Page 26 of A Dawn Of Blood

“Nasgard?” Raven echoes with confusion in her voice.

“Are you out of your bloody mind?” Alaric demands.

“Why the hell would we dothat?” Jaeger asks, worry etching into her face as she stares me down.

Glancing around the table, I see it’s only Nuala and de Groot I haven’t taken completely by surprise.

“I didn’t want to say anything until I looked into it, but…” I clear my throat and tell them everything that happened on the mission.

“And the words he spoke to me were, ‘She’s in Nasgard,’” I conclude the story.

“Who’s the man?” Dryden asks, clearly intrigued.

I press my lips tight, knowing exactly how this will sound. “I don’t know, but—”

“You don’t know,” Lorcan cuts me off with a scoff.

I see Nuala shut her eyes before she addresses him coldly and firmly, “I thought I said no interruptions, Lorcan.”

He leans back in his chair, his jaw working.

“Alright,” she says with a sigh as she turns her focus back onto me. “What did you find out? Who is the woman and why did the man have the need to waste his last words on her?”

“I’ll have to get back to you on that.But,” I insist before anyone can interrupt me by pointing out how crazy I am, “when I read the man’s name in the scientist’s documents, my wolf reacted toit. And when the man spoke about the woman, I had this feeling, deep in my bones, that this is something majorly significant.”

“Ah,” Nuala says knowingly. “So let me make this clear. It’s because of some hunch of yours that you’d like us to risk our lives breaking into the most dangerous prison ever?”

I throw a glance at Jaeger, who seems ready to faint with worry. But I have no option but to keep pushing. “Onemission,” I insist. “And we risk our lives on all of them, regardless of where we go, don’t we?”

“No, it’s out of the question,” Lorcan snaps.

And now, Nuala seems downright annoyed. “Tell me, Lorcan, since when are low-level Embers the ones making the calls here?”

Raven shifts in her seat with discomfort, while Lorcan just looks away, clearly butthurt.

“To be honest with you, Aurora,” Nuala turns to tell me, “I don’t think this calls for serious consideration, let alone a vote. Does anyone disagree?”

Jaeger shakes her head, visibly relieved. De Groot seems to hesitate, but Alaric, Raven and Dryden, despite throwing me apologetic looks, all shake their heads as well.

“There,” Nuala concludes the discussion. “Now, as for serious,viableoptions for the next mission…”

Deflated, I have to force myself to pay attention.

But once the meeting starts drawing to an end, excitement takes over. Because Dryden is here and I remember Alaric’s suggestion.

So as soon as everyone starts getting up to leave, I call him to the side.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Would you like to go on a date with me?”

It only makes my excitement grow, when I see how glad he is I made the first move.

Chapter 19

The following afternoon, I’m walking to my first training session with Jaeger, and while I’m curious to find out what my powers will be, I’m also feeling… worried. When I asked Dryden out earlier, I only felt excitement. Now that I have time to reflect on it, I can’t help but wonder if it’s all too soon.

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