Page 67 of Hunted

Because that would be my role from here on out: assassin. Murderess. She who taketh the lives-eth.

I was little more than a gun for hire. Trained to take people out, not for dinner, but in the hundreds of ways I’d perfected in the last eighteen long months. Even bearing all that knowledge, I was still reluctant to get my hands dirty—I was still gunning for Eagle, and as my eyes drifted over what remained of our cohort as they stumbled into relatively clean clothing, I knew I was a shoo-in.

None of them could shoot as accurately, from as far out as I could. None of them had put in the hours required to become a master at it like I had.

I allowed myself a small smile as I sat on the edge of Fleur’s bunk for the last time. I laced these boring, uncomfortable boots for the last time, and wore this cheap cotton for the last time. I’d had my eyes on a pair of Doc Martens the week I was captured, though was snatched before I could acquire them. Who knew how fast the world of reliable footwear had travelled in this time?

I certainly didn’t, and I was excited to find out.

But even more than that, I was borderline crying at the thought of downloading a music app on my new phone and discovering all the new songs I’d missed stuck in this perpetual Victorian-era hellhole—albeit with guns and closed-network hacker laptops.

I wondered how many albums my favourite bands had managed to come out with, how many composers had recreated classical music for modern-day listeners, and how many new movie scores would become the soundtrack of my life.

My fingers tapped against my thigh, itching to get reacquainted with ebony and ivory keys. Instead, I plunged them through my hair, twisting them into a neat Dutch braid that would only remain neat for the next five minutes. After that, it was in fate’s hands.

“Are you as excited as I am to get outta here?” Eth grinned, his sharp, white teeth fully on show.

“Excited to get rid of you, sure.” I winked.

“Oh, you’re not getting rid of me that easy, Ads! We’ll be reunited before you know it.” He laughed, enveloping me in a gigantic bear hug and nuzzling the top of my head with his knuckles.

I guess the Fates didn’t want the neatness to last very long at all.

“Maybe we’ll end up in the same team or part of the same mission. Maybe we’ll just be in the same cities at the same time and can hang out between jobs,” he dreamed aloud, eyes sparkling at the thought. “Or maybe”—he smirked down at my scowling face—“you’ll change your mind and finally let me fill my full rotation of the recruit roster, if you know what I mean.”

I shoved the laughing asshole backwards—distractedly noting how much more success I had in this instance than with Beckett—snickering as he stumbled and fell onto the bed.

“Woah, now!” He chuckled. “I didn’t mean now. There are people watching, Adelaide, my goodness.”

I scoffed, rolling my eyes, and wondered if this man was capable of refraining from innuendo for any given length of time—let alone however long it took to successfully undertake a job on the outside—simultaneously realising he wasn’t.

Searching instead for my sanity, I stared at the ceiling, muttering, “Didn’t stop you with Mercy.”

“That’s not jealousy I detect, now is it?” he purred.

My nose scrunched at the prospect. “Ugh, not even a little.”

Ethan chuckled again, seemingly content with making me uncomfortable for the sake of discomfort. “In Mercy’s case, she gets off on a little exhibitionism⁠—”

“Ew, too much information.”

“—and I found I rather enjoy it, too.”

“Ethan,” I groaned.

“Especially when Ace got on board.”

My head snapped round to his. “You’re kidding.”

Eth responded by wagging his eyebrows. “Turns out I quite liked that, too.”

Mine rose almost to my hairline. “Huh.”

“Pick up your jaw, Adelaide. We’ve got a date with Commander Varco.” Ethan flashed that trademark grin and extended an elbow. “We owe it to Fleur to live, so let’s go find out what that looks like.”

I patted the pillow that still smelled faintly of her, homesick not for a place, but for a person.

Threading my arm through Eth’s, I shot him a small, grateful smile. “Let’s.”