Page 107 of Remnants
“I know it was dark when you started cooking, but you realize it’s breakfast time, not dinner, right?” Kellan drawls across the table from me, stabbing his fork into a steak.
Aside from the cuts of steak, there’s some sort of liver, spinach, oysters, and edamame.
“Be grateful I made you anything at all,” Dane snarks, knife jabbing the air toward him. “I made this for Rae since she lost some blood. These are all high in iron.”
Oh. That’s…really fucking considerate. And sweet.
“Thank you.”
He runs his hand through his hair and gives me a small, sheepish smile. “Sorry the food’s so random. If you don’t like anything, I can get you something else.”
Impossible.
Everything is delicious, seasoned well, and satiates the hunger that had been carving into my stomach since I awoke.
No one talks while we eat, everyone so hungry from the last day and a half that no one even attempts to disrupt the meal until the last of us—me—is finished. I nudge my plate forward once I can’t eat another bite, sinking into my chair with a hum of satisfaction.
“We need a better plan to take down Royce,” Aiden begins.
“What did we miss?” Jackson asks from the other head of the table. I frown, noticing his hood still up even when it’s just us,all but his lips shadowed from view.
Aiden fills us in on last night, on what Reid and Harvey accomplished—or didn’t, rather—and how Royce had taken control of the three of us.
I chew on my lip, realizing how close it had been to him having us kill each other. “I thought Reid said he could only control two living souls at a time.”
“He said he wasn’t sure, so we can’t take what he said as confirmed information. We know he can control at least three now without much limitation.” Aiden taps his fingers on the table.
“And while hiding,” Kellan adds. “I never saw the coward unless he was lurking in the bushes at the top of the cliff.”
“We need to know where he is before we attack so this doesn’t happen again. The fight with him is going to be a race to see who can strike first,” Aiden surmises.
I push my hair behind my ear. “Did we already lose our opportunity with him? Is he going to leave now that we know about that location?”
“Considering the stockpile of bodies in the caves underneath, I think we’ve found more than a temporary location for him,” Aiden replies. “But if we can get eyes on him, we can make sure he doesn’t look like he’s packing up and learn as much as we can about him and his routine to figure out the best time to attack.” Turning his attention to Dane, he continues, “We need to get cameras in and around the house.”
“How the hell are we supposed to plant the cameras without him noticing?”
“Harvey.”
“That coward? I doubt he’d step foot in that house again, let alone go back after what just happened.”
“He’ll go. Leave that to me. But can you get cameras that can be easily hidden and give us access to watch from here?”
Dane frowns, falling back in his chair and folding his arms. “Yeah. I’ve already got some.”
“Good. Get them set up today, and we’ll go tomorrow night.”
“All of us?” I chime in.
Aiden shakes his head. “The more people we bring, the more at risk we are of Royce’s gift. It’ll just be Dane, Harvey, Reid, and myself. The fewer people we have, the easier it will be for Harvey to hide us and Reid to get us out of there should we be caught. Otherwise, we’ll plant the cameras and head right back.”
I don’t like the idea of them going back there without me. I want to see and know for myself that they’re okay. But I also don’t want to be used against them like I had last time. I don’t argue only because of that, and I already know that I won’t be able to sleep that night until they return.
Chapter twenty-nine
Raegan
Evenasearlyasit is when Kell and I wander into the Guild Hall, it’s still bustling with people and energy. Dane and Aiden went off to work out the details of their plan with Harvey and Reid and prepare what they need while Jackson disappeared without a word, leaving us with some time to relax on a training day off.
