“You know Jenni?” Tana says.
“Not really. I met her once for about five minutes. She’s Gray’s aunt.” I wait until I’m sure she’s out of earshot before adding, “There’s some serious tension between them. I don’t think they’re close.”
Tana shrugs. “She talks about him all the time.”
I glance over in surprise. “Doyouknow her?”
“Not well, but I’ve spoken to her in the square before. She’s always going on about what a great pilot he is, how proud she is of him.”
We reach the pasture, where we stop to say hi to the horses.
“Have you ridden any of these guys yet?” I ask Tana.
“A few times. I go with Bea. She’s a good rider.”
I stare out at the lush green grass and the bales of hay dotting the pasture. “When we rescued you from the mine,” I say, keeping my gaze straight ahead. “You were right. Someone helped me.”
“It was him, wasn’t it? The Silver Block captain.”
I turn toward her now, but she’s expressionless. Impossible to read. “Yes,” I admit. “Cross.”
She nods slowly. “I saw the way you looked at him when he showed up that night at the inn. The way you spoke to each other.” A glimmer crosses her eyes, something dark and resentful. “How could you get involved with one of them?”
My heart squeezes. “It just…happened. But it’s over now.”
“Is it.”
Her cool tone stings. “It’s been over for months. I can’t live in his world. He can’t live in mine.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “It had to end.”
“Yes,” Tana says, some of her ice thawing. “It did.”
I break eye contact and shift back to the pasture, watching one of the mares bend her graceful head to chew on a tall blade of grass. “I miss Kelley,” I say, referring to my horse in Z.
“She was such a good horse,” Tana agrees, pushing her ponytail off her shoulder. As she does that, the sleeve of her sweater rides up, revealing her wrist.
“Your tattoos,” I blurt out.
“Huh? Oh. Yeah.” She rolls up her other sleeve, showing me both wrists. “Brion, the healer here in the valley, got rid of them for me.” Sarcasm creeps into her voice. “Removed all the evidence that I was ever a Company slave.”
“I…I really thought I was doing the right thing when I convinced Cross to sentence you and Griff to labor. You were sentenced to die, Tan.”
She shrugs. “I’m grateful that you got my dad out of a death sentence.”
That gives me pause. “Justyour dad?”
“What do you want me to say, that you should have let them kill me? Because…yes. You should’ve.”
“Don’t say that.”
She brushes me off, stalking down the path again. I hurry after her, but she only picks up her pace, until we’re both practically sprinting.
“Stop. Tana, stop, please.”
She stops, reluctantly turning to face me. “What?”
I bite the inside of my cheek, unsure how to proceed. “You don’t really want to die, do you?”
“You don’t get it. I’malreadydead.” She shakes her head at me, then touches her left breast, right above her heart. “I’m dead inside, Wren. I feel nothing. Not a fucking thing. I haven’t felt anything since that night.”
