Page 310 of Lodestar

Instead, she was slower than usual. Her eyes dazed. Her mouth was relaxed. Her coordination poor as if she were on a lag.

It meant I got to hold onto her longer, though, so I wasn’t going to complain.

She sat on my knee like the good girl she wasn’t, exposed and bare in a way I didn’t think she’d like, but she didn’t seem to be fighting even after gravity did its thing.

When I wondered if I'd made her glitch, I turned her so she lay across me and could cuddle up on my lap.

That was when I had confirmation she was okay—she cuddled into me.

With my chin pressed to her shoulder, I tugged the outer edges of my hoodie around her, and because it was oversized, it provided her with some cover, but mostly, I left her alone as I worked, knowing she was content and not wanting to disturb her.

I thought she dozed because her breathing calmed and she turned her face under my chin as if she needed the darkness to sleep.

I’d never felt as close to anyone in my life.

It was fitting that we shared this, then.

Beautiful, too.

Especially as I hadn’t ever associated her with these softer moments. Proof, I guessed, that weweresupposed to meet.

By the time she was more aware, I was coming to the end of another task on my endless to-do list. Because the NSA had no idea what they were doing with Nimue, it meant that they’dtriedand failed to cut me off from their source, but instead, they’d just made it easier for me to access it.

Which meant the hundreds of thousands of files they’d already started to collect on people were available for me to listen to, like my very own Audible of their persons of interest.

With a satisfied hum, I set my advanced search engine to work, rifling through the NSA’s targets and coming across some interesting names—Maxim Lyanov was on there, as was Misha Babanin… so were Dragon Head Zhao and Custanzu Valentini, plus a hundred other names.

My cell rang, making Star jolt on my lap, and I snatched it quickly so it didn’t disturb her.

When I saw ‘Ma’ on the ID, I sighed, mumbling, “I’d have preferred for it to be Riggs.”

“Riggs?” Star muttered back. “Your handler with the NSA?”

"The traitor." I hummed. “It’s Ma.” At her unsympathetic snort, I rolled my eyes and hit ‘connect.’ “Ma, what’s going on?”

“You’d know if you’d bothered to call me, Conor. I haven’t heard from you in over a week!”

“I’ve been busy.”

“Busy? Too busy for your mother?”

“I’m trying to bring down the New World Sparrows, Ma. It doesn’t just happen by itself.”

“You should be praying to Our Lady is what you should be doing. She’d help bring those horrible men down.”

“What about Jesus and Joseph? Can’t they get involved too?” I mocked.

“Conor!” she chided. “Your uncle says he hasn’t heard from you in a while also.”

“No, because I’ve been working,” I repeated blandly. “Are you spending a lot of time with him or something?”

“Not particularly.” She cleared her throat. “Youarecoming this Sunday, aren’t you?”

Well, that wasn't shady.

“I might not be in the country, Ma.”

“Where on earth would you be if you aren’t here?” she sputtered. “Since when do you leave America?”

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