a wicked smile stretches across his face.

“Oh, gross,” Lucina gags, covering her mouth with the back of her hand as she enters the bunker, hazel eyes flicking to me. “Seriously?”