We headed back to camp as quickly as we could—or rather, as quickly as Elnos could, since I couldn’t leave him in the dust. About ten yards away, I caught a trace of Iannis’s sandalwood and magic scent on the wind, and a smile curved my lips in spite of my irritation. But the smile faded as I caught another scent, a familiar one, and I froze.

“What is it?” Elnos asked as I sniffed the air.

“No,” I growled. “No fucking way.”

I took off before Elnos could ask what I was talking about, tearing up the path as fast as my legs could carry me. Voices coming from the clearing became more audible, and I burst into the campsite, my heart pumping hard.

Not from exertion, but from anger.

“That was fast,” Iannis said, turning to face me from the middle of the clearing.

“Yeah, no fucking kidding.” I jabbed a finger in the air at the figure standing behind him, who I could only partially see. “You wanna tell me just what he’s doing here?”

“Hello, cousin.” Rylan Baine stepped out from behind Iannis, an unrepentant smile on his handsome face. He was dressed in a red t-shirt, leather pants, and sturdy boots, and the gaunt, emaciated look had faded from his features. My cousin was healthy and bursting with life and energy, instead of suffering like he should have been.

“I brought him here.” Fenris ducked out of Elnos’s tent, and I started. I’d been so focused on Rylan’s scent that I hadn’t noticed his. “Iannis called me from Parabas and explained the situation. It occurred to us to use one of the Resistance soldiers that we already had sitting around in Prison Isle to infiltrate the bunker, in exchange for a reduced sentence. Your cousin Rylan was the natural choice, Sunaya.”

“And I thank you profusely for that.” Rylan sketched a bow, his long, straight black hair swinging forward like a curtain as he did so.

“No way. This is not happening.” Ignoring Rylan completely, I squared off with Iannis. “How could you do this to me? How could you bring Rylan here, into our midst, on such an important mission, after knowing how he betrayed me?”

“Because Rylan loves you,” Iannis said simply. “It makes perfect sense to me to bring someone in who is emotionally invested, rather than a Resistance soldier none of us know, and who is just as likely to betray as they are to help us.”

“And how exactly do we know that Rylan isn’t going to follow pattern and betray us again?”