by Chele Cooke
“He wanted to buy me.”
Horror and fury flashed across Alec’s face, but he controlled himself quickly. He looked away from her, though she could see the tightening of his jaw.
“And you say that Zanetti arranged otherwise?”
“With Halden, yes.”
Alec gave a distracted nod and stuffed his hands into his pockets.
“Lec, is there something…”
“Not here, Georgie.”
“I’ve asked you time and time again not to call me that.”
“Of all the things you could argue about with me, you choose your name?”
“Well, it’s the one argument I know I won’t lose because you’re too stubborn to listen to me.”
“I’m stubborn?” he asked incredulously. “This coming from the girl who…”
“I don’t need a lesson in my past failures.”
She was surprised to see a flicker of an honest smile cross his face.
“No, I suppose you don’t,” he nodded. “Well, here we are.”
Georgianna looked up at the tunnel car they’d been approaching. Lamplight flickered through the open side door and Alec took her hand to help her inside. He climbed up behind her and went immediately to an unmade bunk. There were five bunks set up inside the small tunnel car, and boxes and bags everywhere she looked. She’d never seen a car so full of stuff, not even Beck’s. Three of the bunks were empty, Alec slumped onto the fourth, and the fifth held a familiar face.
“Wrench!”
Wrench had propped himself up against the wall and he flung an arm out to invite her to join him. She slid down next to him and he threw an arm around her shoulders, pulling her in against his side.
“Hey,” he breathed into her hair. “Damn good to see you, Med.”
“You too.”
She had seen him the day before, but she doubted Wrench knew that. He’d been focused on getting Alec away from the square. She still couldn’t believe that Alec had been allowed to go. No good could have come from him seeing what was done to Landon.
“How you holding up?”
Wrench released her and she shrugged.
“I’m alright. You know.”
“I can imagine.”
He nodded with a frown and patted her on the knee. He glanced over at Alec, and she was sure she saw Alec shake his head, not making eye contact with either of them. Georgianna glanced between them and ignored the uneasy feeling in her stomach.
Alec took too much pleasure in punching a lumpy-looking pillow into an acceptable state before slipping it behind him. He stretched out along the bed, his foot tapping an unsteady rhythm.
“So, you guys are sharing?”
Alec gave a cold, bitter laugh as he leaned over to take off his boots, dropping them in the middle of the floor.
“That’s the thing about being dead for two years,” he said. “They get rid of your stuff. Eli was good enough to move some things around and let me crash here with the guys.”
It always sounded odd to her when people called Wrench ‘Eli’. Ever since meeting him she’d only ever known him by his nickname. She nodded, fighting back the frown that surfaced as she thought about his name on the list in Edtroka’s apartment.
“It’s a bit cramped,” Wrench admitted, attempting a smile that looked too much like a grimace to be believed.
“Yeah,” Alec sneered. “At least some people get to go wandering off for some space.”
Wrench stared down at his knees. Georgianna watched them carefully.
“You’re not allowed to leave?” she asked. She wasn’t surprised after the day before.
“Casey thinks it’s too dangerous for me to be about.”
“Maarqyn’s desperate to find you,” Georgianna replied. “He cornered me when I was on my way here. Keeps making threats.”
“That was Casey’s reasoning. He’s told all guards to use force if they see me trying to leave, thinks I’ll go after Maarqyn myself after…”
Georgianna moaned.
“After Landon,” she breathed. “I’m so sorry, Alec. I saw you there, I was forced to watch, but I couldn’t get away. I…”
She was across the car in moments, wrapping both arms around Alec’s shoulders. He didn’t return her hug, becoming solid as stone, merely lifting his hand to pat her arm awkwardly. He didn’t say a word.
Georgianna sat down on the corner of the bunk, glancing over at Wrench. He was staring resolutely at his knees, but there was a sadness about him that she didn’t think had anything to do with Alec’s brother. It seemed deeper than that, personal somehow, though she couldn’t put her finger on it. Wrench hadn’t known Landon. At least, she didn’t think he had. Landon had hung around the Belsa for a while before he was taken by the Adveni, but Wrench hadn’t grown up with him.
“George, look, I wanted to talk to you,” Alec said.
Wrench threw a suspicious look their way and looked away again when he realised that she was watching him. He reached under his pillow and drew out a stack of papers, flipping through them.
“George, you need to run.”
She drew her legs up onto the bed, tucking her heels in beneath her.
“What are you talking about?”
Alec pulled out four sheets of paper, better quality than the Veniche could make. Lamplight flickered across their glossy surface. They were Adveni.
“What are those?”
“Permissions,” he said. “For you, Halden, Brae and your dad.”
“How did you get those?”
“A friend,” Alec said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “It doesn’t matter. If you leave tomorrow, you can get away. I know you can. Your dad knows those trails better than anyone.”
“You can’t be serious, Alec?”
“The Adveni only just revoked travelling permissions. You can still slip through.”
“You know I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m a drysta, Alec. I can’t run.”
“That’s exactly why you should,” he argued, a vicious edge to his voice. “You don’t deserve that life.”
“You don’t underst…”
“I lived like that for two years, George! I understand perfectly.”
