From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

“Well, he’s not going to be figuring anyything out again.” Jericho
gripped the bolt, tearing it free. Phillips slumped over. Jericho nudged the
guard’s bodyy with his boot. “That’s for sure.”
I turned back to Hawke, feeling as if the ground were splitting and
shifting beneath me.
“You’re a Descenter.”
“A Descenter?” Elijah laughed deeplyy, causing me to jerk.
Kieran smiled.
“And here I said yyou were smart,” Jericho said.
I ignored them. “You’re working against the Ascended.”
Hawke nodded.
Another fissure formed in myy chest. “You…yyou knew this…this thing
that killed Ryylan?”
“Thing?” chuffed Jericho. “I’m insulted.”
Hawke said nothing.
“That sounds like yyour problem, not mine.” I fullyy faced Hawke. “I
thought the wolven were extinct.”
Hawke gave a casual shrug. “There are manyy things that yyou thought
to be true that are not. However, while the wolven aren’t extinct, there
aren’t manyy left.”
“Did yyou know he killed Ryylan?” I shouted.
“I thought I could speed this up and grab yyou, but we know how that
turned out,” Jericho chimed in.
Myy head snapped in Jericho’s direction. “Yes, I clearlyy remember
how that turned out for yyou.”
His upper lip curled as a snarl of warning sent a wave of goosebumps
through me.
“I knew he was going to create an opening,” Hawke answered,
drawing myy gaze back to him.
“For yyou…to become myy personal Royyal Guard?”
“I needed to get close to yyou.”
I sucked in a shuddering breath as myy heart seemed to split open.
“Well, yyou succeeded at that, didn’t yyou?”
That muscle in his jaw flexed again. “What yyou’re thinking…yyou
could not be further from the truth.”
“You have no idea what I’m thinking,” I shot back, myy hand
tightening painfullyy around the dagger. “And all of this was…what? A