Page 79 of Echoes of War

She’d tried and failed to create a tool that could block out visions from Scholars with Seer abilities for years. Her goal had been to target Seers within specific settlements that she determined were a threat, aiming to halt their technological advancements. They were still functioning as far as I knew. How often it actually ran as intended however, was up for debate. Covert, in turn, had stolen her blueprints, improvised, and created a tool that now emitted electromagnetic pulses throughout the remains of our fallen country.

“That’s what you get for playing mad scientist.” Alexiares snickered, “Sucks to get the short end of the shit stick, don’t it?”

I reclined my head, peering up at the tree tops. “That’s why Moe wasn’t able to look into you when you first got to The Compound. We both thought it was because she was frazzled with everything going on, didn’t think twice about it to be honest. Figured she was simply overworked.”

Alexiares’ thick brows raised, eyes dancing between me and Finley, “You guys did what?” He scoffed, “Can’t say I’m surprised.”

“What doesthatmean?” I challenged; as far as I was concerned, I had every right to.

What he failed to remember time and time again was that I was a general first, a person with emotions and empathy second. Caring about minute things such as privacy was further down on my list of priorities. About as far down as it could get to be honest.

“Means trust is an obscure illusion to?—”

I cut him off, “I’m sorry. Were you or were you not a suspect in an act of terrorism when you arrived?” Pushing off the tree, I fought off a wince at the sharp pain shooting up my leg, storming up to him with my chin held high. I remained unblinking in an attempt to hold his infuriated gaze.

He ground his jaw but said nothing further on the topic. I took it for what it was, a win for this battle, but knew an all-out war awaited me as soon as we were without an audience.

“That’s what I thought.” I said assertively, “I don’t apologize for protecting my people, but I do apologize for not disclosing it after the fact.”

His expression softened, then hardened again, something in my words triggering him once more. “Does that mean you’re ready to tell me about the letter you sent out with Reina?”

“Do you seriously think now is the time to share that information with your crazy ex-wife present? Classy.” I could not believe he was doing this here of all places.

There was a time and place for everything, something he lacked awareness of. Or didn’t care about.

The vine around her neck tightened with a sparkle in his eye. “Dead bodies don’t talk.”

“Ex-wife?” Finley gasped, focusing on the wrong thing. “I still have a ring on my finger last time I checked.”

She removed her glove, waving a finger in my face. My gaze trickled down; she did indeed have an ugly ass bronze ring on her finger. My eyes drew upward, involuntarily locking onto Alexiares to my side. I grimaced, trying to rein in the intrusive thoughts.

A tinge of jealousy rooted in me, a sudden twist in the pit of my stomach that I couldn’t ignore even if I damn tried. I dug my nails into my arms as a last-ditch attempt to win against my subconscious.Nope. Fuck that.I swung on Finley. She spit the blood out her mouth, glaring at me with murder in her eyes. A tooth landed into her disgusting saliva, and I grinned with pleasure.

“I don’t,” Alexiares said, hand out to keep me from landing another hit to match the other side of her now bruised face. “Kind of hard to get a divorce in the middle of an apocalypse. Scratch that, it’s hard to get a divorce when a marriage is never official.You put a ring on my finger in my sleep and called me your husband, get a fucking grip.”

I turned away from them, kicking into the ground. “As much as I’m enjoying this awkward-ass conversation, I don’t understand why any of this is relevant.”

“The settlements all around The Expanse are voting every day whose side they want to be on. Just because Sloansayspeople are with you, doesn’t mean they actually are.” Finley yawned, twitching her jaw left then right. “She never had the pull Morgan did. With her people and those outside the walls. Word on the street is Kansas and Wisconsin are still holding out.”

Alexiares cleared his throat, the sound stealing my will power forcing me to meet his gaze as he tried to pass unspoken words between us. My bottom lip jutted out, forehead scrunching together, and I nodded.

“If you two look at each other that way in my face again, I’m going to turn feral.” Finley huffed in a childlike fashion, “Anyway, lucky for you all, Kansas and Wisconsin happen to fear the repercussions of pissing me off on the wrong day more than they fear facing Covert Province. Unless of course …”

“Why do you give a shit?” I pressed, genuinely fucking confused on what she had to protect in all of this. “Seems to me your morals align more with Covert than they do us. You hate our way of living, or did you forget your whole villain speech from when youtorturedus.”

“He tortured you too, let’s not forget that important detail,” she said, swirling my knife in her hands before tossing it back to me. “To answer your question, I have no interest in working for pieces of shit who steal my work and would have me stuffed in a lab if they had the chance. I rather like my position and intend to keep it. Autonomy suits me well. I bet you understand that, huh, General. You and I aren’t that different in the end. Even have the same taste in men.” The latter came out in a snarl.

I let out a long, deep breath,typical. As much as I hated to say it, I see where she could draw the parallel between us. In the midst of all this drama, here we were, two stupid girls having a pissing match over a fucking guy.

“We don’t need your help, Finley. Even without Kansas and Wisconsin, we have things under control.” Although I said the words, I didn’t believe them. Not with every fiber of my being, which was pretty essential when you were in charge. My mind wandered back to the war room with Sloan’s suggestion. She hated Finley and her people, still, she had recognized the need to work with them, and I’d shot her down.

“The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” Finley sang, her shrill voice piercing my ears. “I have things that you need and you have the manpower to support my cause.”

“One, we aren’t supporting shit for you. Two, we aren’t your friends,” Alexiares snapped.

“We this, we that. We, we, we. Real cute. Problem is, I don’t care about being your friend.” Finley turned her entire body to face me, like addressing me woman to woman would make her more likely to get what she wanted, “You may be a lot of things, sweetie, but you’re not dumb enough to deny my help.”

I shifted uncomfortably. “What are you offering?”

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