I shook my head, “No. If it weren’t for you and Katrina, I think I’d be in a pot right now.”
Katrina laughed painfully.
“This is no time for such morbid jokes, Percy,” Sasha scolded, and I saw the lines of her face then. She looked older thanbefore. She was my senior by a least a few decades, but until that moment, I hadn’t acknowledged it.
“Sorry,” I said.
Katrina coughed. “I’m glad we’re not soup, but we need to get out of here,” she said, managing to push herself to her knees. “True North have taken the estate and Percy isn’t safe.”
“What do you know about True North?” Sasha asked, her already stern expression hardening further. “And what do you care of Percy’s safety?” she continued more untrusting.
“I’ve heard the whispers of True North—everyone has. It’s been impossible not to. And Percy has a way of endearing others to her,” Katrina replied without hesitation.
Once again I found myself keeping secrets for her. Now wasn’t the time to inform Sasha of Katrina’s true allegiances.
Sasha nodded, accepting the explanation.
“How has everyone heard of these rebels but me?” I asked, a little frustrated. Why had no one found it even the slightest bit important to tell me about a group that apparently wanted me dead and was capable of attacking with such force?
“Now isn’t the time, Percy. Help me get your friend up,” Sasha commanded, dismissing my question.
“Now is the time! I was almost chopped up!” I responded, more than a little upset.
“She didn’t want you to know,” Katrina answered.
“That Princess of yours,” she clarified.
“That’s enough from you,” Sasha warned.
“I’m not your servant anymore—or have you not noticed the estate has fallen,” Katrina snapped back.
“Selene knew?” I asked.
Of course she knew. Of course she kept something like this from me. The same anger and upset that consumed me in the grove when I realised her betrayal swirled in my stomach.
“She only wanted to protect you, Percy. We couldn’t have foreseen this scale of attack, and there was no need to concern you unnecessarily,” Sasha explained.
“Pfft,” Katrina exhaled mockingly. “I sure as hell could have predicted an attack.”
Sasha turned to her with a look that could have turned Katrina to stone.
“Percy, you can be upset about this later. First, we need to get to safety,” Sasha told me.
I reluctantly agreed.
“Do you know where Selene is?” I asked. “I’m not going anywhere without Selene.”
As angry as I was with my Princess for keeping from me what I really should have known, I would never leave her behind. I couldn’t—my soul wouldn’t let me. We were one. There was no me without Selene.
“I don’t know. Most likely Selene and Ada are either together or individually responding to the attack,” Sasha answered while pulling Katrina to her feet.
“Can you stand and walk?” she asked, annoyed.
“You mean fighting?” I questioned, worry for Selene replacing my anger as I stood.
“That what she means,” Katrina answered, pushing Sasha’s hands away when Sasha only pursed her lips and didn’t answer.
I turned to Katrina and saw the look of disgust she gave to Sasha.
