Page 82 of Trivium

“What are you doing?” She changed the subject, eyes narrowed.

“You followed me here. Why?” He crossed his arms.

“It wasn’t hard. For the greatest Slayer of this decade…” Her eyes rolled, mocking the title given to him when they sparred. “You’re kind of sloppy.”

Ren scoffed. “I am never sloppy.”

“Who is this?” Loveleena waved her dagger at the man, who stepped back in response.

Ren looked back at the man, then to her, choosing his words carefully. “You really shouldn’t be here.”

Dragging his hand through his hair, his expression shifted as though he was having an internal debate. But if he was impressed at her ability to track him, he didn’t show it. “Stay close and quiet. We need to go. We’re running out of time.”

He pushed past her, the man beside him following at a brisk pace with Loveleena at the rear. Out on the street, they tucked themselves along the edge of Jarrah’s stone buildings as they made their way toward the Great Wall.

After another long trek—during which she seriously considered throwing her dagger at Ren just for fun—they finally stood before the wall’s ominous presence. Ren removed the stones once again while her questions went unanswered. He could have thrown her off his trail, she realized. He knew she had been tracking him and he still led her here. Let her in on whatever this was.

“That’s right, mind your head,” Ren said, guiding the man through the opening, reassuring him that it wouldn’t be long. Leaving the man on the other side of the wall, he replaced the stones in seconds. Just like the night she met Ren, there was no way to distinguish the opening.

“That man was a sympathizer, wasn’t he?”

“Yes,” Ren said, wiping the grey dust from the Great Wall off his hands.

“You just let him free. Beyond the wall.” The words didn’t even seem real as they left her mouth.

But Ren didn’t acknowledge her accusation, instead offering her flattery. “You’ve gotten better. A lot better.”

So, he had noticed her improvement. Pride bloomed in her chest, but she couldn’t let his compliment change the topic at hand. “What does that have to do with you jailbreaking traitors?”

She had him. For the first time, she had leverage against him. Something she could use to strongarm him into giving her information about Park.

“Park was in support of it, you know.” The shock of his words startled her. Park supported freeing traitors beyond the wall? She opened her mouth to speak, closing it again when no words came. It was rare she was speechless.

“That man will be fine. There are others who are well trained assisting him to the next location,” Ren said as if anticipating her next question.

“Park did this?”

“Yes.”

“With you?”

“Sometimes.”

So, Park had been helping Ren, and possibly others, to free traitors and relocate them outside the wall. To where, she had no clue. And it had cost him. Because whatever he did, whoever he had gotten involved with, she was sure they were behind his disappearance.

“Come on,” he sighed. “I’ll tell you more on the way.”

She followed Ren to another small jail where they freed a young woman. Once again, they snuck along the dark Jarrian streets until Ren guided her to the other side of the wall. Loveleena waited patiently the entire time to question him about Park. Once they were alone, she blurted out what had been gnawing at her: “Did someone find out that Park was freeing traitors? Did they do something to him?”

But the words were barely out of her mouth before Ren’s body had her pinned to the wall in the cover of shadow, his head ducked low close to her ear.

“Giggle or something.”

“What?” She turned to see a pair of Defenders that had rounded the corner. Ren had clocked them before they were even visible.

“Pretend we’re romantic.”

“Why?”