He's obviously trying to convey a respectful sort of questioning, but Nox leans forward in his chair anyway.
“Maybe we should just send your Bonded in. It’d be the most that she's done since getting the seat from her useless mother,” he mutters under his breath, though loud enough that the entire table hears it, and I have to bite my lip at the scandalized looks on their faces.
I'm not sure what they were expecting from Nox, but clearly they haven't interacted with him enough to know that you don't poke him without catching the brunt of his acidic tongue.
“What about the camps? Why are we focusing on the Wastelands when there are still camps full of prisoners that we could be focusing our efforts on?” Councilman Hannity says, his fingers fidgeting nervously in front of him as he deflects away from Nox’s quiet outburst.
I’m not sure if he is moving the attention away from Nox as a favor to North or whether he is just naturally opposed to conflict, but he looks nervous as he practically squirms in his seat. His eyes keep darting across to North—it’s as though he is an excitable puppy looking for approval.
I have to bite my lip from smiling at that image in my head as well, just as clear as the last.
“The largest camp was dismantled by Shore and his TacTeam on their way in,” North says, and it takes me a second to realize that he means the General and not Gryphon.
Hannity looks shocked. “I had no idea that that had taken place, but I'm glad to hear it. How many survivors were brought in?”
A muscle on North's cheek flicks as he grinds his teeth. “Eleven.”
“Eleven people?” The words shoot out of my mouth before I have the chance to bite them back, and the General shoots me a filthy look.
The one that North gives me is a lot softer, something that almost feels too private to be happening in this room, but he can feel the way my stomach has given way. “Yes, Bonded. Eleven people.”
My mind is empty for another second of shock, but then the information really soaks in. The rage I am flooded with is so consuming that my bond wakes up inside of me and a ripple flows through my Bonded Group and the entire room as it does. The General has not been around my bond, so he has no idea of the danger that he's in as I peg him with a look of my own.
How dare he come in here with accusations about Gryphon, his own goddamned son.
“You walked into the biggest camp of the Resistance, shut it down, and only brought out eleven prisoners?”
The General doesn’t even bother to look sheepish about it. “Everybody knows that you don't bring back survivors from the camps. Most of the people in there are already broken shells. The people we got out were hard fought for.” He says it all as though I'm supposed to be congratulating him. Here I was, thinking that I couldn’t find much else to hate the man for. Boy, was I wrong.
“You might not bring home survivors. That's your story, not mine.”
He glances at North as though he's expecting my councilman Bonded to step in and disagree with me, and then his eyes flick over to Gryphon as an afterthought.
My bond doesn't like that either.
“Well, how many do you bring home then, if you're so amazing, because the average is—”
I cut him off before he can get his stupidity out. “I’m aware of what the average is amongst the groups that don't have me and my Bonded in it. I'm also aware of what our average is, and it sounds to me like you walked in there, guns blazing, not giving a fuck about the Gifted who were trapped there. How many children were in that camp?”
His eyes narrow at me dangerously, but I’m not afraid of this man. “Not that many.”
“You don't even know exactly how many children were in the camp that you took out?”
His lip curls, and as I stand, the palms of my hands make a smacking sound as they hit the table. I lean forward aggressively, and the moment the General moves to stand as well, as though he's trying to stay in a position of power, Gryphon's eyes flash to white as he keeps his father in his seat. It’s the ultimate act of rebellion, and I fucking love my Bonded for it.
“I know how many children are in every camp we walk into. I know how many Resistance are in every camp we walk into, and you know what? Your son does too. North knows the casualties of every camp that every one of his TacTeams walks into. Nox knows. Gabe knows. Atlas knows. A Bassinger, that you are so intent on loathing, knows the cost of this war more than you do.”
His teeth grind in his mouth, but Gryphon won’t let him stand.
I’m too pent up to stop, too angry at the council and these useless Gifted at the weight they put on my Bonded’s shoulders. How dare they all question and judge every little thing that we’re doing while there are men like this being given all the leeway in the world?
Disgusting.
My arms tremble with rage, but I zero in on him. “And what did you win from this camp that you took out? Sure, you wiped the Resistance there from the map, and sure, that's what we need, but what else? What intel? What trophy? Which of the higher members of the Resistance did you bring in as a prisoner or take out? What was the win that you got from all of that death and destruction?”
Gryphon doesn't need to stop him from speaking—the General has no words to give me.
Chapter Twenty-One
Gryphon
My parents’ Bonded Group leaves the Sanctuary shortly after the meeting with the council.
Despite my complicated relationship with my parents, I feel nothing but pride at my Bonded and our entire Bonded Group with how they had handled themselves in the face of the General’s ire.
To have Oli stand up for us all without hesitation, the vehemence and pride in her voice as she had talked about the responsibilities that we all carry when dealing with the Resistance, had lifted some of that pressure off of myself. A little of the guilt has eased away now, knowing that we are doing our best and we have limited resources. We’re pushing ahead for our community and those around us.
I leave the meeting and head straight to Sawyer at his request. He's still in the Security Office, which we have now dubbed ‘Sawyer’s Den’ from how much time he spends in there at the computers, working through security footage and monitoring all of our systems to keep the Sanctuary running smoothly.
He's been a godsend for North and I. We'd never had a Technokinetic before, not one that we had trusted and certainly not one as powerful as Sawyer, and the fact that we can argue with him and tell him exactly how it is just makes the situation even easier on us all.
His message to me had been simple. I found something. See me ASAP.
I should probably feel apprehensive or hesitant at his text, a signal for our next move against the Resistance, but I don’t. I always feel in control and calmest when we are in action, and this time of preparing here at the Sanctuary has just made me even more ready to get on the road.
I catch Nox as I start towards the elevator, jerking my head for him to follow, and without a word, he does. The greatest gift in disguise was the soul-bonding and Nox figuring out a way around his trauma. Even if it had aged North and I a good twenty years, years we will never get back, I'm sure.
When the doors slam shut behind us, I get my phone out and show him the text from Sawyer. He gives me a curt nod and reaches up to rub at his eyes. He's still not sleeping.