PART 6
Fiona laughed once.
Too sharp.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I know the final stalking exercise isn’t graded just because someone crawls close enough,” I said.
The silence grew teeth.
“It’s approach. Concealment. Target identification. Reporting accuracy. Discipline under pressure. Extraction without compromise.”
Fiona’s hand moved to the badge.
A nervous habit.
Donovan noticed.
Arthur stood.
“This is inappropriate.”
“No,” Malcolm said calmly. “I think it’s becoming very appropriate.”
Arthur turned on him.
“This is a family matter.”
Malcolm dabbed his mouth with a napkin.
“When someone wears a military qualification she may not have earned while using it to secure reputation, influence, and marriage into my family, it becomes a Reed matter.”
Fiona’s face hardened.
“How dare you?”
Donovan finally spoke.
His voice was quiet.
“Fiona, did you pass the course?”
She looked wounded on command.
“Of course I did.”
“Did you earn that badge?”
“Yes.”
Donovan looked at me.
“Jocelyn, what was Wraith’s real name?”
Arthur barked, “She wouldn’t know that.”
May you like
I stood up.
And Fiona whispered, “Don’t.”
