I glanced at the siblings. Llir and Emment looked on stonily, but Catua stomped over. “Verch, they saved us. Corith and her friends stopped Crake. She saved Llir”—she glanced at me fiercely—“and risked herlifeto come back for us.”
Vercha looked poisonous. “Have you forgotten why they came here? Their original plan—before Crake killed Fatherforthem?”
“We were never going to kill Rexim Shearwater. We needed him.” Zennia’s jaw thrust forward belligerently.
Kielty was watching with folded arms, a small smirk. “We’ll leave you in peace,” he said, “just as soon as we’re ready. In the meantime, why don’t you use that laconite there to solve your little, ah…problem?”
He indicated Iovawn, and Vercha flushed pink. Catua shook her head and began to unload laconite—a jewelled chain, a studded coronet.
As Iovawn Crake was taken down under the gatehouse, laden with enough of the stone for a king, Kielty told his people to make ready to leave.
“You’re coming, right?” Zennia said to me suddenly. Vercha was hissing angrily at Catua, Llir trying to persuade Emment to have his cheek stitched. “Corith.” She looked hard at me. “Youarecoming with us?”
I rubbed a grimy hand across my face, closed my eyes.
The last few weeks flashed through my mind in an instant. I thought of Rexim, of the nobles at the ball. Of the anger that had unfurled in me after the great wave. I remembered all the times I’d pushed away thoughts of the Cage, too uneasy, too afraid, to face things head-on. All the times I’d thought a comfortable bed or a nice, hot breakfast trumped roughing it in the woods…That, I knew now, had been only my fear talking.
I’d seen with my own eyes what the Hundred really thought of us. I couldn’t, with any conscience, step back into that world now.
My eyes fluttered open. Llir was staring at me.
I turned to Zennia and said, “I go where you go.”
“As do I,” came a brisk voice. Catua. She was pale, grim faced, but looked brutally determined. She stepped up to Kielty, held one hand out to him. “Catua Shearwater. I’d like to come with you.”
I’d never thought I’d see Kielty caught off guard. But now he did a double take, blinking rapidly. “I’m…sorry?” He shook her hand automatically.
“I’ve read the Breovan Charter. Many times. I want to help you.” Behind her Rhianne was hovering. She looked unhappy but notsurprised. “Truthfully I don’t like some of your…methods, but I do know that the people you target have done wrong. And I think you might need someone who reallyknowsthe Hundred. Who can help you with the politics. That’s—if you’ll have me.”
Kielty looked as though Feast Day had come early. But the siblings reacted with a violence of emotion.
“Cat,” barked Emment, “youcannotbe serious.”
Llir’s shoulders had stiffened. He’d frozen in place. Vercha stared at Catua as though she’d grown an extra head.
“I won’t apologize for it,” Catua said defensively. “Of course I don’t want to leave you all, but you saw what Crake did. How he rounded up the Orha. Llir—gods know what he was going to do with you. The families like that…they need to be stopped.”
“Cattie,” said Vercha dangerously, “this is insane. You’re not going anywhere with these barbarians.”
Catua sniffed. “I am, Verch. My mind’s made up. If you don’t report me—which I really hope you won’t—we’ll see each other soon, I promise. On the mainland.”
Emment looked shattered. He glanced at their burning home. “Cat, all we have left is each other.” He paused, his silver eyes flicking to mine. “I know I’ve not been…the heir I should have been. But I promise—Ipromiseyou—I’m going to do better. Listen. We’ll go to Breawr, tell everyone about Crake. The vote…We can help someone like Father win—”
But Catua shook her head, tears pricking her eyes. “That’s not enough,” she said. “Not for me, not anymore.” She pulled him into a fierce hug. Beside them Llir stood, stunned.
Vercha, I noticed, had walked away stiffly, but no one was paying her any attention.
“I’m going, too,” said Rhianne, stepping forward, and when Catuafinally pulled away from her brother, she grasped the Sparkmouth’s hand tightly in hers.
“And you?” Kielty said to Llir.
My stomach clenched uncomfortably. I willed Llir to look at me. My eyes skipped over his ash-stained skin, the rips in his shirt, his blood-splattered blade. But Llir’s gaze only slid slowly to Kielty.
“You’ll leave this island before the next high tide.” His voice was lower than I’d ever heard it before. “And you’re lucky we’re not sending alerts ahead of you, telling the authorities to intercept you on the mainland.”
“Really?” Kielty said. His blue eyes flashed a challenge. “You’re one of us, friend. Aren’t you proud of what you are? Don’t you want to shed that shame you’ve clearly been living with?”
Llir moved toward him, his gaze unwavering. “I’m not yourfriend. And you knownothingabout me.” His eyes were pure ice; his shoulders trembled. “If Crake hadn’t murdered my father today, I have no doubt at all that you and your people would have.”
