to the corner of the parlor. Alina, the maid who’d replaced Beatrice, was arranging delicate cups on a tray, clearing the morning tea. She was short, with curly brown hair and small, wide-set eyes. She nodded before starting toward the door.
I knew this was one of our final meetings, that things were coming to fruition, the power slowly, secretly shifting to the rebels. It was difficult to be hopeful, though; a heaviness had settled in after seeing Maxine. I worried about my friends, wondering where they were—if they could survive. Ruby and Pip were nearly five months along, maybe more. Why hadn’t Arden sent word through the Trail?
When the door was shut tightly behind Alina, I unstacked the books, peering into each one. Inside the J encyclopedia was a folded map and a crank radio similar to the ones used on the Trail. “Funny,” I said, opening the thick novel set on top, its title unfamiliar. A knife sat inside, the metal glinting in the light. “War and Peace. I get it.”
Moss smiled as he sat down in front of me. “I couldn’t help myself,” he whispered. “It felt appropriate. I’m working on getting you a gun. But with the siege close, supplies aren’t as easy to come by. People aren’t eager to part with the weapons they have.”
Moss was happier than I’d ever seen him. I couldn’t help but be jealous. My nervousness had grown. Most mornings I was weighed down by exhaustion. My hands shook, and there was a constant twisting pain in my stomach, like it had been wrung dry.
“The end is near,” Moss whispered. Then he rapped his fingers on the books. “And you will be ushering it in.”
“I should be able to get inside.” I’d thought about the circumstances under which I could get into my father’s suite, how I’d ask to speak with him, make up some sort of reason to talk. “But once I’m there?”
He smoothed his hand over the cover of the book, working at the worn gold embossing. “You’ll have to get into the drawers beside his bathroom sink. Your father has a bottle of blood pressure medicine that he takes. Each pill should come apart in two and have white powder inside.”
“Then I’ll replace it,” I said, glancing at the book.
Moss nodded. “Exactly. In as many as you can—at least six or seven pills. You have to be careful, though. Make sure you don’t breathe it in or have any residue left on your hands. There was trouble procuring the ricin—this is dried oleander extract. It’s not ideal, but it will suffice. Leave the pills at the top, where they’ll be taken sooner. It should take only a few doses.”
“Then we just wait?”
Moss rested his finger on his brow. “Once your father shows signs of illness, you’ll have to leave the City, at least for a month or two, until the fighting stops. With the troops from the colonies, we have a better chance at ending the conflict swiftly. When I’m settled as the interim leader, and we set up elections, you can return. It’ll be too dangerous for you here in the meantime. I know where your loyalties lie, but it’s not something I can or will share with the majority of the rebels—not initially. It would be too dangerous.”
I thought of the remaining tunnels beneath the wall. Only one of the three had been discovered when Caleb was shot. Moss had often described the locations of the other two, reminding me where they were in case our connection was ever discovered. “That’s what the radio and the map are for, then,” I said. “The knife. I’ll leave the City as soon as he gets sick.” Anyone who lived inside the walls would recognize me. I was the King’s heir, the girl on the front page of the newspaper, on the electric screens that hovered on the sides of the luxury buildings. In the wild, I would be safer, less known.
“There’ll be some provisions waiting for you when you leave. Make sure to use the south tunnel.” Moss glanced down at the table, staring at the crumbs from the blueberry scones. I’d picked them apart, repulsed by the dry, floury smell. He flicked one onto the floor with his finger. “A few days’ worth, enough to get you away from the City without having to hunt. And please—stay away from the hospital and the girls, at least for now.”
“Who told you I was there?”
“One of the rebels. Seema—an older