Secret of Betrayal: Book Two of The Destroyer Trilogy (27 page)

Milo looks down at his clothes and grimaces.
“Sorry, Libby, I got carried away with Lance. Give me ten minutes, okay?” He
dashes up the stairs without another word.

When I turn around to the quiet room, my smile
is back, if a little less full than before. Braden finds my eyes right away. He
doesn’t say anything, but the more often we’re around each other the less we
ever have to actually say. Sometimes it seems like his emotions do his talking
for him. My disappointment with Milo is tempered by his compassion. His need to
protect me even from small hurts like this makes it hard to look away. When I
do, it’s unfortunately to Lance who obviously noticed my distraction just now.
I do my best to brush him off.

“Sorry to break up the planning session,” I say.

Lance snorts and rolls his eyes. “No problem,”
he says dramatically, glad to be rid of Milo.

I scowl at him. “It sounded to me like you were
being just as loud as he was, Lance. Quit being a baby.”

“I was right. I get to argue.”

Dean nods his head,
then
freezes when he realizes I’ve seen him. I look over at Braden for confirmation.
He gives it. “Milo has been a huge help planning the route out of the compound,
but this time he’s trying to take too many risks for the sake of speed. Lance’s
plan only adds a few seconds and is much safer. It’s what we’ll go with.”

“Well, at least we’re making progress,” I say.
“Despite what either of you think, it doesn’t matter who plans the route as
long as we get the Ciphers out.”

“I know,” Lance says with a grin, “but it won’t
hurt my feelings any if I’m the one who gets it right and Milo has to admit
it.”

I roll my eyes at him. He and Milo have come a
long way toward working together despite their dislike of each other. I really
hope they aren’t backsliding.

 “Okay, ready?” Milo asks suddenly,
startling me.

“Yeah,” I say quickly, “let’s go.”

We both turn to leave, but Braden’s voice stops
us. He trots over, and I expect him to say something to me, but instead he
hands a folded piece of paper to Milo, who takes it with a questioning look.
“It’s the forms I mentioned the other day to help you improve your follow
through when you’re fighting. I’m sure I’ll be gone by the time you get back,
so I just wanted to give them to you now before I forgot. You can work on them
tomorrow.”

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it,” Milo says. He
pours over the note for a minute, missing Braden’s fingers as they drift across
my wrist unnoticed.
A subtle reminder that Milo isn’t my only
choice.
I drop my chin before I can meet his eyes and practically run
out of the house.

Milo snags my hand after closing the door and
laughs when I pull ahead of him, desperate to get away from Braden. “Hungry?”
he asks.

“Yeah, something like that,” I say. “Actually,
I’m just excited to spend some time alone with you and get away from planning
and training.”

“I know what you mean,” Milo says as he opens my
door for me. “It feels like forever since I’ve been able to curl up on the
couch with you and watch a movie without someone interrupting or pulling us
back into planning or training.”

Milo slides into the seat next to me and takes
my hand. There is no agitation to get back to work right now. It feels as it
used to, warm and loving. I smile at him and relax. “I’ve been looking forward
to tonight all week.”

“Yeah, me too.
I’m
really sorry I wasn’t ready when you got here. I just get so distracted by all
of this sometimes.”

“I know. It’s okay.”  This is nothing
major, and maybe it’s just because I was spoiled for so long being the center
of Milo’s attention, but knowing he wasn’t thinking about this night as much as
I was makes me sad. “I just don’t want us to get lost in all the planning. You
know what I mean?”

“Of course,” Milo says. “Finding time for
something like this isn’t easy.”

“Oh, I know, but spending time together doesn’t
have to be this elaborate. I’ve just missed being with you.”

Milo smiles.
“Me too.
Once we get the Ciphers out we’ll have a lot more
chances to be together.”

I smile back, but not very wide.

“You showed up at just the right time,” Milo
says, changing topics. “Lance can be so frustrating. He always thinks he’s
right about everything. I know he’s smart and he has a head for tactics, but
he’s so cautious I feel like we can’t make any progress on the escape route
sometimes.”

I don’t point out that Lance was right this
time. Instead, I say, “We’ll find the best route, don’t worry. We’re really
close already.”

