know more
than you think,” he says, his gaze flickering toward the far end of the
compartment.
I turn to find Farley busying herself over an occupied bunk. The
woman in it is out cold, probably drugged, and Farley monitors her
pulse closely. In this light, her scar stands out rudely, twisting one side
of her mouth into a scowl before cutting down the side of her neck
and under her collar. Part of it has split open, and was hastily stitched
up. Now the only red she wears is the swath of blood across her white
nurse’s shift and the half-washed stains reaching to her elbows. Another
nurse stands at her shoulder, but his shift is clean, and he whispers hur-
riedly in her ear. She nods occasionally, though her face tightens in
anger.
“What have you heard?” Kilorn asks, shifting so that his body
blocks Shade entirely. To anyone else, it looks like we’re adjusting his
bandages.
“We’re headed to another base, this time off the coast. Outside
Nortan territory.”
I strain to remember Julian’s old map, but I can’t think of much
more than the coastline. “An island?”
Shade nods. “Called Tuck. It must not be much, because the Silvers
don’t even have an outpost there. They’ve all but forgotten it.”
Dread pools in my stomach. The prospect of isolating myself on an
island with no means of escape scares me even more than the mersive.
“But they know it exists. That’s enough.”
“Farley seemed confident in the base there.”
Kilorn scoffs aloud. “I remember her thinking Naercey was safe
too.”
“It wasn’t her fault we lost Naercey,” I say. It’s mine.
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“Maven tricked everyone, Mare,” Kilorn replies, nudging my
shoulder. “He got past me, you, and Farley. We all believed in him.”
With his mother to coach him, to read our minds and mold Maven
to our hopes, it’s no wonder we were all fooled. And now he is king.
Now he will fool—and control—our whole world. What a world that
will be, with a monster for its king, and his mother holding his leash.
But I push through such thoughts. They can wait. “Did Farley say
anything else? What about the list? She still has it, doesn’t she?”
Shade watches her over my shoulder, careful to keep his voice low.
“She does, but she’s more concerned with the others we’re meeting in Tuck, Mom and Dad included.” A rush of warmth spreads through
me, an invigorating curl of happiness. Shade brightens at the sight of
my small but genuine smile, and he takes my hand. “Gisa too, and the
lumps we call brothers.”
A cord of tension releases in my chest, but is soon replaced by
another. I tighten my grip on him, one eyebrow raised in question.
“Others? Who? How can that be?” After the massacre beneath Cae-
sar’s Square and the evacuation of Naercey, I didn’t think anyone else
existed.
But Kilorn and Shade don’t share my confusion, electing to
exchange furtive glances instead. Yet again, I’m in the dark, and I don’t
like it one bit. But this time, it’s my own brother and best friend keep-
ing secrets, not an evil queen and scheming prince.
Somehow, this hurts more. Scowling, I glare at them both until
they realize I’m waiting for answers.
Kilorn grits his teeth and has the good sense to look apologetic. He
gestures to Shade. Passing the blame. “You know more than I do.”
“The Guard likes to play things close to the chest, and rightfully
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so.” Shade adjusts himself, sitting up a little more. He hisses at the
motion, clutching at his wounded shoulder, but waves me off before I
can help him. “We want to look small, broken, disorganized—”
I can’t help but snort, eyeing his bandages. “Well, you’re doing a
terrific job.”
“Don’t be cruel, Mare,” Shade snaps back, sounding very much like
our mother. “I’m trying to tell you that things aren’t so bad as they
seem. Naercey was not our only stronghold and Farley is not our only
leader. In fact, she’s not even true Command. She’s just a captain. There
are others like her—and even more above her.”
Judging by the way she orders around her soldiers, I would think
Farley was an empress. When I chance another glance at her, she’s busy
redoing a bandage, all while scolding the nurse who originally set the
wound. But my brother’s conviction can’t be ignored. He knows much
more than I do about the Scarlet Guard, and I’m inclined to believe
what he says about them is true. There’s more to this organization than
what I see here. It’s encouraging—and frightening.
“The Silvers think they’re two steps ahead of us, but they don’t
even know
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