“Yonlin, that’s it, open your eyes,” Olivin said from the bed.
“Olivin?” a weak voice whispered.
Eira started for the bed, grateful for the distraction. Fritz was close behind.
“Olivin…what day is it?”
“The last day of the tournament.” Olivin was still fighting to keep his voice level. “You missed it all. You always were the lazy one.”
Yonlin tried to sit up.
“No, don’t rush.” Fritz pushed him down gently. “Your body is still healing.”
“I have to—we have to—” Yonlin struggled weakly. “We have to go. We’re all in grave danger.”
41
“It’s all right,” Olivin soothed. “We know what happened. We know Wynry captured you.”
“She didn’t capture me. I went with her.”
“What?” Olivin looked as shocked as Eira had felt when Fritz told her that her parents were present. “Why…why would you?” He gripped Yonlin by the arms, pushing aside Fritz in the process.
“Be gentle with him!”
Olivin ignored Fritz, shaking Yonlin. “Why would you go with her? I thought you knew what she did to our family.”
“Of course I know! But I wanted to be brave like you!” Yonlin’s voice found strength and volume enough to still his older brother. “I know you sneak away. I know you risk your life for me all the time. I know you hunt her… I wanted to do something to help for once. I wanted to show you that I could defend myself, too, that I didn’t need you all the time.”
Eira’s chest squeezed. She knew those words. She felt them deep in her soul. The feeling of uselessness, of being cast aside, of not fully understandingwhyeveryone around you was so afraid because no one outright told you and, if they did, you didn’t understand. That had been her, for years.
“She came to me in the clinic. She told me that it wasn’t too late for me to bring honor to our family and that I could join her.”
“You said you would, and they locked you in the room to test you—to make you appreciate the light,” Eira said softly.
There must have been something in her expression, because Yonlin stilled. The two of them locked eyes and they each saw something in the other that they would’ve desperately wanted to keep hidden. She could see what he had endured, as only someone who’d also endured it could ever hope to.
“They did it to you, too.”
Eira nodded.
“Wynry told me that I could learn of the full plan once I had earned their trust, but I asked her every time she came to me. I tried to get bits and pieces, whatever morsels she fed me alongside sips of water and specks of bread…until she stopped coming entirely.” Yonlin’s long pause almost broke Eira in two. Right when she couldn’t bear it any longer, her guilt for what her actions had done to him becoming too much, he found the strength to continue. “They’re bringing flash beads into the city.”
“Yonlin—” Olivin started.
“They’re sneaking them in through the docks.”
“Yonlin—”
“They’re going to—”
“Yonlin, we know.” Olivin smiled, glancing Eira’s way. “Eira figured it out.”
“You did?” Yonlin glanced between them.
“Our self-important, overconfident sister accidentally exposed her hand. Eira put it all together and found out that they’re going to attack the castle at the same time as the treaty is signed. She even found the flash beads in the game today.”
“Game, castle…what are you talking about?” Yonlin’s brow furrowed. He looked between them. “They’re not attacking thecastle…they’re attacking the coliseum. They’re going to kill all the royals!”
