I didn’t free them, I say through our bond.
Of course you didn’t, Constantine replies, his voice smooth and sincere.
But when I look at him, all I see are his eyes, dark and impenetrable, searing into me. Searching for secrets.
“Come with me, Talin,” he says, gesturing for me to follow him. The other guards fall into step around me. “There’s someone I want you to see.”
29
TALIN
The place where Constantine leads usisn’t anywhere near the solstice festivities. As the rest of the city remains festooned with banners and people continue to celebrate in the streets, we head to the walls of Cardinia, toward the various rail bridges that arc over the river surrounding the exterior of the city.
Here, along one of the bridges running through the back of the city, there are no banners. No people wander along the outer wall to admire the river. This is an overgrown section of the river, weedy and thick with mud, the bridge crumbling slightly. And when we arrive, there are only a few soldiers standing at the ready, waiting for us.
They have a prisoner with them. It’s an older woman, hair gone white as my mother’s, with her hands bound firmly in front of her. Basean, judging from the tatters of her clothing. She’s on her knees in the middle of the bridge as we approach her, and when she looks up to see the Premier, she starts trembling uncontrollably.
On Constantine’s other side, the mayor doesn’t miss a step. But as we stop and she shifts to stand next to us, she catches my gaze for a second. She looks helpless. Like she knows something terrible is about to happen.
I don’t recognize the prisoner. She’s not my mother. But she resembles her so much that I freeze in my tracks behind the Premier, my eyes locked on the bound woman.
What is this?I say through my bond with Constantine.
Beside me, the Premier folds his hands behind his back and glances at one of his soldiers. The man moves toward the prisoner. When Constantine speaks again, it’s aloud. “You know your mother benefits or suffers directly from what you choose to do,” he says. “And after the events of the past few days, I’m sure this will come as no surprise to you.” He shrugs. “At first, I wanted to bring her here so you could see it with your own eyes. After all, that’s the only way I can convince you I’m keeping true to my word. But for this punishment, I thought some distance might be instrumental. After all, you might snap, attempting to rescue her once you see what’s happening to her.” He looks at me. “And I can’t have that. So this is my solution.”
He nods at the woman, and the soldier strikes her viciously across the face, so hard that she collapses onto the bridge.
The careful walls around my heart crumble. Everything in me twists in agony at the sight.
The mayor stands with her hands folded calmly before her. But in her eyes, I can see an ocean of pain.
“Everything that happens to this woman,” Constantine explains, nodding at me, “is also happening to your mother. She is her.”
The soldier walks over to the woman as she struggles back up to a sitting position, then kicks her before she can steady herself. She lets out a hoarse wheeze of pain and falls again.
My hands clench so hard that I think I’ve cut into my palms.Is this about the arena?I respond. My rage and terror spark like light in my head, blinding me.My refusing to execute a Striker?
Oh, Constantine replies, this time through the link.I think you know it’s about more than that. Your Striker friends are, somehow, loose.
I told you. I didn’t free them.
I don’t think you did.Constantine’s stare sears into me.But I think you know who did.
This isn’t about Raina or Mayor Elland; if he suspects that, he hasn’t shown any sign of it. But it doesn’t matter. He knows something is brewing behind his back.
Beside us, the mayor’s hands have tensed in front of her.
I stare at the prisoner as she struggles against the stone ground. Somewhere out there, my mother is experiencing the same thing. It ismy motherthey are kicking to the ground and striking across the face.My motherwho is bleeding on the ground.
“I want you to think carefully, Skyhunter,” Constantine says aloud to me as the soldiers drag the woman back to her feet. One of them twists her arm behind her back. “About what you know and who set the Strikers free.”
I don’t know.I tremble with the force of my words as I say them through our link.I only know it wasn’t me.
“Very well.” He glances sidelong at me. “Do you know where my brother is right now?”
Is that where Caitoman is? Is that why he’s not here with us? That’s all it takes for me to conjure a mental image of the General standing beside my mother, the way these soldiers are now with this prisoner. Everything in me trembles.
No, Premier.I look at him, letting him see the rare sight of begging on my face.Please.
