The other voice hisses at me.
He had known your family so well, and yet he knew that when he didn’t speak for you, he would condemn them to punishment.
Does he remember all of that? Does it haunt him?
My hand loosens from his mouth in pity. Freed of my grip, he hesitates there like a trapped mouse.
Then he moves. A dagger is in his hand in an instant. I see it flash in the darkness. My hand comes up as he strikes at me, aiming for my throat.
But I don’t have to attack him. Without warning, someone’s hands close tight around Danna’s weapon-wielding fist and twists it sharply down. I hear the snap of bone, then the dagger is shoved hard into Danna’s own chest, all the way up to the hilt.
I look up and find myself staring into Aramin’s dark, glittering eyes as he lets Danna’s limp body slip to the floor.
“Live a little longer, Red,” Aramin mutters at me, “and you won’t hesitate so long.” He grabs the dagger from Danna’s chest and wipes it against the dead soldier’s clothes, then tucks it securely at his own belt.“Better they find him with a stab wound than a cut from a steel wing, anyway. No one needs to know you’re in the city.”
I nod silently, but all I can hear is the roar of my own heartbeat in my ears. All I can see is Danna’s vacant gaze, frozen in fear. All I feel is the shame that I couldn’t do it, that Aramin had to do it for me.
No time for regrets here. No time to mourn.
So I tear my eyes away from the lifeless face of my former comrade and hurry down the hall with the Strikers.
28
TALIN
The first thing I hear the next day is thatGeneral Caitoman has ordered a complete rotation of the Premier’s personal guard. Every soldier is to be replaced.
The second thing I hear is that they’ve identified the would-be assassin. She turned out to be Maran, a prisoner working on the mayor’s estate. Someone who lost her entire family during the Federation’s final push over our warfront. She had gotten her hands on some ill-fitting Karensan military gear and made it as far as the dance ring before firing her shots toward the Premier.
“She was never a part of our plans,” Mayor Elland snaps as she paces the lab complex’s panic room in the early morning. Raina and I sit watching her. I am supposedly getting enhancements done here, but instead I continue to take a liquid that will chip away at my link with the Premier. The mayor folds her arms across her chest and turns back to us, her brows furrowed. “That girl’s going to force heightened security around the Premier.”
Raina shakes her head. “We can work around it. It’s a good thing she isn’t connected officially to the rebellion. Constantine won’t tie her back to us.”
“Won’t he?” The mayor sits down beside us with a frustrated flourish. She points a finger down on the table. “That girl worked on my estate. Because of her, I’m going to have to allow a full investigation of everyone in my employment. Constantine will expect to see some executions. She will cost several lives by the time we’re through.”
“And what did we expect?” Raina snaps, her usual anxiety giving way to anger. “This isn’t a game. The entire city is ripe for chaos—all the work done by the official rebellion to stir up unrest among the people was bound to result in several taking things into their own hands. We can’t control everyone. This is a good sign. We’ve lit sparks in others outside of our movement.”
The mayor tightens her lips. “Are you so careless with the lives of those in our rebellion, Raina? Do you not worry that General Caitoman’s prying eyes might ultimately land on us as they investigate?”
Raina folds her arms. “I’m only practical. The greater good should triumph over our individual concerns. And I have no time to waste on things that will slow this down.”
Mayor Elland leans forward. “Is that so? And would you be equally willing to sacrifice your husband and son?”
The Chief Architect looks away at that. I think of the way she had pressed close to her husband during the dances at the Sun Dial, the image of her son and his hired maid in the crowd.
“The lives that may be sacrificed are also lives that have families,” the mayor says quietly. “Mothers. Sons. Daughters. Fathers. Take care with the lives of our allies, Raina, or you may find yourself losing everything that matters to you.”
Raina rises, refusing to meet the mayor’s eyes. “We do what we have to do,” she says, pushing her glasses up. “Nothing changes. We move forward.”
Then she leaves us alone in the room.
I watch as the door slides shut behind her. Her words leave me uneasy, and I find myself hanging tighter to the walls around my emotions, lest Constantine sense me.
If Raina is so willing to sacrifice the lives of others, what’s to keep her from being willing to sacrifice my mother?
The mayor meets my questioning gaze. “We’ve long been at odds,” she finally says in a low voice. “I admit the Chief Architect wouldn’t have survived this long without a few losses. But it’s still a game I don’t like to play.”
I study the weary lines around the mayor’s eyes. Today, her usual bravado and cheek are muted, burdened by the weight of what must be coming. There’s grief beneath this woman’s steel, and I find myself thinking back to what Raina had once dismissively said, that the mayor has a soft spot for Constantine.
