me right now, but I truly have no idea who killed Lady Indomitable. If I knew, I would have told you a long time ago, but I’m not—”
“Nightmare,” he said, spitting the name as if it tasted like sewage. “Tell me who killed her.”
“Adrian—”
“Tell me!” he yelled, pounding one hand on the glass.
Nova gasped, pushing back against the chair.
He flattened his palm on the window, as if he wanted nothing more than to snatch Nova out of the chains and shake her. “You know about the note. Nightmare said … I heard you say…”
Her brow furrowed, but Adrian seemed unable to continue.
“What?” she said, curiosity overtaking her concern. “What are you talking about?”
“‘One cannot be brave who has no fear.’”
Adrian fell silent, letting the words fill the cold chamber.
Nova gawked at him for so long, her mouth started to run dry. One cannot be brave who has no fear?
What surprised her most, what she had never expected, was that she did, in fact, know those words. She had heard them dozens of times over the past ten years, had even occasionally said them herself.
But what did they have to do with Lady Indomitable? And when had Nightmare ever spoken those words around Adrian?
Finally, when their silence had become unbearable, Nova licked her lips and said gently, slowly, “I’m sorry, Adrian, but I have no idea what that means.”
He seemed to draw inward at this statement. Perhaps he was losing hope that he might get answers today. Perhaps this interrogation was taking more out of him than he would admit.
“Those words were found on a slip of paper left on my mother’s body,” he said, watching her for a reaction.
Nova had no reason to hide her surprise from him. Why had he never told her this before?
And in that moment, it occurred to Nova that she had lied to Adrian yet again, though unwittingly this time.
Maybe, just maybe, she really did know who murdered his mother.
The thought made her veins feel brittle and cold.
If any of it was real …
Sorrow crept over her, wrapping her up like a blanket. Her feelings for him had been real. They were still real.
But … evidently, not real enough.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, almost choking on the words, “but I’m not Nightmare. I don’t know who killed your mother. I’m so sorry, Adrian. I want to help you, but I—”
“Fine,” Adrian snapped, halting her words.
Nova flinched. Tears were gathering again. It was more than she’d cried in years. At this rate, she would end up shedding more tears in this chair than she had since the day her family had been taken from her, but she couldn’t help it. Her walls were crumbling. All her years of building protective forces around her heart were under attack. A siege from every twitch of Adrian’s jaw, every furrow of his brow, every look of revulsion he shot her way.
And then, suddenly, he changed. His emotions hardened into that same neutrality that had cloaked him at the start. His shoulders pulled back. His chin lifted. He nudged his glasses farther up on the bridge of his nose and peered at her with studied indifference.
Nova shuddered.
“I’d hoped you would tell me the truth, but I’m not just here to ask about my mother. I’m here as a representative of the Renegades, and we have an offer to make you.”
Suspicion quickly began to dry up the pools in Nova’s eyes. “An offer?”
“You are aware that all villains currently incarcerated here at Cragmoor will be neutralized as a part of our public reveal of Agent N. However, the Council has decided…” His head dipped, searching for words or maybe steeling himself for what he already knew he had to say. His voice was steady, but hoarse, as he continued, “The public neutralization will also include a public execution.”
Nova’s eyebrows jerked upward. “Excuse me?”
“The villains known as Ace Anarchy and his accomplice, Nightmare, are to be executed in a worldwide broadcast, as a consequence for their crimes against society.”
Capital punishment? From the Renegades? She wasn’t sure why it shocked her as much as it did, and yet it was hard to grasp the reality of it. She was still struggling to imagine having her powers stripped from her, and now they were going to kill her?
Adrian’s face was almost sympathetic with the recitation complete. “Captain Chromium will execute Ace Anarchy.” He hesitated. Clearing his throat, he continued, “Genissa Clark has been assigned the role of executing Nightmare.”