“I’d say you’re insane,” Clover said.
Of course that was what she’d say. It would be so much easier just to kill the girl. So much easier.
She had spent years at the assassin’s school, preparing for just such missions. She’d infiltrated an underground organization set on taking down the Red Masks. They were building … well, she still wasn’t sure what exactly they were constructing. Some kind of medallion or necklace. Something dangerous, she was sure. All she had to do was steal them, kill everyone who knew about their existence, and she’d walk in as a hero to the Father.
She pursed her lips in irritation. But that wasn’t even what he wanted from her. He wanted Kerrigan Argon. He was as obsessed with the redhead as Isa had once been. Determined to kill the stupid girl before she could become a threat. Too late for that. Especially after the Father’s indulgence in her. He’d made her the martyr that she was, and he had to reap those consequences.
No, she’d known from the get-go that Kerrigan wasn’t here. He wouldn’t care about a few dissenters tinkering in a hidden facility. He’d only be satisfied with her. His little mentee and the one person whose absence could hurt his cause.
Isa was beginning to think that Kerrigan was well beyond their reach. If even her closest friends hadn’t known that she still lived, then she wasn’t working with any of them either. Clover wasn’t a good enough actor for that.
Which meant that Isa was wasting her time and should have already dropped out of her search of Kinkadia and moved to the thirteen tribes beyond the great city. Following those leads would be much more difficult, but she had an idea of where to start. That dark mountain on the horizon, where her lover boy called home.
Not that any of these thoughts had anything to do with Clover standing half-dressed and terrified in front of her. The little necklace still emitting a soft light that should have been impossible. She was human as far as Isa had gathered. She shouldn’t be able to wield even a flicker of light. And none of that was why she was here.
“Perhaps I am insane,” she finally conceded.
Clover huffed. Her hand shook slightly. “At least there’s one thing we can agree on. If you’re not here to kill us, why don’t you tell me what you’re doing here?”
“I’m looking for Kerrigan.”
Clover glared. “She’s far beyond your reach.”
“Officially,” Isa continued, as if Clover hadn’t spoken.
She couldn’t believe she was telling this human this much, but Valia … Valia had believed in a new future. Her sister had been stupid enough to get caught. She had been stupid enough to die rather than come to Isa. Isa didn’t believe in this petty rebellion, but she believed in Valia. And she wouldn’t forget her father’s casual destruction of the person she loved most in this world.
“What does that mean?”
“That powerful people are interested in her whereabouts.”
“And you aren’t?”
“Interested. Sure.” She strode around the table.
Clover stiffened. “Stop where you are.”
Isa didn’t listen. She was surprised when the girl had the backbone to move in front of her, blocking the other exit where Isa knew the two Fae slumbered.
She raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want to get in a fight with me.”
“No,” Clover agreed. “I want you to spit out what you’re doing here and get the hell out.”
Isa smirked. “Fine. The Red Masks aren’t invulnerable. There are lines they crossed that I don’t agree with.”
“You’re an assassin. What lines could they have possibly crossed that would offend you?”
“They killed my sister.”
Clover’s jaw dropped. “Oh.”
“Yes.” Her skin crawled at the admission. At the admission of any of this. She didn’t want them to know. She didn’t want their pity. She should have known if they had done it to others, they would do it to her. “Anyway, I believe you and I can work together to stop this.”
Isa waited as Clover assessed her features. She wondered what the girl was thinking.
But finally, she started laughing.
Isa’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
“You can’t think that I believe you, right?”
“Why else would I be here?”
“To stop us. To find Kerrigan. Any of the reasons that make actual sense.”
Isa shrugged. “I could do any of those things, but that’s not where my offer stands.”
“Why should I believe you? You’ve done nothing but help him get to where he is. You’ve been at his right hand the entire time. You didn’t just watch as our world crumbled. You helped!” Clover snapped. “You are a monster. And you expect me to believe that one bad thing happened to you, and suddenly, you’re going to turn against him. You stood by his side the whole time. There is nothing you could do to prove yourself to us. The answer is and always will be no.”
Isa stared into Clover’s heated face. She was as still as a statue. The words falling from the girl’s lips cutting through her at every turn. No one in the Red Masks dared to speak to her this way. Only Kerrigan had been this bold, and Isa had been too deep to do anything but laugh at her insolence.
Even now, that was her first reaction. To laugh at this little girl and her stupid shop and her stupid movement. As if something so small could take down something as powerful as the Red Masks. It was unfathomable. It was idiocy that she had even come here.
Worse, she was right. Isa had stood by and let it all happen. She had been trained to bring down empires, and then she had been there as her work had fallen into place. It was the only life she knew.
Except Valia.
Except her sister.
Who had dreamed of a different world. One where they could have enough money to run away and never see any of this ever again. Only those dreams had been dashed to pieces so many times that Isa had believed it would never happen. But Valia had stayed true and paid the price for it.
“What if there was a way to prove myself?” Isa asked.
Clover blinked. “Impossible.”
“I could bring you a prisoner.”
Clover’s eyes rounded. She opened her mouth as if she was going to ask more, but then firmly closed it. “Who could possibly prove that you have changed your mind? How do I know it’s not a trap?”
“Because there is one person in the dungeons below the mountain that the Father would never release.”
“Who?” Clover asked skeptically.
“Kivrin Argon.”
Clover gasped. “Kerrigan’s father? He … he lives?”
Isa nodded. If that news ever got out, it would damn her. She was putting more trust into this girl than Clover had any idea about. But she had set her course. She would bring her father down at any cost.
“And I can get him out.”
Clover bit her lip. Her eyes darted to the necklace, as if hoping the small medallion would tell her everything she needed. “Fine. If you bring Kivrin back alive, then we can talk about an alliance. But only when that happens and not a second beforehand.”
Isa held her hand out with a raised eyebrow. Clover ground her teeth together. She looked like she couldn’t believe she was going to do this. But then she slipped her hand into Isa’s, and the bargain was struck.