Thorne smiled. “Right next to me for now. We have some planning to do.”
Leto nodded.
What might have happened next was disrupted by a shimmering that appeared next to Endelle.
Both warriors drew swords, but the man who materialized looked about as harmless as a librarian. Leto knew him well.
James.
He had gray hair, a novelty in any ascended world. He was short given the relative height of everyone in the room, and there was laughter in his shining light blue eyes.
As Thorne and Leto folded their swords away, Endelle addressed the newcomer. “Hey, shorty, long time no see. What the f**k are you doing here?”
He drew close. “How about a date?” he asked.
“In your dreams.”
He laughed as he turned to face not Thorne, or even Alison whom he had known since her rite of ascension, but rather Leto.
“The time has come, my boy,” James said. “I have a directive from Sixth Earth at long last. I know you always questioned whether all the difficult things you had to do serving Greaves would be worth the sacrifice: becoming a death vampire, providing us with thousands of documents, building an army for Greaves.”
Every muscle of Leto’s body tensed. Grace must have felt it because she slipped her hand into his, a great comfort. He didn’t say anything, though; he just waited, as they all did, hanging on what James would next say.
James’s lips curved slightly. “So you know that army you built?”
“All two million of it? Yes, and the knowledge is painful.”
“Well, sometime in the next forty-eight hours, I want you to start taking back as much of Greaves’s army as you can. Not the death vampires, of course, they’re beyond reasoning. But the hundreds of thousands of Militia Warriors will follow you, if you but ask. That’s what we know to be true.”
Leto was stunned. “Why will they follow me?” he asked.
“Because you’re a Warrior of the Blood, and you carried those values with you when you built that army. The same values now live in all those men and women. You treated Greaves’s Militia Warriors, especially your Division and Section Leaders, with great respect. Your reputation among them is unequaled.
“Greaves’s generals, on the other hand, are struggling to maintain control because they failed to continue the structure you put in place, the one built on honor and decent treatment. Thousands have deserted, and an equal number have been executed at the whims of the generals.
“When you left, several of Greaves’s top men fought for control so that the army is now split under three separate men. Believe me, you have an opportunity to win them to Endelle’s side. As you know, the Council of Sixth Earth can never act outright, but we can offer guidance. Just please take what I’ve said very seriously.”
Leto had known James for a century. Though he had the appearance of a mild, humble man, at times he spoke like an ancient warrior, like someone who knew what battling was, how hard it was on the dedicated soldier, how much discipline was required to get through each day, especially when the days were filled with war. At other times, like now, he talked like a man who had served on a council for centuries. He was two men, but perhaps everyone was.
Leto drew in a deep breath. “If there is even the smallest chance that I could turn the army, or any part of the army, I’ll do it. I swear it on my life.”
James stepped toward Leto and clapped him on the shoulder. “I know all that your service took from you, every ounce of hope at times, and how far into despair your activities plummeted you. But that life is over, and this new one has begun. So don’t hold back, Leto, not in any sense. We have a chance now. We have a chance.”
Then James smiled, a very broad smile, and a sheaf of papers appeared in his hands. “Remember all those files you stole for us?”
Leto glanced at the papers. “Yes.” His heart began to vibrate softly, as though he already knew what James was about to say.
“Well, right here are the private cell phone numbers for every Division and Regiment Leader of Greaves’s army. We broke the code for you, so you needn’t worry about that. Also, we suggest you start with the divisions out of Mongolia Two and Australia Two.”
Leto took the papers and his heart began to sing. Here was justification, something specific that could be drawn from his years as a spy, that could help the ones he’d betrayed. He could bring a fully operational army and lay it at Endelle’s feet.
“Hot damn,” Endelle said. She even slugged James’s arm. “You finally came through for us.”
James did the unthinkable. He reached high, planted his hand on the back of Endelle’s neck, drew her toward him as he reached up, then planted a kiss on her lips.
As she recoiled in protest, James laughed then vanished.
Endelle wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. “That little bastard. I’ll get him for that. And why the f**k did he just take off? I have a thousand questions he needs to answer. One day, I’m going to sit on him and force him to cough up all the information I want, and Sixth Earth can just suck it.”
Transformation
Begins in the soul.
—Collected Proverbs, Beatrice of Fourth
Chapter 9
After James left, Thorne suggested that he and Leto move to the command center so that Alison could work with Grace on her obsidian flame skills.
But as Thorne headed back to the central rotunda, Grace took Leto’s hand, holding him back. “This is fantastic news.”
He nodded. He had a wind-blasted look. “I just can’t believe it.” He glanced at the papers in his hand. “Well, I know what I’ll be doing for the next few hours.” He met her gaze again. “To think I could win them over.”
Grace was ready to agree, but it was Endelle who came forward and put her hand on his shoulder. “The man who gave that speech at the opening ceremonies of the warrior games could win back the entire army, given enough time. Shit, Leto, I’m f**king glad you’re home.” She looked down at her feet. “Hold on a second.”
She folded off her stilettos and what do you know, Leto was actually taller than Her Supremeness. She held out her arms. “Welcome home.”
As Leto returned Endelle’s embrace, Grace put her fingers to her lips. Her eyes burned like crazy. She wasn’t even jealous, but then she could count on one hand the times Endelle had demonstrated anything close to something as impractical as sentiment.
When she let him go, she still gripped his arms. “I hated that you left when you did.”