“Raina de Balman is missing,” she finally says in a low voice.
An icy chill runs down my spine. This is the real reason why she’s here, and why it’s too dangerous for me to see my mother right now.
When?I write.
“Since last night. She has not responded to my letters nor opened the lab institute’s gates to see me. I’m greeted only by a lab worker when I go there.”
I think of the ring, of Caitoman’s ties with Raina, and my eyes darken at the mayor.General Caitoman?I write.
The mayor frowns at me. “What do you mean?”
The anger comes out in my harsh writing.You work with General Caitoman. You all work for him.
She stares at me, as if not quite believing that she understands what I’m writing. “Why do you think Caitoman has anything to do with our plans?” she whispers.
I stare coldly at her. Then I sketch a quick, rough image of the ring, with sunrays on it. Above it, I write,Raina’s ring. Caitoman’s ring. Raina’s ring is the same ring that Caitoman gave to the soldier that tortured my mother.
I don’t know what I expect to see on the mayor’s face. Realization, perhaps, that I’ve uncovered their ruse. Fear of me.
But all I see is confusion. She shakes her head. “You’re mistaken,” she says. “Caitoman is one of our targets.”
I take a step closer to her. Then I write another phrase on the paper.You and Raina have different plans.
The truth seems to hit her then, at the same time it hits me.
The two women had always been at odds.
“Tell me when you saw the sun ring on the Chief Architect,” the mayor says slowly.
I struggle for the right Karenese words before I write a date down. The date I’d returned to the capital with Constantine.
Mayor Elland searches my gaze, as if questioning for a moment whether I’m the one who shouldn’t be trusted.
I do the same, but what I find is genuine surprise. Then I write,You never knew.
Her expression gives me all the answers I need. The mayor didn’t know that Raina was working with General Caitoman. Raina had been planning behind all our backs this entire time, had told us she was working as part of the rebellion while helping to install Caitoman as the new ruler. And it makes sense. Why wouldn’t he try it? General Caitoman has control over significant parts of the Federation’s military. He’s the son rejected for being a bastard. And he must have promised Raina the safety of her own family.
Raina had always worked for herself instead of a greater cause. The mayor should’ve known. I should’ve known.
Raina had been the one to inflict pain on us in order to protect her family. So had I, of course—I am willing, after all, to be Constantine’s Skyhunter in order to save my mother. But Raina had purposely withheld Caitoman’s name. She had told me it was to protect each of us from the other, that if one of us were discovered, it would not mean the end for the others.
Maybe she had withheld his name all along because she knows what I would think.
What do we do?I want to say to Mayor Elland. Instead, I hold my hands up at her and shake my head.
She’s silent for a moment, thinking rapidly. Then she looks at me. “Stay the course,” she says. “Constantine insists that the arena’s game will go on. You will attend and wait for my signal to act against the Premier.”
I start to sign before I remember that she can’t understand. What’sthe point of continuing with our plans if they were compromised from the start?
But Mayor Elland looks like she knows what I’m thinking. She puts a firm hand on my shoulder. “Listen to me, Talin,” she says firmly. “Stay the course. Do you understand?”
I scowl at her and start shaking my head again. But she squeezes my shoulder tightly. “There are too many pieces in place. I have a plan.” Her eyes are dark and resolute now, filled with some grim sense of justice. “Youwillsee your mother again. You just have to trust me.”
I don’t see Constantine at any point during these early morning hours. He doesn’t speak to me through our bond. Instead, I’m escorted out of the palace and ride to the arena. As we go, I see patrols hurrying through the city’s thoroughfares toward the edges of the city. Off in the distance, the sky takes on an eerie green glow, as if the day will bring with it a terrible new era. Something has happened out there—I can feel a tremor in the ground, like the earthquakes that occasionally rumbled in Mara.
I fixate on the sky’s strange color through the window of our carriage, my heart in my throat. A terrible tension comes through my link with Red. Has Constantine found out about him? About the mayor? Has General Caitoman planned something else with Raina?
Worst of all—has anyone discovered my mother at the mayor’s estate?
