Page 39 of The Order: Rise of the New Empire

"Don't lecture me like a child, Xavier," Kai snaps, his emotions spilling free from him like a tidal wave. "I'm not going to sit here and entertain conversations of a new beginning when my sister is being forced to do god knows what-"

"Section leaders," Mason interrupts, his focus on Aaron. "We would be section leaders overseeing the cadets."

Dumbfounded by Mason's need to continue speaking about a place he hasn't even given us the location to, my anger finally begins to register.

"If you're going to sit here and entertain this idiotic plan, be my guest," I hiss, feeling Kaiden's frustrations from a mile away. "But what you won't do is discredit Kaiden's frustrations. None of this is happening so long as Forest is in confinement-"

"And what if you're wrong about her?" Mason questions, uttering the one thing no one has dared to in my presence. "What if you're wrong about the reason she left?" he pushes, the last voice I want entering this conversation tuning in.

"He hasn't thought that far," Fallan states, making his way onto my couch, quickly plummeting to the ground the moment Mason kicks him to the floor.

"I, too, am curious about the whereabouts of this supposed underground," Fallan sighs, watching as Mason raises his foot, ready to deliver the man another blow.

"You all know as much as I do," Mason states, something lingering in his tone.

Is he lying?

"These are only talks, Kaiden, I figured some hope after we get your sister back would be appropriate."

Settling into Aaron, Kai rubs his eyes, his mix of emotions ones he has done his best to try and regulate.

"Are you lying to me, Mason?" I question, the first shroud of emotion touching the man's face.

"Would there be a reason I need to lie to you, Xavier?" Mason questions, unspoken words floating in the air between us. "Something tells me there is a reason you're being so adamant about Forest-"

"She saw me last night," I blurt out, all mouths snapping shut, everyone's focus dead set on me.

"What?" Kai questions, his body gravitating away from Aaron.

"Why would she-"

"She saw Mason in the Precipice," I continue on, his expression dropping. "She knows we are trailing her."

"Perfect," Fallan mutters, his commentary the last thing needed.

"What did she say?" Mason questions, the events that unfolded last night still seeming like a blur.

Her lips felt like fire on my own, her presence like a warm light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Holding her made me feel complete, making these nine months of hell seem worth it in every way possible.

But then there's that moment we locked eyes after I felt beneath her cloak.

The firm skin of her torso protruding just enough, the shock on her face from a protective nature rather than defensive.

It wouldn't be possible, would it?

There's no way-

"She told us not to follow her," I utter, cutting off my own rampant spiral of thoughts.

Nodding his head slowly, the others wait for more clarification.

"That's all we really had time to speak about before she was running off."

The last thing I need is all of us deep diving into what I felt last night.

Especially Fallan.

"Well, that seems like the very reason to begin following her," Kai says with some joy, ignoring the downturned expressions of everyone but me. "If Forest is warning us to stay away, it would seem we are getting closer to her than we anticipated."

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