Partisan - Book II

The Final Seven

" 'Seen in the company?' Is that all?"

Allayria watches her, lips set against the backs of her fingers, waiting, waiting for a crack, a hint, an indication.

Can they be trusted? another color of her voice, familiar now, murmurs in the back of her head. Are they safe?

"Would you do it?"

Fae lets out a huff of air, the calm veneer of politeness finally broken.

"If you can prove to me the Paragon really is hurting people then yes, I suppose I might have to, but we can't just kill people because we think they might be extremists."

She sits back.

"I thought the Paragon was supposed to be dead, anyway," she throws out.

"She's not."

Fae's eyes lock onto Allayria and her body tenses. She's picked up on the pronoun and she's waiting, waiting for Allayria to say it.

But Allayria doesn't say anything, and Fae, after a long minute, fills the silence:

"You really are the team leader, aren't you?" she asks.

Allayria nods.

"But that second part was a lie." Fae's gaze roams around Allayria's face, and now she is looking for a break, a tell to confirm or deny it. "We're not going to kill the Paragon."

"I certainly hope not."

Another long silence stretches but Allayria will not have mercy.

"Are you the Paragon?"

Allayria smiles.

"Unfortunately, yes."

Allayria glances down from Fae's shocked expression to the pile of papers in front of her.

"I'm afraid I have to own up to another lie," she continues, pushing parchment around with the tip of a finger. "I have already decided I want you on this team. You're level-headed and diplomatic—not to mention dangerous with a knife and a bow. The one making the decision in this interview is actually you."

She looks back up, back into Fae's carefully guarded expression.

"I'm going into Jarles territory to get intel about the program Jernald Brezkin was funding. It's going to be weeks of hunger, sleeplessness, danger, and fear. And that's just the journey to the border. Do you want to come?"

Fae blinks.

"You're going to find those kids?" she asks, and the voice that issues out barely strains above a whisper.

Allayria feels her throat tighten.

"I am."

"Then yes," Fae answers, sitting up and folding her hands in her lap. "I want that job."

The next one is Finn, and he merely floats into his chair. He doesn't ask why Allayria is here, and when she asks why he signed up for the mission he blinks, chewing on a fingernail.

"I guess because sometimes there has to be violence for there to be peace," he answers.

That throws Allayria for a loop, though it shouldn't since she spent an entire day hearing a strange mix of idiocy and sageness from him. She recovers enough to segue into the Paragon hypothetical and Finn chews on this for a bit, gaze roaming up to the ceiling.

"Does it really matter what I think?" he asks after a moment. "Soldiers never have any choice but to follow orders."

"There's always a choice," Allayria replies, somewhat automatically.