As I sat down, I tried to focus on my breathing. Reliving old memories to get information on how to assassinate my father wasn’t on the list of things I thought I’d do today.

Declan wanted all the information we could remember about Thornblade’s building, guard shifts, anything we could use against him.

The only issue is, I was seventeen when I ran away, that was three years ago. 

And I still didn’t think Ronan liked me that much for leaving him.

“Whoever wants to start.” Declan pushed.

Ronan fidgeted with a ring in his lap, leg bouncing a hundred miles per hour. River stayed calm yet slightly smug, his default expression that always bugged me for some reason.

Maybe because that’s always how my dad was. Cold, stern, but slightly knowing and smug about it, ‘cause he knows he has power over you.

“I’m not sure how accurate this is, but if it’s still the same—the entrance to the jail below is off the main hall on the ground floor.” I started.

“They moved it.” Ronan cut in, his voice sharper than usual. “The elevator can take you into it now.”

My chest ached at his tone, knowing I had caused all of this in the first place.

“Thornblade’s guards rotate every hour and a half, leaving less than a minute of opening if we’re lucky, each rotation is different too, so no guards are rotating at the same time.” River explained. Declan nodded in response.

“So we’ll need to get their schedule.” Declan asked.

“That’d help a lot with accuracy.” I agreed.

“Me and River know more about the barracks and guards, Sky probably knows more about his actual headquarters.” Ronan muttered. Declan glared at him but said nothing.

“Okay, what do you guys know about the barracks?”

“It’s divided into three parts: Sleep, armory, and training. It’s not really guarded but theres always soldiers outside that won’t hesitate to tear you apart.” Ronan explained.

“Yep, I remember that.” Declan nodded grimly, no doubt remembering when he had to get Ronan out of that hellhole.

“The armory has enough weapons for the soldiers to go on strike at any time, they’re trained to be ready from sleep in less than five minutes for anything.” River jumped in.

Ronan shivered at that, like the memories were coming back. His shoulders hunched, his leg bounced faster, breathing shallower.

“So we’ll need to be ready for anything.” Declan concluded. “Tell me about the headquarters, Sky.”

We spent the next good hour exchanging information, Ronan wouldn’t speak unless he was snapping at me, still bitter about it all.

I wish he would just understand my side of the story.

By the end of the meeting, we were all emotionally exhausted. Ronan fell forward by the end, face smacking the wood table and just fell asleep, River’s walls were less intense, a little more vulnerable in a way I rarely saw from him anymore.

I knew he was always close to my dad back when he was in the army with Ro, this was going to be hard on us two more than anyone.

Ronan didn’t seem to have a problem with murdering my father.

~

I sat down on the couch, nursing my third cup of coffee while I gave myself a moment to relax.

When I say a moment, I was thirty seconds before the chaos started.

“Skylar, I’m hungry.” Tessa whined, tugging at my sleeve.

I resisted the urge to say “Just go get food.” because I knew the girl liked routine, and every afternoon around two I would make her a sandwich—peanut butter with honey drizzled on top between two slices of stale homemade bread.

I got up, set my coffee down, and went to go make the kid a sandwich.

I walked into the kitchen area to find Ronan and Max arguing—what a surprise. They acted like an old married couple eighty percent of the time.

“Ronan, you can’t use the stove!”

“You can’t tell me what I can and can’t do!”

“It’s Declan’s rule, not mine.”

“I just want some damn eggs, Max!”

“That’s enough to start a fire!”

I could only handle the stupid back and forth for so long before I started losing my sanity.

“Okay, both of you shut up.” I snapped, they both turned to me like they just realized I’d heard it all. “I’ll make Ronan eggs; Ronan, get out of the kitchen, Max, make sure he stays out.”

Ronan grumbled but stalked out of the kitchen, Max following close behind, grabbing Ronans wrist then Ro smacking his hand away.

Gods they were so obvious.

Tessa shuffled in and sat down at the island, her feet swinging from the stool, watching me while I made Tessa’s and Ronan’s lunches like a mom of five. The eggs sizzled on the pan as I drizzled the honey onto the sandwich.

“Ro, scrambled?” I yelled into the other room, then felt bad when Tessa flinched and covered her ears.

“With cheese!”

We didn’t have any cheese. I didn’t tell him that.

I set the sandwich in front of Tess then went and handed the plate of eggs to Ronan, who was pouting as he discovered there was no cheese in the eggs.

“Deal with it, Drama Queen.” I muttered, rolling my eyes, a smile tugging at my mouth despite my annoyance.

He was like a little brother to me, and as much of a pain in the ass as he is, I felt bad for leaving him, and his grudge definitely didn’t help. 

I just hoped Fate would help him forgive me one day.

~

I was paired with Declan, River, and Max to scout out Thornblade’s building again while Eliot and Ronan started prepping weapons. Apparently the flash drive didn’t give us information on the barracks since they use a separate security system for that.

We crouched down behind a few crates of supplies right outside the barracks side entrance, River said this would be the safest opening.

Declan signaled us to move and we all slipped inside the gate with ease, thankfully.

The barracks had a smell, one that hit too close to home.

Sweat, dirt, and the slight tang blood. Ronan used to always smell like that when I’d come to check on him.

He had just been eleven, a scared kid needing comfort after he lost all his family.

My dad had taken Ronan in and made him become a soldier. 

I had been sixteen at the time.

He didn’t trust me at first, knowing I was Thornblade’s daughter. He was scared I’d just make things worse for him.

But eventually, he’d eat the food I’d pass to him under the tent flap, or use the bandages I gave him to patch himself up. I untangled his curls when they were too knotty to be functional or presentable.

He would open up to me, tell me about his Nonna, his mother, his uncle. All who left him to fend for himself, even if they didn’t have a choice.

