“Fallon,” Xander says my name softly. “Run. Go somewhere safe.” Then he takes off toward Larkin.
“The hell I will,” I say, reaching for my dagger, then remember it’s on Xander. Damn. I gave it to him when he kept eyeing at it as we walked through the forest. I’m really the worst assassin ever.
Their swords clang, and I watch the moonlight glinting off their blades as they slash, metal meeting metal. My chest tightens. I don’t have time to think, only act. I look around the forest floor and find a rock. Their shadowed figures move too quickly for me to get Larkin in my sights. Xander grunts as he strains against Larkin’s sword. I have to help.
Xander bears up, pushing Larkin backward, but then Larkin punches Xander and he stumbles. Larkin slices his sword through the air. A scream catches in my throat as Xander dodges, falling to the ground, but he blocks the blade coming at him with his own. Then he kicks Larkin in the chest, doubling him over, giving Xander time to get to his feet.
While Larkin is still bent at the side, I throw the rock, knocking his head sideways. Xander nails him in the back of his head with the hilt of his sword and Larkin drops to the ground. Xander lowers the point of his sword to his neck.
“Whose orders?” Xander says, gasping.
I race to his side, then grab my dagger from his belt. “I could’ve used this.” I eye him.
He shrugs. “I’m capable.”
“I see that,” I say. “I suppose my aim was of little use to you.” I smirk, then turn my attention toward Larkin, pointing my dagger at him. “He asked you a question. Whose orders are you following?”
Larkin grabs the back of his head. “You know whose.” He looks between us, then stares at me. “You’ve been following them your whole life, Fallon.”
My brows pinch together. “You’re a plant?”
He nods. “And I was told to watch you tonight—make sure you succeeded.” A small smile forms on his face. “Fearless,” he scoffs. “You’re full of fear. Micha should’ve never taken you in.”
Anger burns in the pit of my stomach. My mentor, the person I trusted more than anyone, sent someone to spy on me—not trusting that I’d complete my mission. And what’s worse? I have failed. I hang my head. But in my heart, I know I made the right choice. How could Micha do this? How could . . . No. Micha’s wrong. The Rebels have the wrong guy. Xander doesn’t know anything, and he’s not a threat to us.
Xander glances at me. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I say, pushing my anger down. Then I glare at Larkin. “Why does Micha want Xander dead?”
Larkin doesn’t answer. I huff. “Tell us,” I snap.
He releases a heavy breath. “I wasn’t privilege to that information.”
I shake my head, disgusted. “You trained him. Spent time with him and were his friend,” I say. “How could you accept an order to kill him without being made to understand why?”
“My oath,” he says flatly. Then his eyes cut through me. “The same reason you apparently did.”
I want to correct him, say that I hadn’t known Xander when I’d accepted the mission. But as much as I want to defend myself, he’s right. I took Micha’s orders without question—what I was trained to do. My stomach lurches.
Xander inches his blade closer to his throat. “What should we do with him?”
I’m stunned for a moment that he’s asked me. I’m used to taking orders. I shake my head, clearing it further of the resentment I feel toward my mentor. “We can’t kill him,” I say, looking around. “But he can’t be left to track us. Take his belt.”
After we bind his hands and feet together, Xander cuts a couple strips of fabric from Larkin’s tunic, using one to tie him to a root system he dug near a large pine. The other I tie around his head, gagging his mouth.
“This won’t hold him forever,” Xander says. “We need a plan.”
“I have one,” I say, looking down at the bound and gagged Rebel. “I’m going to Micha.”
Xander cranes an eyebrow. “Your mentor. The person who wants us both dead.”
“Micha has to know the truth, that you’ve done nothing to warrant a hit. I’ll make it clear—”
“And they’ll let me walk away.” He shakes his head. “Despite the truth, I know who you are. I know who he is.” He points to the wiggling spy. “I know too much now. There’s no way I’ll walk away alive.”
“We have to try,” I say. “There’s no alternative.”
I turn to go, then pause. I’m about to take Xander—a member of the Force—into the Rebel camp. If he does this, there’s no going back for him. I turn around and take his hand in mine. “Xander, you have to make a choice.”