Savage Queen (The Dark Elite #3) - Eva Ashwood Page 0,17

Hale cocks his head slightly, narrowing his eyes.

“You don’t have anything else now,” he corrects, “but you will be going back and getting us more.”

Leland’s face falls. “I can’t. I can’t do that.”

“Yes. You can.” Hale smiles viciously. I never want to be on the receiving end of that smile, because it means nothing but pain. “Unless you want to put your family in danger. And since you’re such a fucking family man…” Hale’s voice trails off, almost lazily. “I’m sure you’ll see the importance of giving us what we need.”

“No!” Leland snarls. “You can’t do that—”

“Would you rather have them die at Camilla’s hands?” Hale demands, his voice growing heated. “At least with us you know it would be quick, painless. I don’t like that your children and wife should have to atone for your betrayal. I don’t believe that’s how things should be done. But at least it would be a mercy to them, to kill them before Camilla could.”

“You’re asking too much,” Leland pleads. “Do you know how much I’ve already had to risk for just the information I gave you? I told you, I’m not as high up in her forces as I am with the—”

He breaks off so fast it’s like someone cut out his tongue. Hale’s jaw clenches, and I know he’d like to kill Leland for even thinking his family name, but he doesn’t make a move.

Leland swallows, gathering himself before he speaks again. “I’m not supposed to ask questions. I get my assignments, complete them, and keep my head down. That’s all. If I start asking questions, Camilla is going to realize that I’m working for her enemies, and she’ll kill me. She’ll kill my family.”

“And we’ll kill them if you don’t help us.” Hale’s voice is cold. “Looks like you’ve found yourself in a bind, Leland. Next time you decide to betray your family, maybe think it through a little more.”

Leland spits out a string of curses, helpless rage making his entire body shake. He has a hard choice to make right now—a choice no man should ever have to make. But I remind myself that he didn’t end up here by accident. He willingly betrayed his brotherhood, knowing full well what that would mean.

He helped kill Damian.

No matter how much mercy or sympathy I could start to feel for him, it’s quickly stamped out by the truth. He may as well have pulled the trigger himself.

“We need to know what she’s planning,” Hale says. “And you’re going to find that out for us.”

“Fine. I’ll do it. I’ll try,” Leland chokes out. “But I want you to promise to put my wife and kids in protection.”

Hale doesn’t say anything in response. I know he has an image to uphold of an iron ruthlessness that shows no mercy, but I also know he has no desire to hurt Leland’s family. Hale isn’t so coldhearted as to kill innocents in cold blood—not even after his own father was just shot.

“When you come back with something actually helpful to us,” my friend says coolly, “I will consider sparing your family. You have three days, just like last time.”

Hale turns away first. It’s a clear dismissal, and the rest of us follow after him. Only Ciro remains, absently watching Leland, still in a world of his own.

“He’d better find something,” Hale says as soon as we’re out of the room, strain clear in his voice. “Now we know Camilla is planning something. But what good is that information when we have no way of anticipating it? Of guarding ourselves against it?”

The tension is a pulse that beats through the room, the thought hanging over all of us.

We need Leland to find something. Need him to get actionable intel on the Rooks.

Because he’s the only lead we have.

Hale keeps me and Zaid on babysitting duty over the next several days, but we cut back on our surveillance of Leland quite a bit. It’s too fucking risky to tail him closely, and even at a distance, we run the risk of Camilla noticing and getting suspicious. So we keep tabs on his general location and on his family, making sure he doesn’t skip town and trusting that his sense of self-preservation will keep him from doing anything stupid.

But when another two days go by without any information from Leland, I start to get antsy. I know he can’t push too hard, too fast without setting off alarm bells in Camilla’s head. He’s savvy enough to play things