Fury and Flame | 3

4 | 4

K A N E

Under our feet, the boat lurched as it crashed over a particularly large swell. I stood in the back, unbothered. I looked to the horizon, where the ocean wrapped around the world under a cloudless blue sky. There wasn't a sign of land for miles.

      Arlo stood at the front of the boat, watching the horizon for the Imperium ship with his sharp gaze. His stormy eyes were wild with the prospect of our upcoming heist.

      Then my eyes dropped to our vehicle—a fast little boat designed to be virtually undetected under radar. It had been hard to get, as these were the types of boats criminals tended to use. But under the power of Vladlena Tesla's monetary support, we'd been able to get both the boat and a captain that would keep his mouth shut.

And if he was planning not to...well, my brother could read thoughts. We'd deal with him if the need came.

I shouldered the weapon Jaxon made me. This would be the first time I'd be using it in an actual fight. Hopefully, we'd be able to get in and out with the engineer quickly; the ONNT was sure to be hot on the Imperium boat's wake as we were. It would be bad if there was a bigger fight than expected once we infiltrated the boat, but the ONNT catching us would be worse.

      "You really are as pessimistic as they say." I looked up to see my brother watching me amusedly.

      I scowled, knowing he'd seen inside my mind. "Who said that?"

      "Them." He gestured to our whole group. "Your friends. All the time."

      Suddenly, I thought I felt the beginnings of a headache coming on. "Stop reading my thoughts."

      "No."

      "Maybe we should have let you rot away with Krasowski." I didn't have to see Jaxon to know he was fervently agreeing with me.

      He made a clicking sound with his tongue. "Shouldn't say that, brother. Imagine if I die in this upcoming fight. You'll be beside yourself with grief if those were your last words to me."

      Holding his gaze, I said in a low voice, "I never say things without thinking."

      Instead of getting offended, he simply turned to Riley, who was watching our argument with a growing smirk. "You wanted siblings growing up, Traversa. Still want them, after you've watched my dear brother and me?"

I wasn't sure if he'd been reading her thoughts just now or if he knew that from before. The thought that he knew the darkest, most integral parts of her irritated me even more. I had been happy to wait for her to tell me the bare minimum about herself and my brother forcibly took that information from her without debating whether he should or not.

      I wasn't even surprised in the slightest when she commented back, "Not if they're like you." Her sharp smile didn't falter.

      Holding back a sudden smile, I watched for my brother's reaction. He blinked once before the mocking smirk slid back into place. She'd jarred him with that comment, if even for a second.

      "They're not all like him," Delphinium spoke suddenly from Riley's side. "Some are good. Kind." Benton sneered, but I couldn't tell if he was actually affected by our judgement of his character. I never could.

      When Delphinium's fingers went absentmindedly to the rings around her throat, I remembered she'd had a brother; pictures of him were in her grandmother's home. But it was very rare of her to offer up a piece of information about herself like this—usually, she hid it away like I did. I hoped Riley would know not to push it.