Page 57 of A Dawn Of Blood

“What’s going on?” I ask as I walk over.

“General,” the soldier mutters. “I…”

“Name and number,” I demand.

“Sieger, 2307,” he rushes to reply.

I narrow my eyes at him. “Why aren’t you with the sixth regiment?” I ask the question meant to weed out potential imposters.

He blinks at me, obviously hesitating. “Um, sir, there is no sixth regiment, sir, not to my knowledge at least.”

I give a content nod. “What’s going on here?” I repeat the original question.

“Apologies, general. I, um, I saw this one going for the woods just as I thought I saw the target as well.”

“Who is she?” I ask as I tip my chin at the woman.

“She says her name is Jaeger. She’s with the Resistance and she’s just confirmed my suspicions. The target really did escape into the woods.”

Growing impatient for the fear of losing her, I demand, “Take the woman with you. Go back to your regiment and report for questioning.”

The soldier opens his mouth to reply, but I’ve run out of patience. I kick myself off the ground and start flying in the direction the woman said she escaped.

Chapter 43

We’re back in the Academy — in our own dimension this time, we’ve managed to get the metal, and the army has left the Academy grounds, believingIhave as well.

But Jaeger has been caught, and that man is my mate.

Those are the only two things going through my mind as I make my way to the Main Hall after having washed all the blood off my body.

I can’t even seem to feel grateful for the fact that we’re all alive and well, that Alaric managed to successfully execute plan B — using the rock Dryden imbued with my Aurora powers, and that it ended up throwing Cain off and leading him away from the Academy as planned.

Jaeger has been caught, and that man is my mate?

When I enter the Main Hall, it only takes a single glance around the table where the rest of the team is gathered to see that they’re in a haze as well.

Yes, Jaeger has been caught, and that man is my mate.

I take my seat, the question popping into my head for the first time since it happened. Should I tell them what I learned about the general? How would they take it? Would I only make it even harder on them?

“So,” Nuala snaps me out of my haze, “how did we do?”

“What kind of question is that?” de Groot asks with poison in her voice. “You’ve let one of our own get taken by the enemy.How did we do?Poorly, very very poorly.”

Everyone else, including Nuala, seems surprised by her reaction, while I myself can just stare at her, feeling sadness at the thought of how she must be feeling now that Jaeger is in so much danger.

“Um, Dryden,” Nuala calls out, tearing her eyes away from de Groot and seemingly choosing to ignore her for now.

Confused as well, Dryden clears his throat. Then he turns serious and starts reporting. “Alright, so we’ve lost Jaeger, but we have Sieger in a much more favorable position within the army now. He’ll make sure nothing happens to her, won’t you, Sieger?”

It takes Alaric a second to realize he’s being addressed. “I will,” he says simply.

The dead serious, absent-minded tone makes me frown. I catch Raven throw him a concerned look.

“And we did manage to throw Cain off,” Dryden continues, “which is why we can even have this meeting right now. But most importantly, the mission to retrieve the Aesir iron was a success. Nimueh can now proceed to forging the sword, so who knows? Maybe by this time next month, we’ll have already killed the bastard.”

To this, Nimueh gives an awkward chuckle. “Well…”

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