to make sense.
Then she laughed. She couldn’t help it.
Genissa Clark? Genissa Clark was going to execute her? It was so absurd, so unexpected.
But Adrian’s expression turned her abrupt laughter into a stilted cough.
“The Renegades don’t execute criminals,” she stammered, her breaths quickening. “They’ve never—”
“They feel…” Adrian hesitated. “We feel this is a special circumstance. The Council wants to send a message that our citizenswill never again be threatened by Ace Anarchy or his followers.”
Nova’s gaze traced the sheer, glossy black wall beneath the window, how it faded into the oblivion of shadows. It was fitting, she supposed, that Frostbite would volunteer for such a responsibility. No doubt she was eager to seek vengeance for her lost abilities, and she couldn’t very well go after Max.
Nova wasn’t afraid of dying. At least, that’s what she told herself. It might even be less painful than living with the knowledge of how she’d failed Ace and the others. How she’d betrayed kind, trusting Adrian. How she would never claim vengeance for her parents, for Evie.
She sniffed, once, and lifted her attention back to Adrian. “You said there was an offer?”
Adrian’s hands were fisted at his sides again, any signs of pity already gone. “I told my fathers how you saved Max … or, helped him, at least, after he was stabbed.”
Her lungs expanded. She hadn’t realized that Adrian knew Nightmare had done that. Genissa had been happy to let everyone believe it was Nightmare who had stabbed the boy. How could Adrian have figured out the truth?
Unless …
“Is he awake?” she stammered. “Max, is he okay?”
Adrian’s expression eased, as it always did when he talked about his little brother. “He’s out of the coma. He … he told me everything that happened. How you tried to stop the bleeding. How you forced Genissa to give up her powers to help him.”
She sank against the cold metal chair, overcome with relief.
Then, remembering who she was, who she was supposed to be, she trained her expression to be confused and doubtful again. “Nightmare helped him? I thought she was the one who stabbed him. Why would she do that?”
Adrian didn’t move for a long minute, and she wondered if that was the first speck of doubt she saw entering his eyes. Then he scoffed, though not as aggressively as before. “The point is, we’re … grateful.” It seemed to pain him to say the word, and he didn’t look at her when he did. “My fathers and I. And in return for helping Max, we’ve agreed to give you a chance to have your execution changed to a life sentence of neutralization and imprisonment.”
A sarcastic response filled her mouth. She wasn’t entirely sure which option she preferred at the moment.
But she thought of Genissa Clark, who was probably gleeful to act as Nightmare’s executioner, and she choked the sarcasm back down.
“Under one condition,” he continued. “You tell us where to find Ace Anarchy’s helmet, the Vitality Charm, and the rest of the Anarchists. Tell me where they are, and we will spare your life.”
She held his gaze and he held hers, as her heart shriveled behind her rib cage. All thoughts left her, leaving the inside of her head cavernous and echoing only with his words.
Sweet, compassionate Adrian Everhart.
Sketch.
A Renegade and, truly now, her enemy.
“Just tell me where they are, Nova. Please. I don’t…” His face crumpled, and it was as though she were watching him at war with himself. The battle between his loathing for Nightmare, and whatever he had once felt for Nova McLain.
Hatred battling affection.
Fury battling compassion.
Back and forth and back again.
“I don’t want to watch them kill you … Nova.” The whisper was so faint she barely heard it over the speaker that connected them. “Despite everything you’ve done … I don’t…”
Her pulse skipped with surprising, unwarranted hope.
Not hope that she might escape punishment, but rather, hope that Adrian might still care for her. Even believing that she was Nightmare. She’d been sure, all along, that any feelings Adrian had for her would vanish the moment he knew the truth. Was it possible there was some thorn of endearment still lodged in his heart?
He gave himself a sudden shake. “Because you helped Max,” he said again, firmly. “And because, even if you were acting as a spy, you actually did do some good as a Renegade. You killed the Detonator and protected those people at Cosmopolis. You rescued that kid from the fire at the library. Even if it was all