the same as ours. He believes in the taboo, and wanting to protect Alphas.”
“It’s a hell of a leap from that to attacking the Council. And a hell of a gamble, to tip him off before we attack. Your little excursion tonight could have cost us everything.”
“I know,” I said. “But I can’t see any other way.” I looked down at my hands, and remembered the blood that I’d seen rising over New Hobart in my visions. “If we gave him the chance—if we asked him—he could help us.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” she said. “But Piper and Zoe will never take that risk. They’ll never let you try.”
“Can’t you try to persuade them?”
“Not even I could do that,” she said. “Piper and Zoe have their own principles. Simon too. They’d never turn to a Councilor for help.”
I knew that she was right. I exhaled, slowly, and waited for her to call the guards, or Piper. I knew that I wouldn’t fight Sally. And even if I could bring myself to, it would only take a single shout to rouse the camp and bring the troops down on me.
She stepped back. “I’ve tethered a horse to the roots of the big mangrove, just beyond where the path meets the next bank of solid ground. You’ll have to skirt the watchmen on the outer perimeter. Have the horse back by dawn, when my shift ends.”
For a few seconds we stared at each other. She didn’t smile, but she gave a small nod. “Hurry,” she said.
“What about your own principles?” I said.
She shrugged. “If I ever had principles, it was too long ago for me to remember.” She kept her voice low. “I’ve never seen the Ringmaster. I don’t know about him, or what he believes. But I know about fighting and campaigns. And I don’t think we can win the battle like this.” She waved an arm back at the camp and the line of tents that slumped in the snow. “There’re too few of us, and too many of them. I’m old, Cass. I don’t care if I die. But I want Piper and Zoe to have a chance. Xander too. So I’m willing to do what Piper won’t.”
I reached for her hand, but she brushed me off.
“Hurry,” she said again. It was the first time I’d ever heard her sound afraid.
Ω
The moon was almost at its thinnest, and the night nearly black. I had to lead the horse through the swamp, wading waist-deep when I left the paths to avoid the outer perimeter of our guards. As soon as the ground was solid enough, I rode, shivering with cold in my wet trousers. A light snow was still falling—enough, I hoped, to cover my prints if anyone noticed my absence and came after me. I had to skirt a long way west to keep a safe distance from New Hobart itself, and the dark and the snow conspired against me to make it hard to find the gully. In the end, instead of scanning the blurred horizon, I closed my eyes and let my mind grope toward the Ringmaster. I concentrated on what I knew of him: the memory of his breath on my neck; his voice when he’d ordered Zoe and Piper to stand down.
It was hours before I spotted the lone spruce tree. As I neared the mouth of the gully, it wasn’t only the darkness that slowed my progress. I moved hesitantly, aware than at any moment the Ringmaster’s sentries would see me, and that swords would spring out of the night. Ever since I left the Keeping Rooms, I’d been doing my utmost to avoid being taken by Council soldiers. Now I was seeking them out. I was undefended, Piper and Zoe miles away, on the other side of New Hobart. After all this time spent together, their absence now was like the snow, making the world unfamiliar.
I pushed onward, the horse picking its way through the deepening snow. The Ringmaster had assured me that I was no use to him as a hostage, now that the General was the main force behind the Council. But he could change his mind. I might not be enough to stop the tanks, but handing me over to Zach would still gain him some leverage. Each step I took now might be leading me back to the Keeping Rooms, or worse.
When had the decision been made, that had led me here? It wasn’t when I’d crept away from Zoe,