He pointed a finger at her. “Absolutely not.”
Lysa paid no attention to him, speaking to Imara instead. “What can I do?”
Imara smirked. “I like you. Ignore your brother. He has his head up his ass most of the time anyway.”
Lysa grinned.
Christian sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
“There actually is something you can do,” Imara spoke to his sister.
Lysa straightened, her gaze full of light and adventure.
“We need eyes in Perileos. Someone the Systems won’t suspect. Someone who knows how to listen without being noticed.”
Christian shook his head, already sensing where this was headed. “No. She’s staying out of this.”
“I’m going to help whether you want me to or not,” Lysa snapped.
“You’re just a kid, L.”
“I’m seventeen. What were you doing when you were seventeen, huh? You are such a hypocrite. Do you know how many times I had to patch you up after a fight? Or after you’d come back from ‘training’ so bloodied and bruised that your eyes wouldn’t open?”
She’d put “training” in actual air quotes.
“You put your literal life on the line to protect me and Dad,” she continued, “and now you’re just going to make me stand by and keep my nose down when I finally have the chance to help you?” Lysa’s cheeks were red with fury. Her eyes held unshed tears. “Stop playing the hero and let people help you for a change.”
A lump sat heavy in his chest. By the time he was seventeen, he’d witnessed more horrors than anyone should have to in a lifetime.
Lysa was right. Hewasa hypocrite.
Christian sighed and pulled his sister into a fierce hug. “All right, fine. Just . . . don’t do anything reckless, okay?”
Lysa nodded. “I won’t. Promise.”
Imara’s voice was soft when she broke the silence that followed, addressing Lysa. “We need you to keep track of the Systems’ movements. Patrol schedules, gate security. Any chatter about Zion or the Dissent.”
Lysa nodded. “I can do that. And I can prep the access point from this side, so you can get back into the city.”
“Speaking of which,” Christian interrupted to ask Imara, “do you even have a contact here who would hide us after we free Gemma?”
“Not yet,” Imara replied. Her eyes flashed with mischief, setting Christian’s pulse racing. “But I know who we can ask.”
His nostrils flared. “You can’t be serious.”
Lysa looked between the two of them. “Who?”
“Nadine Proctor,” Christian and Imara answered simultaneously.
“You saw how hard it was to flush her out,” Imara said. “And the Systems still don’t know where the Dissent’s base of operations is. Or how many people the Dissent has in their ranks. The best place to hide is with them, and you know it.”
He punched the wall with the heel of his hand. “We can’t trust her, and you know that.”
“It doesn’t matter if we can trust her. What matters is that we canuseher.”
Christian shook his head. “I’m not joining the Dissent.”
“I’m not saying you have to. But do you have a better idea?”
