The Skin Thief

Chapter 103

The last two days have been some of the worst of my life. Waiting to be caught has had my stomach churning nearly constantly. Every strange noise or movement out of the corner of my eyes makes me flinch. My dreams are of me being violently captured. Sometimes, it's Marcus who is leading the charge against me, and I wake up a sweating mess with images of him slicing my throat fresh in my mind.

The MoD knows there was a leak in that meeting. After I had passed on the images I'd taken from the camera pen, which I'd managed to pickpocket back off Gareth when he tried to talk to me again, the Athainian military had bombed some of the base locations that the Fourth Realm had set up. They left them as nothing but rubble and captured some of the backstreet portals they had.

Of course, it isn't enough to stop the war. The hold the fourth realm has in the second realm is vast and powerful. Many of their bases, especially ones in other countries, are near untouchable. My information helped rid Athaine of some of the more imminent invasion threats, pushing the fourth realm back from our lands. Even if I get discovered, at least I gave my country a fighting chance and a good warning.

Cobalt, surprisingly, didn't ask me how I got hold of the images or got into the meeting. I'm sure they know that I disobeyed orders and dream walked, but thankfully, the information was too good to see me receive punishment.

After Marcus told me of the bombings, I thought that would be enough to at least delay the war. But no. The invasion is going ahead as scheduled.

We sit in his office. Dark bags rest under Marcus' eyes, and he stares at his computer screen. It is quiet. I don't dare speak or look up from my laptop. The only light in the room comes from our screens. The sun has long since set on a very long day, and neither of us has stopped working to get up and turn on the lights.

A notification buzzing on Marcus' phone makes me jump. My heart flutters, and a burst of burning adrenaline rushes through me in a panicked wave.

"Are you okay? You've been very tense the last few days," Marcus says, not looking up from his screen.

"Just tired," I reply. "A mixture of imminent war and bad dreams will do that to a person."

Marcus's jaw tightens, and he leans back in his chair, still staring at the screen.

"How?" he whispers, ignoring me. He rubs his jaw and shakes his head.

"How what?" I ask.

"How did she get in?"

My stomach drops.

"Who?" I ask, trying to keep the shake from my voice.

Marcus sighs and starts typing at his computer once more. "How did she get into the meeting?" he mutters.

I don't want to press further. I don't want to give him any clue where he can piece together what's going on.

"I mean, unless she had a hair or a vial of blood from someone inside the meeting. But then, how did she know it was happening? It was highly secret. So, how did she know to dreamwalk to whoever it was at that exact time? It just doesn't make sense. And the way Athaine perfectly targeted our bases... the spy must have gotten pictures somehow. She must have been in the building when it happened."

My mouth dries, and I stare at my computer screen. Marcus lets out a long breath and runs his hands through his hair.

"Can you be sure it's the same person?" I ask. "You think this was the assassin you're hunting?"

"I'm sure."

"But..." I begin, choosing my words very carefully, "If this assassin is as effective as you say, why would the Athainians risk her being caught by making her infiltrate the very heart of your government? Surely they wouldn't want to risk such an effective asset being caught?"