“Well, well,” Riley growled beside me, and I heard the anger in his voice as he peered through his own binoculars. “Look who showed up. The little snitch himself.”

“Dante is here?” Garret echoed as the lump in my throat grew bigger. He leaned forward, gazing through the windshield at the street as my brother and his bodyguards walked up the steps and vanished through the glass doors. “Why do you think he’s come?”

“Who knows,” Riley muttered. “But I’m guessing it has something to do with that evidence. If he was involved with what happened at the crash site, maybe he wants to see it for himself.”

My hands were shaking as I lowered the binoculars, but I wasn’t sure which emotion it was attached to. Grief, rage, excitement? Something else? All three? “I have to see him,” I said quietly, making both Riley and Garret glance at me. “I have to talk to him before he goes back to Talon. This might be my only chance.”

“Ember...” Riley began, his voice a warning. I turned on him with a growl.

“It’s Dante, Riley,” I said, narrowing my eyes. “I don’t care that he’s part of Talon now. He’s still my brother.”

“Dammit, Firebrand, you know what he’s like,” Riley snarled back, gesturing down at the street. “You know we can’t trust him. Brother or not, he sold us out to Talon. Hell, he sent a Viper to kill you. Remember that? Remember Faith, and Mist? That was all Dante, Ember. Family doesn’t matter to him anymore. After everything he put us through, you should know that by now.”

“I know,” I said in the most reasonable voice I could manage, though it was hard not to snarl back at him. Frustration and anger boiled, made worse by the dragon and the sudden heat erupting inside me, but I kept my words calm. “I know I can’t trust him. I know he’ll sell us out to Talon again.” I gazed down at the office building, at the doors my twin had vanished through, and clenched my jaw. “I want him to confirm it. I want to look him in the eye and ask why he would give the order to have his own sister killed because she wouldn’t conform to Talon.” My voice trembled a bit on the last sentence, and I took a breath to steady it. “I want to ask why he chose the organization over me. And I want to see his face when he answers.”

Garret placed a hand on my arm and squeezed gently before turning to Riley. “If Dante was involved with what happened at the crash site, then he’ll likely know what Talon is up to,” he said calmly. “If we want answers, he might be the best one to ask.”