“Well,” he scoffed. “That’s a special kind of martyrdom. I think I’d prefer the blind-eye approach myself. Wouldn’t that be easier?”
“Easier? Yes.” She held his gaze, not wavering in the slightest. She was dead serious.
Cavalon bit the inside of his lip. He didn’t know what to make of that kind of adamancy. For possibly the first time ever, he couldn’t think of anything snarky to say.
He tugged on the suddenly too-tight collar of his vest. “Are you the warden?”
“This isn’t a prison.”
“With that cavity search, you could have fooled me.” He smiled.
She did not smile. “I’m the EX.”
His humor faded, eyebrows raising in honest surprise. “Excubitor?”
Rake didn’t respond.
“That’s a pretty high rank for babysitting delinquent soldiers, no?”
She shoved the tablet away and leaned back in her chair. “I’m inclined to cut you some slack, Mercer. This isn’t a normal situation. We don’t usually take civilians into our ranks—”
“Are royalty ‘civilians’？”
“—but you’re not making it easy on me.”
“Not up for a challenge?”
“If you think living at the Divide’s not a challenge, you’re in for a rude awakening.”
“Right.” Cavalon laughed. “You guys are the stuff of legends. How’s that nursery rhyme go again? Sentinel, Sentinel at the black—”
Rake sighed and crossed her arms.
“—do not blink or turn your back,” he continued. “You must stand ready to stem the tide, lest Viators come to cross the Divide.”
Her decidedly unamused glare sharpened.
Cavalon shrugged. “There’s another couple of verses. I’m sure you know them by heart.”
“You think this is a game?”
“No, no. It’s important. I get it. We’re protecting mankind from another Viator incident.” He leaned forward. “Except they died out two hundred years ago.” He sat back and crossed his arms. “Had to clean a few up during that little Resurgence War skirmish, but I guess that’s a matter of course when it comes to xenocide. Bound to miss a few, here or there.”
Rake’s eyes narrowed. “You’re really calling a nine-year war a skirmish?”
“Don’t get me wrong. It’s good the Legion is keeping an eye on things out here. And they’re certainly putting all their best people on it—shuttling in every court-martialed and troublesome soldier they don’t know what else to do with.”
With a grating screech, her chair slid back against the floor. The table groaned as she leaned on clenched fists. She hovered over him, amber eyes alight. His breath caught in his throat, but on instinct he swallowed the feeling down. If nothing else, his grandfather had taught him how to counter intimidation. She was merely a discarded soldier, another one of these outcasts. He had no reason to fear her.
“This attitude is going to get you in trouble,” she growled.
A soft mechanical buzzing drew his attention to Rake’s right arm as it tensed, pressing into the metal table. Shimmering silver and copper squares folded and unfolded as they slid down her bicep and rearranged themselves onto her forearm.
“And I’m pretty much the most even-tempered one in this place,” she continued. “I’d keep my head down if I were you, little prince. If your fellow soldiers find out who you are, you’re going to have issues.”