“I saved them for you because I knew they were your favorite,” Yuri said quietly. He was silent for a moment, staring down at the cakes. “But I suppose you wouldn’t be able to taste them anymore.”
Ana moved toward him, grasping the edge of the plate. She took a piece, turning it over in her fingers. It was roughly made, the chocolate bumpy and the cream lumpy, nowhere near the delicacies she’d had back at the Palace. Slowly, she closed her eyes and bit into it. She tasted nothing, yet the gesture reminded herof a Palace she now only frequented in her dreams, of a boy with that smoldering gray gaze who had once guided her across the storm-tossed waters of her trauma and anchored her world.
When she opened her eyes, he stood before her, watching her. Friend, stranger, and enemy in one. Cocoa powder coated the tips of her fingers.
“Thank you,” she said.
“So what happens?” Yuri asked. “After we find Sorsha Farrald and take the siphons from her. We stop Morganya. What happens to…” He trailed off, gesturing at her.
“I don’t know.” She’d told herself to focus on stopping Sorsha from getting the siphons to Morganya. But now that they were so close and the preparation work was complete, the inevitable question of what came next weighed heavy on her.
“Ana,” Yuri said, and she looked up at his tone. His expression was one of helplessness, of uncertainty, of anxiety, all of which made him appear much younger and much more vulnerable. It was one he’d worn on the many nights he’d sat by her door, watching her cry, her arms raw and bleeding from her attempts to claw out her Affinity.
The one she wanted to remember, at the end of all this.
“Yes?” she said.
Before he could respond, the flap of the tent opened and a cold wind swept in. The shadows in the tent lengthened; the fire flickered, dimming.
“Red Tigress,” came a voice, cold and dark as a starless night. “I thought we’d meet again.”
Ana spun round. Even in the light of the flames that Yuri had lit, shadows seeped into the corners of Seyin’s figure. Hishair hadgrown longer, darker, if possible, hiding his eyes as he watched her. The last time they’d met, the Second-in-Command of the Redcloaks had attempted to murder Ana.
At the sight of his face, a deep fear, cold as the slice of a blade, gripped her chest. Ana pulled instinctively at her Affinity—only to scrape the hollow space where it had once been.
She steadied her breath and held his gaze. “I don’t think you expected to see me ever again, Seyin.”
He tilted his head. “Indeed,” he said. “But things have changed since the last time we met. I was given certainorders.” His gaze cut to Yuri’s, flashing like daggers.
Yuri’s expression hardened; the flames in the hearth burned brighter. “Seyin—” he began, but the other boy interrupted.
“I’ve had a long journey from my station in Salskoff, Commander. Imagine my surprise when, upon my arrival at camp, my shadows sense an intruder in your quarters.” Seyin’s lips curled as he turned back to Ana with the look of a predator who’d cornered prey. “Tell me,Red Tigress,what were you doing in our commander’s quarters, all alone?”
The room seemed to hold its breath as the two Redcloaks regarded Ana, one with grim satisfaction, the other with a sudden wariness. Options ran through her head as she looked at Yuri, even as guilt churned in her stomach. Shamaïra’s words came to her as though from a distant dream.A day will arrive when you will be asked to sacrifice that which you hold dearest for the good of your empire.She could see the Unseer’s eyes burning into hers, a fierce, piercing blue that had cut to her soul. Thatis the choice you must make: which of the Anastacyas you shall be.
She was no longer simply Ana, the girl who’d cried herself to sleep, who’d tried to scratch her own Affinity out of herself andclung to the kindnesses of her brother, an old guard, and a Palace servant who was her friend—for that girl was long gone.
She was Anastacya Mikhailov, Red Tigress of Cyrilia.
She had to be.
“You lie,” Ana said calmly, meeting Seyin’s gaze. “I know it is the last thing you wish, to work with me, Seyin, but telling falsehoods to ruin the goal Yuri and I are working toward will jeopardize the good of this empire, this world.” She paused, lifting her chin. “I suppose I shouldn’t have considered it beneath you.”
“The only thing jeopardizing the good of this empire,” Seyin said coldly, “is you,Princess.I should have put an end to it when I could.”
“That’s enough, Seyin,” Yuri said quietly.
Ana turned to Yuri. “You would keep someone who tried to assassinate your only ally in a position of power?”
Seyin’s eyes were unfathomably black; the shadows at his heels rippled suddenly. “You conniving—”
“I said that’senough,Seyin,” Yuri snapped. He drew a deep breath as the other Redcloak fell silent, but the open look to his gaze was gone, replaced by the caution with which he’d beheld Ana for so long. “We are in an alliance with Ana until we find the weapons she speaks of; my word is final. Now tell me, what news of Salskoff?”
It spoke to the power and trust Yuri held with the Redcloaks that Seyin, jaw clenched, turned to him and, without another word, gave his report. “Morganya’s Imperial Inquisition was seen crossing Salskoff’s borders several days ago, returning to the Palace. I came as soon as I could.”
“Just as the Affinites we rescued told us,” Yuri said. “Very well. We keep our plan to set out for Salskoff tomorrow.”
There was a beat during which Ana and Seyin glanced at each other. They both spoke at once.