“I know. I can’t help thinking that I could have
been one of them, stuck in the spirit world. I would be willing to take a
little risk if it meant getting out sooner.”

When we finally pull up to the restaurant, I get
out of the car, thoughtful. I would want out, too, even risk my life for
freedom, but I’m not the one escaping. I think about the balance between risk
and safety as we wait in the foyer. We’re led to our table quickly, and I
decide to change the subject to something lighter. For one night, I don’t want
to talk about Ciphers and escape routes.

“Is Celia ready for her spring recital? She
showed me her costumes yesterday. They looked incredible.”

“Yeah, I think she’s ready. She’s hasn’t said
anything about being too nervous, at least. We haven’t really had time to talk
about it lately. I’ve been so busy that Mom has been picking her up from dance
practice the last couple weeks so they can talk about what they’re doing with
the Ciphers as they drive.” Milo frowns and bites into a breadstick. “Are you
going to go to the recital?”

“Of course,” I say, “I already promised Celia I
would. Your mom said we should just ride with her and your dad since we’re all
going anyway. You were planning on going, weren’t you?” He has asked me as if
my being there wasn’t already assumed. Unless something serious comes up, I’ll
do my best to be there. I don’t see us being ready to go after the Ciphers that
soon.  

“Sure, I’m going to go,” Milo says. “I just
forgot to ask you if you wanted to go before now. Sorry. I keep losing track of
things lately, especially if they don’t have anything to do with the Ciphers.”

That reminds me of something else Celia said to
me yesterday. “Actually, maybe Celia should have more input on what we’re doing
than she does right now. She’s trying to help your mom, but she really wants to
be more involved. It never hurts to start training early.”

“No,” he says.

“Milo …”

“I said no, Libby. She needs to focus on school
and her dancing. She doesn’t need to be involved in all of this.” He says it
with such certainty. Her participation is really not his choice, but it actually
makes me smile to hear him. He’s always been like this when it comes to Celia.
He’ll protect her to the end. At least he hasn’t been distracted from that
habit.

“Well, just to warn you, she’s pretty adamant
about getting more involved. Don’t be surprised if she tries to change your
mind,” I say.

“She won’t win this one.”

“Are you still worried about her Inquest?” I
ask. It’s five months away, in October. That seems like a long time. Talking to
her about it yesterday made it feel a lot closer. She’s excited and eager, but
after going through Milo’s traumatizing Inquest, she’s more than a little
nervous. The possibility of Celia’s becoming a Cipher like he is was actually
the biggest reason he pushed his parents to move them out here to New Mexico. He
figured it was out of the way, lower population, and easier to disappear from.

“I don’t know,” Milo says. “It’s really not very
likely Celia will be a Cipher like me. I don’t think she’ll have to go through what
I did. Besides, if she is a Cipher, there won’t be any hiding or cutting this
time. Not with you nearby.”

I shiver at the thought of Milo’s dad slicing
into his own son’s wrist in an attempt to forge diktats. Those cuts had to be
right along the veins. He nearly
bled
out and died
that night while Celia watched.

“If she’s not a Cipher,” Milo continues,
“Inquisitor Moore seems like a decent guy. He’ll take care of her.”

“You’ve met Inquisitor Moore?” I ask, surprised.
“I thought Lance was working with him.”

“He is, but Lance wasn’t following through on
some of his assignments so I went to talk to the Inquisitor myself.”

My fingers tighten around my fork, bending the
silver easily. “Milo, what were you thinking? If people find out Inquisitor
Moore is helping me he’ll be removed from his position. We can’t afford for him
to get exposed right now.”

“Lance is in and out of Inquisitor Moore’s house
all the time,” Milo says. “Isn’t he making it pretty obvious whose side
Inquisitor Moore is on?”

“No, he’s not. Lance and I grew up playing at
Inquisitor Moore’s house. His grandkids hung out with us any time they came
down to visit. He’s been friends with Inquisitor Moore since before people
found out who I am. Plus, Lance’s dad is head of the Inquisitor’s security.
Nobody thinks twice about Lance stopping by the Inquisitor’s house. But you
going there … Milo, everyone knows who and what you are. If anybody saw you it
could crush everything we’ve planned. You can’t go back there,” I say.

