“Okay,” I say. “I’ll see what I can do. I guess I’ll see you later.”
“Did you ask the elves about helping the cats?” Vera says. She’s peering at me. “You know they could use some help. There are so many strays.”
“Lyra never mentioned such a thing,” Sol drawls, stepping out of the night shadows.
I jump, seeing him appear so suddenly, and bite back a curse word. “What are you doing here?” I yelp.
“Following you, of course,” he says. “I’ve already told you the city isn’t safe, and so you wait until the dead of night to go somewhere. So I had to track you down.”
I peer at him, anger simmering inside my gut. “You were eavesdropping, weren’t you?” I growl. He was. He had to.
“About what?” Sol asks, cocking an eyebrow. “Are you conducting some illegal activity that I should know about?”
“This boy has pretty eyes,” Vera says, taking Sol in. She smiles approvingly. “You must be the elf that Lyra’s crushing on.”
“What?” I sputter. My face feels like it’s on fire.
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Sol says. “She’s always staring at me when she thinks I won’t notice.”
“I do not!” I lie.
“She totally does,” Sol says, shrugging.
“I can see why.” Vera winks unabashedly at Sol. “Honey, let me know if Lyra ever dumps you.”
“I shall let you know the moment I am a free man.” Sol sweeps her a dramatic bow.
“She’s way older than you,” I say, wrinkling my nose.
“Technically, I’m probably older,” Sol says.
“I like mature men,” Vera cackles.
Sol grins at her and extends an arm to me. “Shall we go?”
I take it, frowning up at him. “Why do you look so smug?”
“Hard not to. I’m only taking the prettiest woman in Liberty out on a date.”
“See you later, sugar,” Vera calls, and I can’t tell if she’s talking to Sol or me.
We stride through the camp in silence. I finally can’t take it. “You were listening in, weren’t you?” I’m so busted if the elves catch me working with the Colonial rebels, and it isn’t just the elves who’ll do the busting.
“Why, what were you talking about?” Sol asks, lifting a blond eyebrow.
I frown and look away.
“I heard that woman say she wants the elves to help with the problem of stray cats,” Sol says after a pause. “I probably should look into it. Poor creatures are only faring a little better than humans.”
“They’re just cats,” I say with a shrug. “They’re not as important as humans.”
“And just because you’ve deemed that they’re not as important, means you should turn a blind eye to an animal’s suffering?”
“I didn’t say that,” I growl, “But with so much garbage going on in today’s world, I don’t have time to think about those who aren’t human.”
“I’m not a human,” Sol says. He’s stopped walking, and I pause, looking up at him. His blue eyes are intent. “Do you view an elf as less than a human, too?”
“I—no,” I sputter. “Elves and humans are far more similar than cats and humans. What’s your point?”
“The world is drowning in suffering,” Sol says gently. “I agree that humans are more important than animals, but I also believe that animals are still important. I want to end all suffering and misery, even for the stray creatures of Liberty.”
“Yeah?” I don’t break eye contact. A street lamp sheds its orange glow on us, and it casts an eerie blend of light and shadow across Sol’s face. “How are you going to do that?”
“I don’t know,” Sol says. “I’m not sure if it’s possible to ease all suffering.” An emotion clouds his face, one I’ve never seen on him before, and my chest tightens.
Sol is sad. “But I want to help where I can, Lyra. Don’t you ever feel like that?”
“Yes, I do,” I admit. Darn, if I stand on my tiptoes, I can kiss him. I’m tempted to try.
Sol suddenly steps back, his eyes narrowed as he focuses on something behind me. His fingers clamp over my forearm, and he tugs me to stand behind him.
“Good evening, Gawwin,” Sol says. His voice sounds emotionless, but his grip is tight, pressing into my skin.
“Sol.” A male voice speaks, his tone mild and smooth. My gaze trains on the elf standing before us. He’s tall, taller than Sol, with longish silver hair. In the gloom, I can’t tell if it’s blond or actually white. He looks younger than Sol, though, with gold-colored eyes.
I thought Sol was weird; this elf looks positively alien.
“How does hunting go?” Sol asks. He hasn’t released my arm. If I didn’t know any better, I’d guess that Sol found this elf a threat. But that’s impossible. Elves aren’t enemies with each other, are they?
“It goes well,” Gawwin replies. He studies Sol for a moment before his gaze flickers to rest on me. I stare back, resisting the urge to shiver. His eyes are completely devoid of emotion, not the faintest trace of curiosity or annoyance or anything marring his face.
Sheesh, I thought Eldaren was an emotionless lump; this elf takes it to a whole new level.
“I’ve killed several vampires since I’ve taken over your responsibility,” he finishes.
Sol’s fingers dig so hard into my wrist, it takes all I am not to cry out. Sol immediately releases his hold but doesn’t acknowledge my pain aside from that.
“Several?” Sol says, and I don’t miss the hint of contempt in his voice. “I wasn’t aware that so many vampires escaped your botched experiment.”
Gawwin’s eyes don’t so much as twitch. “Perhaps if your hunting methods had been more effective, they wouldn’t have had time to turn other humans before being wiped out.”
Sol doesn’t miss a beat. “My assignment was of a slightly different nature than yours.”
“And I see your current assignment is very different, now.” Gawwin’s eyes study me again. Stars, there’s something wrong with this guy. He’s like a robot; he’s so stoic and unfeeling.
“Yes. I serve where the prince commands.” Sol hasn’t moved. He’s still
