hawk & sable

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO,

HAWK & SABLE | TWENTY-TWO

IF SHE IGNORED the constant throbbing in her head, Ciri almost felt as good as new. Hence why she chose to brave out the next morning's meeting despite everyone's order not to. She'd never been particularly good at following commands, truth be told. Especially ones that seemed to concern her own wellbeing. What could she say? She'd always been stubborn.

Laurence was frowning over her shoulder as if she was a frail puppy. Danna's eyes darted to her every few seconds, as if she'd fall over and collapse. Her body was a bit sore, but it was nothing she hadn't dealt with before.

Her friends had all gotten soft. There was no other explanation for it, and damn if it wasn't annoying.

By the fifth time someone turned to her with a concerned expression and asked, "are you okay?", Ciri was ready to commit murder. She'd responded with the flattest stare she could muster that wouldn't seem too rude, because they were just trying to care for her.

"Fine, we won't ask," Irina snapped in reply, short-tempered as usual. "Back onto the mission, then. So. No one found trails left behind by the Panther. He's completely vanished, as if he never existed in the first place."

"Expected," Asteria pointed out. "He didn't get this famous by being bad at his job."

"Killing people for money. Such a noble profession." Irina shook her head, eyes screwed shut as if she was in pain. "He might be listening in on us this very second."

"Unless he's on Io's level of sneaking around, unlikely," Rhys responded, sounding unimpressed.

"With all due respect," Laurence murmured, leaning forward, "Miss Mi is twelve. The Panther has years more experience than she is. I'd say he is on her level, if not surpassing it." Io rolled her eyes in response but said nothing. She was cocky and young, not delusional.

"Well, then," Rhys continued, voice flat, "let's pretend he's hanging onto every word."

Malcolm let out a loud sigh, tilting his face up heavenwards. "Let's focus. It's not just officials this time. This is the maid of someone linked to the department. This does help us narrow down the list, though. I don't suppose any of you have anything we could use to get the Panther on our side?" His eyes landed on Ciri, who shrugged.

"Used up all my cards against him last time around, sorry."

"Money," Myrina muttered, prodding her chin with her fingers. "I don't suppose we could simply empty our coffers and pay him onto our side?" It was the obvious solution, but...

"Last resort option," Ryan said. "But not yet. His prices are astronomical from what I've heard."

"I thought you were very rich," Laurence said.

"Oh, we are," Irina drawled. "Doesn't mean we're happy to spend money that could be spent for far better purposes than paying a mercenary with loyalty issues. Same reason the Arecian Service did not immediately pay off the Panther to save our friend." Her wrist flickered outwards to point at Laurence. "And you, for the matter."

"Touche." Laurence conceded the argument with a tilt of the head.

"Zhang daren says we'll be putting our best trackers on him," Rhys told them.

"Which means her, of course," Dominic snorted. "That fit your fancy, princess?"

Irian's eyes went to her cousin, who shrugged. She nodded. "It does, Lang." Ciri was starting to realise that Irina loved calling them by their surnames when she was annoyed. It was starting to seem like the easiest way to tell whether you had pissed the princess off, which was not obvious enough already.