Page 129 of The Knights of Gaia

“But I don’t have any fresh tomatoes. They weren’t in today’s food delivery.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve got you covered.” Conner waved his hand, and a box of the reddest, most perfect cherry tomatoes I’d ever seen appeared on the kitchen counter. He retrieved a knife from the cutlery drawer and started cutting them into chunks.

“How did you get in here?” I asked him. “The door was locked. And you don’t have a key.”

“I don’t need keys. I have magic.”

“Oh. Right.” I leaned my elbows against the counter. “So, what are you doing here?”

“We’ll get to that later.Afteryou’ve eaten. Right now, you should really sit down before you pass out.”

I was too tired to argue, so I walked to the other side of the counter, sat down on one of the bar stools, and let the Knight in the kitchen cook me dinner. Wow, that was just so unreal. A Knight was cooking dinner for an Apprentice. That was a real role-reversal there. Conner really wasn’t like other Knights.

“Thanks for your help this morning.” I grabbed one of the tomatoes and popped it into my mouth. It tasted just as amazing as it looked.

Conner emptied the full bottle of sauce into the smaller pot. “No problem at all.”

“And, also, thanks for leaving that anonymous tip for Governor Meyer. Too bad she couldn’t get the General fired. Apparently, he has friends in high places.”

Conner shrugged. “Well, there’s always next time. I’m sure the General has loads of dirty little secrets buried in the Black Obelisk. One of them is bound to be too scandalous, even for his Government friends. Maybe I should break in there again to see what I can dig up.”

“So did youreallynab one of the Watcher uniforms when you were at the Black Obelisk?”

“Na, I decided it wasn’t cool enough for me.”

I took another tomato.

“If you eat them all, there won’t be any left for the sauce,” he warned me.

“I can live with that.” I stole another.

He chuckled.

“I’m curious, Conner,” I said, “why do you like going around everywhere while invisible?”

“It’s stealthy.” He poured the pasta into the boiling water. “When you do things you’re not supposed to do, it’s important not to get caught.”

“I thought being a Knight was about doing the right thing.”

“Iamdoing the right thing. Eventually, he’ll see that.”

“Who? The General?”

Conner laughed. “No, there’s no chance that he could ever understand. The Iron Wolf lives up to his reputation and then some. He is actually way worse than you know. Trust me on that.” He sprinkled some of the tomato pieces into the sauce. But he left a few on the cutting board. It was almost like he was daring me to take them. “I was actually talking about someone else.”

I leaned forward and pilfered a tomato piece. “Who?”

He didn’t answer.

“Another Knight?”

Conner slanted a curious look my way. “You know, you are very persistent.”

“I am,” I agreed. “I never give up. So you might as well surrender and tell me now. It will be easier on both of us.”

His mouth twitched. “Oh, I have no doubt of that.”

“Who’s this ‘someone else’?”

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