Game of Dust and Ashes (Book Two in the Covert Operations series)

Sixteen

There was a soft click and then there was nothing but silence.

No gunshot.

No bullet tearing through Cedric's body.

No blood spewing across the ground.

Cedric flinched, bracing himself, and then his eyes fell on the gun. He raised his gaze to me. The blue in his eyes was impossibly bright. "There was no bullet it in the chamber."

I exhaled and had to lean against the wall to stop the shaking in my legs. "I had to know where your loyalties were. If you'd taken the gun and pointed it at me, it would have meant that you were with them. But you didn't. You turned the gun on yourself and pulled the trigger."

A wild, desperate hope that he hadn't betrayed me. That he'd take that gun I offered and tried to sacrifice himself instead of pointing it at me.

"It was a test," he said and understanding filled his eyes. Cedric turned away to place the gun on the coffee table. His hands shook.

"I'm sorry," I breathed.

My voice was hardly louder than a whisper. I couldn't seem to make it louder. The relief that barrelled through me was like a tidal wave. Cedric hadn't betrayed me. He'd been willing to shoot himself, knowing that even if he survived the bullet wound, I could have left him to die on the floor. Watching as his blood seeped into the carpet and the light left his eyes. Had known that and done it anyways instead of turning the weapon on me.

If he were Scorpion that gun would have been turned on me.

"I wanted to trust you," I said, raising my eyes to his. I wanted to go to him but the distance between us seemed impossibly large. Distance we'd both created. Him with the lies and me with the gun. "I did. But people have been lying to me my entire life. Where I come from. Who my parents are. Now all of this. You being the child of Scorpion's leaders. One of my friends working against me. Because if it's not you, Cedric, that means it's Lia, Max, or Tasha. And I don't know how I'll live with myself when I learn which one of them it is."

Cedric was clutching the couch. Using it to support his weight and stay upright. "Maybe it's none of them. Did you think about that? Maybe Carmichael lied to you and your friends are still your friends."

"He had no reason to lie."

"He had no reason to tell the truth either," Cedric countered. "Elliot Carmichael is a known fugitive with a long rap sheet. He's got his own motives. I bet there are a hundred reasons he'd lie about who you can trust."

Was it an elaborate ruse by Carmichael? Was he playing all sides – trying to raise my defences to the point of paranoia so that I would be left vulnerable to Scorpion's attack?

It was possible but I'd looked into his eyes as he'd spoken about Natalie Sinclair. Had seen the hatred burn in his face as he spoke of Scorpion – of the organization that had taken everything from him. His brother. His mentor. The girl he was in love with.

If Carmichael was lying to me it was to fuel his own agenda. Not because Scorpion was forcing him too.

"I trust him," I said to Cedric. At least, I trusted Carmichael as much as I trusted just about everyone else right now. Which was to say that he was still a suspect, not entirely trustworthy. Yet I knew what fueled his drive and it was the same hatred that fueled mine. For now, at least, he and I had something in common.

"Okay," he said immediately, rubbing his jaw. Some of the colour had started to return to his skin, the paleness receding just slightly. "Then we're operating under the assumption that Lia, Max, or Tasha are the leak. Which means that we need to be very careful with how we proceed."