Page 99 of Phoenix Falling
“You have a traitor on your council.”
No. Oh no. I squeezed my temples. This was so not good.
“You’ve got a big problem, Sun. And it’s going to cost you, very soon.”
“How?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Then what the fuck are you good for?”
Yeah, what the fuck are you good for?
“Don’t come in here with all this cryptic shit. Give me some answers that I can work with.”
The Source’s voice rose as if he shared Sun’s frustration. “I can’t tell you because I don’t know. I only know Helios is gearing up for something big, which means your male—or female—is about to strike.”
I didn’t know who Helios was, but if someone in the Archai council was conspiring with him…shit.
How did you find a traitor in your midst? I didn’t know how the Archai found a traitor, but my brain was suddenly spinning with all the ways I would go about it. I’d found the Anigma for Sun and his warriors, hadn’t I? I’d found the females Maddox had been taking captive even before that. And how?
The same way I found everything else people hired me to find. Tech.
Except I didn’t have any of my tech here. It was all at my apartment. An apartment Sun would never allow me to return to of my own accord.
Backing carefully away from the door so as not to alert the occupants of the throne room to my presence, I eased my way to the end of the corridor, then turned and ran. On the way here from Sun’s rooms, we’d passed the dining hall, and I’d marked my way from there to here. Though we’d been running earlier, I remembered the path we’d taken to get to Raine. I managed to make it without running into anyone else.
When I came up the hall outside the dorm, a big shifter stepped from the shadows. “Halt!”
I was breathing heavily. Definitely should be spending more time in the gym. Fishing through my brain, I pulled out the guard’s name. “Jacob, it’s me, Risk!” When he made no move to let me by, I reminded him, “I went out with Lyris, remember?”
He hesitated, eyeing me, but slowly moved aside. “You shouldn’t be roaming the halls during the day.”
I’m gonna be doing more than roam.“Right. Just need to get back to Lyris.”
He jerked his head toward the dorm entrance. “Go ahead.”
Lyris was walking toward the door as I entered. Probably heard me talking to the guard. I hurried toward her. “Lyris, I need to leave.”
She rolled her eyes. “That’s not happening.”
“No, you don’t understand. Listen to me, please.” I explained what I’d heard in the throne room. Lyris didn’t ask why I’d been eavesdropping, though the reason was likely obvious, but she also didn’t admonish me for it. “When I was helping find the Anigma base, I went through hours of CCTV and private cameras, isolating all the footage I could find of what I’d surmised were shifters and following them back to their original locations.”
She narrowed her eyes. “So you knew where our lair was.”
I shook my head. “No. There are no cameras out here,” I clarified. “I could follow you a certain distance, but without satellite footage, finding your lair would be impossible.”
She seemed to digest that, the suspicion slowly clearing from her eyes. “Good to know.”
Thanks for suspecting me.Yes, the voice in my head was sarcastic; it was mine, after all. “The thing is, if there’s a”—I dropped my voice just as I had when I’d first explained what I’d heard, ensuring the guard outside couldn’t hear—“traitor on the council, I might have something in the footage that could help us pinpoint him or her.”
Amusement appeared for the briefest moment. “I’m the only female officially on the council.”
“Oh.” So she could be the traitor? But the moment the thought entered my head, I shoved it away. That was impossible given how protective Lyris was of the women. She would never conspire with the Anigma to hand them over. “Him, then.”
Lyris pivoted on her heel and moved back to the table she’d been sitting at all night. I followed as she picked up a cell and dialed a number. My gut clenched, wondering if she was calling Sun.
“I need you here. No, everything’s all right, but I need to step out for a bit.”
