Anger flared in my chest. “You can’t just replace someone.”
She stared levelly at me. “Yes. Yes, we can. It’s what we must do on the battlefield. If a comrade falls, we reinforce our ranks, and we fight on.”
“They’re not on the battlefield. They’re children.”
“They are potential reapers. Soldiers in training. They are not human children.” She took a breath through her nose and released it slowly, and it hit me. She was pissed off, like mega pissed off, but she was controlling it. “We’re training an army here, Dominus. Please allow us to do our job.” She indicated the doorway. “I’m sure you have other duties to attend to.”
Was she telling me to get out? Shit, she was totally telling me to get out.
I looked down at Clayna, who was staring up at me with tears in her eyes. Palin shook his head slightly, his gaze darting from Luena to me. They were children. Orphaned children. Had it even been their choice to become soldiers?
This was wrong. I stood taller. “I’m not going anywhere. These children just lost a friend. What they need right now is understanding and compassion and—”
“Dominus Dawn.”
My head snapped around to find Conah striding toward us. “There you are. I’ve been looking for you. A word, please.”
He didn’t wait for me to respond, but instead gripped my arm and practically hauled me from the room. Shock stalled my tongue for a moment, but as he tugged me around the corner and down the corridor, I finally found my words.
“What the fuck, Conah?”
“Not here.” His grip on me didn’t loosen as he led me up a short flight of steps and down a narrow corridor that looked like it led to a serial killer’s hideout. He shoved open the door at the end of the corridor and finally released me.
“Please.” He swept his hand toward the room beyond.
It was a masculine room with a wide desk, a lamp, and a huge window that was letting in enough sunlight to attract a horde of cats in need of a nap.
I stepped over the threshold, and he followed, closing the door behind him.
I rubbed my arm where he’d gripped me a little too tightly. “I’m going to give you a pass on the arm grabbing this time, but do it again, and I won’t be so compliant.”
His eyes narrowed. “The situation warranted quick action. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
He hadn’t hurt me physically, but my pride was another matter. “What are you doing here, anyway? It’s not your day.”
“I don’t need permission to come to the Academy, Fee. I had business to attend to. They only just discovered the vault’s been raided.”
“You have a vault here?”
“Yes, containing valuable items.”
“You think the Dread did it? Do we know what’s been taken? Shit, could that have been the real reason for their attack on the Academy?”
“We don’t know. The stuff in the vault is ancient, and the log of items has also gone missing.”
“We need to figure out what was taken. There must be another log somewhere. A copy?”
“There is. The Beyond has it. I’ve sent a message to Uri.”
The anger at being dragged from the lounge had faded a little in light of this news. The Dread had taken something, and the fact we had no idea what that was meant they were several steps ahead of us. “What is their agenda?”
He frowned at me. “What?”
“You never told me what the Dread want. I mean, what’s their purpose?”
His smile had a patronizing air that fed my annoyance. “They’re monsters, Fee. They want to feed and kill and thrive.”
His tone was complete arrogance, and it grated.
“Uh-huh, and how does raiding your vault and taking something serve that purpose? There must be more to it than that. If we can find out what they took, we can maybe figure out what their agenda is.”
“You give them too much credit.”
“And maybe you don’t credit them enough.”
I was beginning to get a picture of the demons, and the Dominus in particular. They thought themselves superior, important, better than the creatures they hunted. “Every living thing has a purpose, Conah. Even the Dread, whether you think it’s important or not, and the key to stopping them is to figure out what their goal is.”
“With all due respect, Fee, I’ve been a reaper and a Dominus for much longer than you. I’ve fought the Dread, hunted them, and been hunted. They want nothing more than to spread like locusts on this land and devour it.