Milo just stares at me, irritation and guilt
playing on his features. “No one saw me, Libby. I went to the back entrance.
Did you think I just marched up to the front door and demanded to be let in? I
wouldn’t do that.”

“I … I wasn’t saying you did. You just scared me
for a minute.”

“I know what I’m doing,” Milo says.

I sigh and cover his balled up hand with mine.
“I know you do. I think you forget sometimes that you’re not the only one doing
it. You have to trust other people to help you and let them do what they need
to do. This is going to take everyone to pull it off.”

Milo’s hand stays frozen beneath mine. “Maybe
you trust people too much, Libby. Lance tried to kill you, but you give him
more responsibility than anyone else. Braden, I still wouldn’t trust that guy
to water a plant for me, and he’s involved in every aspect of this plan. I
can’t turn around without finding him behind me looking over my shoulder. This
whole thing was our idea, our chance to change things.
Yours
and mine.”

Not only do I know he’s wrong about my faith in
both Lance and Braden, but the way he talks about rescuing the Ciphers as being
ours
sours my stomach. The first time the topic of going after the
Guardians came up, I asked Milo if me being the Destroyer was what made him
risk hanging out with me. He denied it, promised he was with me because he
cared about me and not because I was a means to an end. I wanted to believe him
then. I convinced myself that I did believe him. There was always a hint of
doubt that lingered deep inside my heart. I thought it had disappeared at one
point, only to realize now that it hadn’t.

“Whether this was our idea or not,” I say
quietly, “we can’t do it alone, Milo. We need
help,
a
lot of it.”

“I know,” he says. “But can you blame me if I
don’t like the fact that our help comes from your ex-boyfriend and the guy who
tried to arrest me?”

I manage a small smile. “No, I guess not, but
it’s not like we have a lot of other options.”

Quiet for a long time, Milo finally says, “Do
you really think we need their help? You’re the Destroyer, Libby. If anyone can
do this
on their own,
it’s you.”

“If I was meant to do this on my own I wouldn’t
need you, and I already know that’s not true,” I say. Milo’s hand reaches
forward and takes mine, his smile warming to genuine. “Plus, there wouldn’t be
Ciphers waiting around to be my army.”

Milo’s face scrunches up in defeat. He can’t
argue with me on that no matter how much he might want to. He hunches down in
his chair and changes the topic to how my Naturalism training is going. If I
need the Ciphers,
him
included, then there’s a good
chance I need the others too. What I add to myself silently, is that I know I
can’t do this on my own because of Braden. Every time I’m near him and feel
that rush of energy and knowledge, I know I am going to need his help very
desperately before this is all over.

I take a bite of my pasta and try to swallow my
concerns. I wanted to step away from my destiny for a moment and find out what
has happened to my life, but I don’t think the two are separated anymore. I
don’t think Milo sees it that way anymore, either. Once
us
was our relationship. Bringing down the Guardians was something separate.
Now it feels more as if the two goals have merged.

My dearest dream is to spend my life with Milo,
quietly living a simple life. I once thought it was both of our dreams. I’m
beginning to worry that Milo has found a new dream. If defeating the Guardians
can go from second to being equal to me, can the opposite happen? Will I forget
Milo? Will he forget me? I tell myself I could never let him go, but I worry I
will get consumed by my destiny.
Or by something else.

The inside of my wrist where Braden’s fingers
slid across my skin grows warm as I remember his touch. Every day it gets
harder to resist him. I know I’m going to need Braden’s Oath because of his
power and knowledge. It’s not even a question anymore. I’m scared the real
question is whether I’ll end up asking for his Oath in the end because I need
it—or because I want it.

Chapter 2
1

Dead

“Why are we running so
slow
?”
I complain for the millionth time. I hate running, but if I’m going to be
forced to do it I should at least get to put my Speed to good use. I wish Milo
were here already. He was supposed to be, but he is working with Dean on his
knife skills instead. Running with Milo is more fun because he likes to go
fast. Nowhere near as reckless as my Guardian friends in that regard, I still
enjoy the adrenaline rush of pushing my body to its limits once in a while.
Lance says the slow pace is for building endurance, something not wholly
connected to Speed and Strength, but I think he just enjoys torturing me. He
rolls his eyes at my complaint.