I had been friends with River for a while before Ronan came along, so I made sure River kept him safe, knowing the older soldiers would take advantage of a small and weak kid like Ronan.

I still remember when he first showed me how he would bind. Bandages days old, constricting his chest, red marks and bruises lined the end of the bandage.

I helped him remove it and he was so ashamed of himself, breathing hurt, his chest was bruised and sore, and he couldn’t stand to look at himself. I remember him just sobbing, this eleven year old boy just trying to make it in this terrible excuse for a world.

Then somehow, when I had the opportunity to leave this world behind to go live with Declan and the others, I did it.

Ronan was too bound to the army at that point and we both knew becoming a rogue soldier was suicide. So I left without him, praying to Fate that he’d find his way out too.

“Sky.” Declan said firmly, knocking me back into reality.

“Right, sorry.” I trudged forward, keeping an eye out for soldiers and ignoring Declan’s worried glance.

I gripped my dagger tight as we weaved behind the crates of gear and firearms, eyes scanning every corner we pass.

River had us stop and duck into a small shed on the southeast side of the barracks—opposite to the training grounds.

We found the panel and Declan busted it open and River clicked the drive into place, Max and I standing guard.

I knew Dec brought the healer boy in case shit got messy, but the kid didn’t need to be here. He was flinch and hesitant to kill, I hated to say it, but he was a liability on this mission, but I also knew he could save our lives if that became necessary.

Max ran a hand through his hair, the other tapping the same rhythm onto his leg, his eyes darting back to Declan and river every few seconds as if to check they were still there.

His anxiety about this was stressing me out.

I nudged him gently with my elbow, he flinched and turned to look at me. I saw the mask slip back on instantly, the cool, calculated Max he shows everyone.

“You good?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He shrugged. “Yeah.”

We heard a beep and click, me and max both turned to see Declan and River staring at the security panel like they were deciphering a dead language.

“What’s wrong?” I walked up next to them. The screen requesting a ten-digit code.

“Shit.” I muttered. “How will we even figure this out?”

Declan shook his head. “Ten numbers could be any combination and we need it for the files to transfer.”

“Any guesses, Ms. Ashbourne?” River asked with fake elegancy.

I rolled my eyes but tried to think. What would the infamous Dr. Andrew Ashbourne use for his barracks security password?

He wouldn’t use his birthday, that’d be too easy. He’d probably generated some random code and used that.

“Is there a way to override the system?” I asked them, hearing Max awkwardly shuffle behind me.

“Not unless you know your way around wires.” River shrugged.

“Where’s Ronan?” I asked Declan.

He winced a bit at that. “I told him to stay back. I don’t want him here any more than he has to be.”

I knew what he meant. Ronan had worse trauma than most of us, most of it connecting to this place.

But we didn’t need Declan babying Ronan right now.

“Get Ronan here.” I muttered. “It’s the only way we can get the code.”

Declan took a deep breath and nodded to Max, who turned on the comms system Ronan had built.

“Ronan?” Max asked into the mic. “Yeah, we need you here…don’t laugh this is serious!…why is your boot stuck in the stair railing?…forget I asked.” He sighed, clipping the walkie back into place on his belt.

“He’ll be here once he gets his boot.” Max concluded, trying to look annoyed but I could see the fondness in his features. I raised an eyebrow but just nodded, I’d call the boys out on it eventually.

~

The wait was too long before Ronan finally stumbled in the area we were hiding. He looked beaten up pretty bad—pant leg torn, split lip, nose bleed, hands red and bloody—but it was like he didn’t even notice. He just pushed past all of us to get to the security panel and got to work, his breathing shallow and uneven.

“What happened to you?” Declan asked him.

Ronan just put a red-stained finger to his lips. “Shh, I’m working.” Then went back to the panel like that’d satisfy the answer.

Max looked torn from giving Ronan space to work and going into healer mode and fixing Ronan up.

But we didn’t have time for that right now.

I heard some soldiers training in the distance, metal blades clashing, the occasional grunt. I tried to ignore how Ronan flinched with every contact of metal.

The panel clicked green at last and the flash drive ejected. Ronan pulled it out, grinning like he didn’t even think it’d work and was surprised it did, and threw it to Declan, who clumsily caught it with a scowl and Ronan did finger guns in response.

I rolled my eyes and nudged River with my elbow, a silent Are you good? As we headed back home, slipping past unsuspecting guards and soldiers.

River nodded and winked in response, I rolled my eyes, a smile tugging at my mouth as we kept moving.

We made it out without any trouble, well except when Ronans legs buckled right outside the fence and Max had to haul him up and into the shadows before someone saw, yet Max still paused to make sure it was okay to touch Ronan before picking him up.

“What the hell happened to you?” Max asked after switching to carrying Ronan on his back, Ronans legs kicking lazily in the air and his arms dangling over Max’s shoulders, Max holding him like he weighed nothing (which wasn’t far off).

“‘M fine.” He muttered, barely audible.

Declan sighed. “Let’s get you home, someone clearly used you as a punching back.”

“They did not! They used me for target practice.” Ronan contradicted with a bloody grin, words slurring slightly.

How does this boy manage to get concussions so often?

Max’s expression softened. “We’ll get you all cleaned up when we get home, yeah?” He asked, falling in step with the rest of us into the alleyway.

“Don’t need help.” Ronan murmured, burying his face in his roommate’s shoulder. 

Max let out a small breathy laugh, I could see the blush creeping up his ears.

The rest of the walk back was silent except the occasional wince from Ronan if Max stepped too hard. I couldn’t help but worry slightly about the journey ahead of us.

We got all the security information, also including guard rotations, camera placement, door codes—everything.

Thornblade was clearly planning something, preparing for something.

And we had to be ready to stop him before it starts.