line of sight wearing a simple shift dress, whipping her red hair out of her face into a braid. Her lips were stained berry-dark, shapely against the ghost white of her freckled face. “That’s something. Betray us all yet?”
Cab didn’t know where to rest his eyes. At least he’d spent enough time with Einan that her barbs no longer hooked into his skin. “I swore myself to your cause and I meant it. I’ll do whatever it takes to earn your trust.”
Einan snorted in reply, then crouched at Sil’s side. Took her hand, finger-combed Sil’s hair out of her face.
I think I can help with earning their trust. One’s voice, coming from far off. She hadn’t returned with Cab to the theater. The distance didn’t quiet her voice, simply colored it. He trusted her to make the right tactical decisions. Knew she wouldn’t linger somewhere unless she had good reason. I’ll check in with the others.
Others? Cab asked.
Some old friends, One replied.
Then she went silent, leaving Cab to rise to the occasion and figure things out.
Sleep didn’t come easily after Cab shared the news from Sil’s contact: that the Queensguard was patrolling more ruthlessly, that the excavation efforts had tripled, and—this last being a suspicion One had confirmed earlier—that Three of Many had been found and was currently at the castle.
Morien now had two pieces of the Great Paragon under his control to the Resistance’s one.
“Quit tossing and turning,” Einan hissed at Cab sometime near to dawn. “Is this how you plan on taking down the Resistance? By making sure we can’t get a decent night’s sleep?”
Cab was startled to find her so close. His old instincts should have measured better. He didn’t know how to apologize.
In the end, he remained on his back with his arms crossed over his chest to avoid bothering Einan again, listening to her breathing as it steadied and softened into sleep.
In the far corner of the dressing room, Hope’s open eyes glowed faintly through the night.
Come morning, Cab helped out around the Gilded Lily, hammering up a new piece of the set, while Einan took it on herself to check on the other members of the Resistance.
When she returned, her hands were shaking. Cab tried to steady her, and she didn’t shake him off. Instead she pulled him into a hidden spot below the stage where there was no chance of being overheard. Her cheeks and throat were red with anger and she still smelled of the wine-paste stage blood.
“Queensguard caught Malachy.” She slammed her hand into a wooden beam that didn’t look strong enough to withstand a second onslaught. Cab caught her arm, would stop her from breaking her hand if he had to. She stared at his fingers on her elbow. “I’m only telling you because telling Sil . . .”
“Malachy,” Cab repeated. “The boy from the tunnels?”
Einan nodded. Her head rested briefly on Cab’s shoulder. “He’s only fourteen. Young, but his father’s lands were taken by the Queen so she could search the grounds below. Found four fae buried there. Had to discredit Malachy’s family to do it. Ruined their name and reputation to seize their estates. His father killed himself.” She lifted her head and opened her eyes. They were burning. “Two years ago. Might’ve been you in the squad that served the papers.”
Two years ago, it might have been.
“Einan,” Cab said, because there was nothing else to say.
“Oh, don’t—” Einan began.
The doors of the theater blew open and a company of Her Majesty’s finest marched in, clanking down the aisles in perfect formation.
Cab’s heart stuttered. The Queensguard in the lead held the theater’s owner by the arm. Similar, but not similar at all, to the way Cab had gripped Einan’s just now.
“This is a raid, conducted in the name of Her Majesty, Queen Catriona Ever-Bright, Shining Star of the Silver Court.”
Legally, that was all they were required to say. The Queensguard captain shoved the theater owner to his knees.
Cab shifted his hammer in his hand, holding it not like a tool, but like a weapon. “Go,” he told Einan.
He didn’t need to elaborate. Get Sil and Hope.
Get what’s important out of here.
To her credit, Einan hesitated. Then she dragged Cab toward her and kissed him fiercely on the mouth.
Cab had never kissed anyone. He’d buried such thoughts beneath layers of survival and duty, what it took to put one foot in front of the other.
He found he didn’t mind the idea that Einan would be his first kiss and