Between Burning Worlds (System Divine #2) - Jessica Brody Page 0,113

of chou bread.

“I remember,” she whispered. “I remember you. From the Renards’s inn. You used to sneak me food under the table where I slept.”

“Well, it’s about time.”

Her brow furrowed. “Wait, you already knew this?”

“I knew you looked familiar when I saw you at the Precinct. But I didn’t figure it out until we were walking to the inn and the place clearly creeped you out. Understandably so. I was hoping you’d eventually remember me, too.” He paused and lowered his voice. “They used to call you Madeline, right?”

Another chill ran through her. “So, you were there?”

“I started working there when I was six.”

“Six?!” Alouette exclaimed, although she wasn’t sure why she was so surprised. The Renards had put her to work when she was barely four years old.

“My papa used to work in the kitchens,” Gabriel explained. “He would bring me with him every day, and I would help out. Until he got sick and couldn’t work anymore. That’s when I learned how to steal. It was mostly just médicaments and food at first. Then I moved onto the hard stuff.”

“Hard stuff?”

“Manoir jobs mostly. The amount of wealth the Second Estate has just lying around their gardens would blow your mind.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, yes, I was there. At the Jondrette. With the Renards.” He shuddered. “Horrible people. And total criminals, too.”

Alouette cocked a teasing eyebrow at him.

“Hey! I only steal from the Second Estate. They have plenty. The Renards cheat their own kind. They used to make us fill the sausages with frog limbs and mice guts.” He lowered his head, his tone suddenly turning somber. “They were awful to you. I remember Madame Renard yelling at you. All the time. You were so small, and she would tower over you. They used to …” but his voice trailed off, as though he couldn’t even bring himself to say it aloud.

Alouette cast her gaze to the floor. Because she knew. They both knew.

Gabriel cleared his throat. “So, yeah, I used to steal food for you sometimes.” He gestured down to the half loaf in his hand again. “I stole this from the kitchen too.” He winked. “Don’t tell Sparkles.”

Alouette flashed a weak smile. “I don’t think she would mind if you took a loaf of bread.”

“I mean don’t tell her that I called it the kitchen. She’ll freak out. ‘It’s a galley, you uneducated, unwashed Third Estate clochard.’ ” His impersonation of Cerise was over the top but it still made Alouette smile. It felt good to smile. Even if just for a moment.

She grabbed the bread from Gabriel’s hand and took a small bite. “Cerise is not that bad.”

Gabriel scoffed. “She is worse than that bad. Of all the things wrong with our planet, calling things by their proper names is top of her priority list.”

“If it’s any consolation, I think she really is just genuinely trying to help. Her heart seems to be in the right place.”

Gabriel bit off a piece of bread. “She doesn’t get it. This is all a game to her. I mean, think about it. She spends her days searching for magical switches that can shut off the Skins.”

“The kill switch,” Alouette said, remembering the strange term.

“Exactly. She thinks this planet can be fixed with the touch of a button. She’s delusional.”

“You don’t think it exists?”

“Of course it doesn’t exist. It’s a fantasy! And unlike her, I can’t afford to believe in fantasies. I have real problems to deal with.” He sighed and took another bite of bread.

Alouette had to admit she was doubtful too. She’d read about the Skins in the Chronicles. Countless pages about their origins, their functionality, the neuroelectricity they ran on. But there had never been any mention of an off switch. She had a hard time believing the Regime would allow such a thing to exist.

“The point is,” Gabriel continued after a large swallow, “whether you all succeed in stopping the general or not, it doesn’t affect Cerise in any real way. When this is all over, she’ll go back to her manoir, and her life will be more or less the same.”

“Whether we succeed?”

Gabriel fell quiet and Alouette instantly knew her suspicions back in the cruiseur had been right. He was hiding something.

“Why did you really agree to come with us?” she asked. “I have a feeling it has nothing to do with the general’s weapon.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “Am I that predictable?”

Alouette just smiled.

Gabriel popped the last piece of bread into his mouth and