“That I mean business.”
“I see.” Yet it will take a lot more than this for us to work—like making sacrifices I’m not sure either of us will be happy with. But I’m not going to downplay his gesture.
We remain lying there for a long time, and I can’t help but feel that underneath the surface, Caden is restless.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” I ask.
“Of course I am.”
I don’t believe him, and I don’t know how to help.
Chapter 10
Finn
“Holy shit!” Trey calls as High Hope becomes visible in the distance. “Look how high they built that place!”
Even though I have been there before, I’m still impressed with the construction of a whole city up on a mountain.
“Is there someone expecting us there?” Otto asks as we ride closer.
“Lyla told them we’d be arriving soon,” River says.
I catch Caden yawning, even though it’s the middle of the day. He told me he hadn’t had another nightmare, but he’s clearly worried about it enough to keep himself awake.
“Are you okay?” I ask him quietly.
He nods. “A bit tired.” He tilts his head at Timothy on his pony. “Is it okay for him to walk around the city?”
“It should be fine as long as he’s with us.”
We leave our horses at a stable and line up for the platforms that will take us up the mountain. I check that my uniform is clean, as I might be seeing the king soon. Some of the guards notice us and approach. I present them with official documents from Unity, and they clear a path for us to one of the three platforms.
“Well,” Otto says as we begin to climb, “it’s nice to be acknowledged for our status.”
Behind his back, Trey and two other Defenders roll their eyes. After more than a week on the road together, they are more than eager to have some time off from him.
I watch as the world becomes smaller the higher we climb. River holds Timothy in his arms so he can see above the railing. I tried to lift him once and almost broke my back, but River manages easily. The platform stops with a sharp creak, and the doors slide open. We step out into a wide docking area where merchants are receiving goods from below or sending them down. Farther ahead, cable cars travel across thick, iron wires to different sections of the city, reaching even higher than we are right now.
“There’s Lyla!” Timothy calls.
She’s standing up ahead, talking with an older and shorter man who’s wearing gray clothes, his bald head shining under the sun. It seems as though they’re arguing.
“Lyla!”
She notices Timothy and crouches to hug him. Her red hair is long and curly, and her beautiful features resemble River’s, though her face is more rounded. We never would have found the Kansas lab if it weren’t for her showing up and guiding us. We were close to giving up by the time she tracked us down.
Lyla stands up and pulls River into a hug. “Good seeing you, brother.” She moves to hold Josh’s chin. “Someone did a number on you with that black eye.”
I don’t look at Caden to avoid making him uncomfortable.
“It’s nothing,” Josh mumbles. “I don’t even notice it.”
When it’s time for me to hug Lyla, she whispers in my ear, “I need to speak with you in private.”
I break the hug and catch the warning in her eyes. Keeping my expression blank, I nod.
“This is Remy, advisor to the king,” she says, meaning the short man standing close by.
