Page 100 of Distinctly Daray
It was up to the Sentinel Brotherhood to defend and protect the people of the Council, but they refused to hound any population to join the government. In fact, most of the populations added to the map had no clue that they’d been found by a sentinel since the elite assassins preferred to stay in the shadows as they went about their work.
Breathing a sigh of relief as he took the information from Cassius and left the Skeleton Lord’s office, Keegan reversed his steps and went downstairs.
“I didn’t hear any yelling,” Evergreen sang as Keegan passed the massive desk where he and Dudley ran the management of the offices.
“I’m not going to yell at them,” Keegan replied in the same syrupy tone.
“Yes, you will. Eventually,” Evergreen said with a snarky grin.
“I have bet him you will stay calm,” Dudley confided. “I have faith in you, Keegan. Unlike the reapers, you are mated to a sentinel. You understand how we function.”
While it was true Keegan had better insight into what made sentinels tick thanks to his fantastically intimate connection with Phillip, he had no fucking clue why they couldn’t read the simple instructions in the manual the reapers had created and enter data without fucking it up.
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” Keegan told the sentinel, patting the reception desk as he sped past it so he wasn’t any later for the meeting. He stalked into the conference room, and everyone was already waiting for him. “Sorry I’m late, Grymmie.”
“No apology is necessary. You are not late. Is everything okay?” Grymington asked.
“Cass broke the map program. Crashed the server. I’ll reboot it after our meeting.”
Grymington’s mouth grew pinched, and color rose in his cheeks as if he was reliving some past trauma. With the brief experience Keegan had gained since he took on the title of Cinder Lord and the plethora of rumors regarding the sentinels and the program, he didn’t doubt that Grymington had endured much before Keegan took it over.
“I understand,” Grymington said, his voice flat.
“Did you check to make sure he didn’t set the entire server room on fire?” Orpheus asked, his green gaze glittering with remembered irritation.
“I figured Evergreen and Dudley would’ve smelled smoke if he had,” Keegan replied.
“Good call,” Masse commented, crossing his arms. His face was stony with the same level of consternation as the only other two living reapers.
Grymington shook his head slightly as if to ward off the memories, and it barely moved his tangled blond curls. “Okay, do we have any updates of our own to discuss?”
“No,” Gerard answered. “We have nothing new to report. While I am grateful that there have been no further attacks—since the last thing I want is anyone harmed or property destroyed—years have passed since their last move.”
“I’m still surprised nothing happened at the parade commemorating our two hundredth race joining the Council,” FK21 Ridgely Hawthorne-Stone commented. “If there was ever a perfect opportunity to create havoc, that was it.”
“Yeah, nearly every leader was present at some point along the parade route,” added Ridgely’s best friend, FK19 Warner Madison. “Thankfully, VK Valerius erred on the side of caution and put plenty of fallen knights, sentinels, harpies, and dragons in place to counter any threat.”
“Despite the break in attacks, I do not think we should speculate that they are finished creating chaos or hurtingpeople,” Grymington said. “I believe it is only a matter of time until they carry out something new to either damage property or to harm our people. We must be ready.”
“Agreed,” SN25 Cavan Creatlach commented. “Maybe the parade was too obvious and they knew they’d be caught if they tried anything.”
“Good point,” Orpheus remarked. “Thanks to Grant, we had a lot of security, and we practiced beforehand to ensure it went smoothly. Maybe that massive presence kept them from doing something awful.”
“We will have to stick with hoping that Amaury’s listening devices pick up something we can use and that we are able to thwart any future attack,” Grymington said.
“We’ll keep visiting Darryl Martel in prison and hope this is the week he’ll finally tell us about the structure of the group,” FK33 Dominic Coates commented. “It would be nice if we knew more about them.”
Darryl Martel was one of the few people in the terrorist group who had been caught by the Council, and despite a long prison sentence thanks to his bombing his now-ex-girlfriend’s home, he’d spent years keeping silent on his affiliation and everything else about his cohorts.
“Starting with what they call themselves and how many damn people are involved,” Gentry replied.
“I will compile the notes from the sentinels assigned to eavesdrop on the Giles Tribunal this week and send it to everyone this afternoon,” Grymington said. “The quick glance I took at them before our meeting showed nothing of significance, but it doesn’t hurt to familiarize ourselves with everything going on with the Consilium.”
“Sounds good, I hope everyone has a great weekend,” Keegan enthused, resting a hand on Phillip’s shoulder and giving him an affectionate squeeze.
“We don’t have to tell you to have a terrific time; you have two mates,” FK38 Gentry Patterson-Kinsler replied with a grin lighting up his hazel eyes.
“Says the man literally obsessed with his other half,” Ridgely commented.
