as though I were a foolish child. “I can offer a future free of the twinning,” he went on. “You’re offering war. Thousands will die, Alphas and Omegas alike. And even if you were to win, what then? No progress. The fatal bond still there, a burden to everyone. Our lives still won’t be our own. Do you really think people will follow you, once they understand that?”
“If you think your position is so unassailable, why did you call this meeting?” the Ringmaster said. “You’re running scared. We’ve taken back New Hobart, and you realize it’s time to start negotiating.”
“You can’t negotiate with Omegas,” the General said. “They’re not capable of it.” She waved an arm toward me, Simon, and Piper. “It’s always been the problem with you people. It’s because you can’t breed. You’re not fit to parent, so you don’t have the responsibility of future generations to consider, like we do. It’s why you’re fundamentally shortsighted.”
“Not fit to parent?” I said. I was picturing Elsa, the softness of her hands as she smoothed back the hair of the dead children. And Nina, who had died to protect children who had been brought to the holding house by strangers. “How can you sit there and say that to me, after what you did to the children? Even before then—you Alphas are the ones who send half your children away, not us. We take them, and care for them, and do our best to protect them from you.”
The Ringmaster spoke over me. “This isn’t the time for sniping at one another. We all want to avoid civil war, so let’s discuss our demands. A guarantee that the Council will uphold the taboo, as a first step.”
“Your demands?” the General said. “You want to negotiate?” She nodded slowly. “Fine. I brought you something. Another gift, if you like. Something to open negotiations. I thought you might like to see it.”
Without turning, she raised a finger, gesturing at Zach. He turned back to where their soldiers waited, and ushered two of them forward. As they obeyed, I saw that they carried a wooden chest, slung between the two horses.
Zach dismounted and handed his reins to one of the soldiers. While they lowered the trunk, Zach steadied it with his left hand. Something rattled within as it was settled on the ground. The soldiers moved back, taking Zach’s horse with them.
“Open it,” he said to me. “Go on.”
“You open it,” I said.
Zach looked up and smiled. He seemed unconcerned by the fact that we were still mounted, and that he stood alone on the ground before us. He stepped forward, and heaved open the lid.
For a moment I thought they were human heads. They were about the right size and shape. Then the smell reached me, incongruous in the snow-laden air. It took me straight back to the island, where the air had a constant base note of salt. I leaned forward over my horse’s neck, to peer more closely at the two shapes within the chest. They were some kind of wooden sculptures. When Zach lifted one out I saw that it was a carving of a woman’s head, with long curls of hair tracing their way down over her shoulders. The wood was bleached with age. Time had blunted the features of her face—her nose was eroded to almost nothing. Only at the neck was the color different: ax strokes had left sharp lines, exposing the darker wood within.
I turned to Piper. For several seconds, he closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he looked once more at the carved head, then back at the General.
“Where did you get them?” he said quietly.
“It doesn’t make a difference,” she said.
“What are they?”
I’d whispered it to Piper, but Zach turned, pulling the second sculpture from the chest and throwing it to the ground in front of me. My horse snorted and jerked backward a few steps. The wooden head rocked from side to side several times before settling in the shallow snow. It lay face up, staring blindly at the white sky.
“The figureheads from The Rosalind and The Evelyn,” said the General. “Your precious ships.”
chapter 23
“This proves nothing,” Zoe said. “The crews could have landed safely, left the ships moored.”
“Would you prefer it if I brought you the head of your friend Hobb?” the General said. I saw Piper’s hand tighten on his reins.
The General went on. “They were on their way back to the island, when our patrol ships chased them