Page 215 of The Mercy of Dawn

“No. Well…maybe?” Her features pinched. “They haven’t come back. Didn’t show up for their shifts at the station today.”

Cyril’s chest tightened up. “What?”

“I know, I know. It’s fucked up.” Kaia picked at a piece of lint that certainly didn’t exist from the front of her immaculate uniform jacket. “Long story short, none of us are allowed to go look until this”—she waved a hand back at the doors—“bullshit is all done. Which who fucking knows how long that’ll be with all these useless twats groveling away to His Majesty about their safety and their stupid businesses.”

“What about the city guard? Can’t they send a guard or two to look, or…?”

“General Ezra doesn’t want them involved, since this wasn’t exactly an official operation. Doesn’t want to cause unnecessary panic.”

Kaia’s shoulders rose and fell in defeat.

The staunch bureaucracy that had surfaced in recent days drove Cyril fucking nuts.

This damn need everyone felt to keep the masses calm, to keep everything hush-hush and work on the sidelines. And this was coming from a woman who spent her entire life around people who made their living in the shadows.

Cyril opened her mouth, about to speak a little too freely on exactly what she thought of the general and his decisions, but movement at the other end of the hall snagged her and Kaia’s attention.

One of the wooden doors eased open—Mikael.

He turned to Ari, but the captain pointed towards Cyril and smiled. Mikael spun on his heels and a measure of relief sagged through his cleaned-up form.

Something about the cut of that immaculately tailored jacket—black with deep blue panels and trim, with its stamped silver buttons and sash in Reykr’s colors—had Cyril just smiling like an idiot at him as he walked over.

She knew he despised his full dress regalia, but he cleaned up so nicely.

Mikael said he looked like a preening bird—a peacock, specifically, though Cyril had never seen one. But she shut him up pretty damn quick with a quiet mention of just how handsome she thought he looked as she pinned on his medals and badges that morning. It was an act that felt far more intimate than anything they’d shared in the flesh yet.

Mikael clasped Cyril’s face in his hands and kissed her so deeply that Kaia coughed quietly by the door. Cyril had to wrench herself away from him. The mingling scents of cologne that clung to him was the last thing she wanted a nose full of.

Desperation was plain on Mikael’s face as he said, “Please tell me you’ve thought up some otherworldly fucking excuse to get me the hell out of here. I don’t think I’m going to leave with my soul fully intact. These men…”

“Mika, if three missing guards aren’t enough to get you out…” Cyril raised her brow at him.

His chest heaved with a sigh and shot Kaia a pointed glare.

“I was going to tell you, once this ridiculous shit was over. I’ll have to go with the others, see if we can figure out what the fuck happened, but I don’t think it’s good, Cyr.”

That much was obvious. Going missing on a lead never ended well.

“That could be hours from now, Mika, let me go and—”

Mikael’s entire body recoiled from her as if she had just uttered the foulest words…

“Absolutely not.” His eyes narrowed. “Are you mad?”

Cyril stiffened.

That tone hit a little too close to fucking home.

They weren’t doing things like that. Not now, not ever.

“Am I mad?” she bit out.

“That’s dangerous, Cyr.” There was a challenge in his eyes as he shook his head at her. “And if you thought for a second I’d be okay with you going into fucking abandoned buildings on your own, with—”

“If you would have let me finish,” Cyril spoke slowly, trying to rein herself in. Trying to cool that spark she was certain had been extinguished weeks ago. Kaia just watched them with wide eyes. “Let me go and look. I’ll find a roof and camp out. No one will see me. No going inside anywhere on my own.”

“Cyr…”