The Hunt - Megan Shepherd Page 0,88

but Fian’s hand crushed against her mouth. She screamed into his palm but he didn’t let go, and her words became muffled protests. It made sense now. This was the secret look he and Cassian had exchanged. At some point they must have made plans for a worst-case eventuality like this. Cassian would confess, and Fian would prevent her from telling the truth.

“Guards,” Fian commanded. “Take the Warden into custody.”

Cora bucked against his hand, but it was like fighting a riptide. She met Cassian’s eyes. They had gone black now.

Cloaked.

Which meant he could read her thoughts.

“Don’t do this,” she urged with her mind. “You did nothing wrong.”

His face was a mask, but she could see in the flicker of his eyes that he understood.

“Take the two of them to separate holding rooms.” Arrowal seemed coldly pleased by her anguish. “And watch him closely,” he added. “Summon me once the interrogations are ready to begin.”

Arrowal left, but Cora hardly noticed. The room kept spinning around a common point: Cassian. The heat of his gaze was nearly scalding. It was like standing too close to a bonfire, eyelashes getting singed, cheeks burning.

If anything ever happens to me, he had said, go to Fian or Tessela. They are ready at all times to enact the secondary plan, should it come to that. But the secondary plan was the last resort. Destroying enclosures, breaking humans out of menageries, launching an all-out war where a few hundred were pitted against an entire station.

It was madness.

“Let me confess,” she urged in her head. “Please.”

His head jerked, just the slightest movement. No.

The guards twisted his hands behind his back to bind his wrists with cuffs. He closed his eyes.

Suddenly her mind was flooded with an image of home. Her house with the oak tree, and the iron fence around it, feeling so real she could almost smell the fresh-cut grass. Cassian had to be projecting it there. This wasn’t a training exercise anymore. This was real, and she had to read the words in his head.

“Home.”

It came to her as clearly as it had the first time she’d heard him in her head.

“Home,” his thoughts urged again. “The POD30.1 was right—I found the original algorithm predictions. Fian will try to get you back to where you belong. To Earth.”

Her mind ached with the strange sensation of speaking in thoughts. “But the Gauntlet—”

“Forget the Gauntlet,” he thought. “You can’t run the Gauntlet if you’ve been arrested for murder. They would use it to take away even more rights. Say you are too violent. Say you are unpredictable.” Across the room, their eyes met. “This is where you give up.”

Suddenly Charlie’s voice was in her memory again, telling her that there was a time for giving up and a time for persevering.

“No!” But Fian clamped his hand harder against her mouth. Tears were rolling down her cheeks now.

Give up? She pushed the tears out of her eyes, attempting to shake her head. Not giving up was the one thing Cassian valued most about humanity.

“Take him away,” Fian ordered.

She sobbed harder, fighting against Fian, even though she knew he was only playing the role he had to.

They started to lead Cassian away, but he tossed one last look over his shoulder. For a second, it felt like it was only the two of them in the room, and she remembered the first time she’d seen him. Even then—as terrified as she had been—she’d been entranced.

“I meant everything I said,” his voice said in her mind. “We could have changed the world together, you and I.”

And then he was gone.

She stared at the empty alcove doorway. The lights stung her eyes, but she didn’t want to look away. This might be the last time she would ever see him. Never again to feel that spark. Never to stay up late, talking about the stars. The Kindred claimed they didn’t incarcerate their own kind, but the shackles spoke otherwise. He’d be locked away forever.

For her crime.

She was alone now with Fian, who leaned close to speak quietly in her ear. “I will release you, but you must not run.”

She gave the ghost of a nod.

Fian’s face was the same indifferent mask as always. “Cassian’s lies will only hold up for a few days. They will probe his mind in an interrogation and soon discover the truth. When they do, they’ll come for you.”

She stared at him. “So that’s it? We just give up on the Gauntlet? You put me on a ship