Georgianna shook her head. She fiddled with the strap of her bag and straightened the leather across her chest.
“Edtroka isn’t like Maarqyn.”
“Don’t kid yourself. He’ll do to you what Maarqyn did to me… and to Nyah.”
“Look, Alec, the only reason Maarqyn is…”
She fell silent. She couldn’t blame that on Alec, not when he already had so much on his shoulders. He had to know that the reason Landon had been killed was to try to lure him out. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that his little brother had actually done something sufficiently extreme to merit being collared.
“What? Come on, say it!”
She didn’t know whether he was itching for a fight, whether his anger was winning over grief, but the way he snapped unnerved her.
“No, no, it doesn’t matter.”
“They’re all the same. It’s only a matter of time and I’m not going to wait around until it happens. You can leave tomorrow and we’ll catch you up.”
“I can’t!”
“We’re all going, Georgianna,” he begged. “Nyah and Taye are coming. We’ll be safe away from the city.”
“Keiran too?” she asked.
Alec looked away from her, rubbing his hand against his jaw. Georgianna’s gaze flickered between Alec and Wrench, who had stopped reading. He was staring at the paper but his eyes didn’t move. His fingers twitched.
“He’s not…”
“He’s not what, Alec?” she demanded. “Don’t tell me, you’ve decided that you don’t trust him? That’s just like you. Why this time? For getting me out?”
Despite her fear about Keiran’s loyalties, Georgianna felt that she had to stick up for him, especially as Wrench had stayed suspiciously silent
. That annoyed her more than anything. Wrench and Keiran were good friends, why wasn’t Wrench sticking up for him?
“Are you involved in this?” she asked him.
“Yes, but you don’t…”
“So what, you guys are all running off? Have you even told Keiran? After all he did for you? And for me?”
“We haven’t told him because he’s already gone!”
The words were out of Alec’s mouth so fast that Georgianna couldn’t be sure that she’d heard them right. Wrench rolled up the papers and smacked them against the side of his thigh. Alec stared at the wall. She waited. She waited for one of them to explain, but they didn’t move.
“What are you talking about?”
Neither said a word. They didn’t even look at her. Georgianna was growing more frustrated by the second.
“What?” she snapped. “Wrench?”
Wrench took a deep breath before he looked at her. He looked as lost as she felt. The cheerful, carefree man she knew was gone, replaced with a man broken by betrayal. He licked his lips and scratched the back of his head.
“He’s gone, George,” he said quietly.
“Gone where?”
He shrugged. A pit formed in the bottom of Georgianna’s stomach as the silence stretched out between them. She leaned forwards, trying to catch Alec’s eye, but he refused to budge. Wrench coughed.
“No one knows. Keiran left the tunnels with you the other day… and hasn’t been seen since.”
“Can I ask you something?”
Edtroka lifted his head and fixed Georgianna with a curious stare. He’d been quiet since Landon’s execution. In the times when he stayed in the same room as her, he’d been sullen and thoughtful. He’d not snapped at her again, but he apparently had no intention of talking to her either. He didn’t show any indication that he’d forgotten about finding her holding the sphere, nor about the pillars.
“I don’t want you to be mad at me again,” she mumbled, moving forwards in her seat.
“Did you do something for me to be angry?”
“Well, not since… before.”
“What is it?”
“When I found that sphere in the other room.”
Edtroka’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t comment.
“I found a map and some names.”
“You were going through my belongings.”
“I didn’t…” There was no point in lying. If she wanted answers, she would have to tell him the truth. “Yes, I was.”
He rubbed his face with both hands and let out a heavy sigh, but he didn’t say a word.
“There were names with the map. Mine was among them, along with Alec and Nyah, Maarqyn’s dreta.”
“I know which names were on the list.”
“Keiran’s name was on the list.”
“So?”
She leaned forwards, watching his face for any indication that he knew what she was talking about. There was nothing. He looked as blank as if she’d been speaking in riddles.
“So if you knew that he was involved in the escape, why wasn’t he arrested?”
Edtroka sat back against the cushions and stared back at her, unabashed.
“I was under the impression that you were the only Veniche found in possession of cinystalq collars.”
“Well, yes, but…”
“Would you like me to trawl the city arresting every Veniche I find?”
“No, but…”
“So, what are you suggesting?”
“That you already knew him!” Georgianna shrieked.
Edtroka’s eyebrow twitched.
“Keep your voice down,” he ordered sternly.
She looked up at the ceiling and then at the walls. There were other Adveni in the apartments surrounding them. Most likely, he simply didn’t want his neighbours overhearing him argue with his drysta, nothing more. His vanity annoyed her.
“You made a deal with someone who you knew was involved in the escape. Why didn’t you arrest him?”
“Do you wish I had?”
He had a faint smile on his lips, though far from reassuring her, he seemed to be mocking her.
“Of course I don’t, but I don’t understand why.”
“I had no evidence.”
Georgianna was on her feet, halfway to the door into the other room before Edtroka leapt in front of her, blocking the way. He glared down at her and she knew that she wouldn’t be getting her hands on that map again.
“You have maps of the routes we took in there,” she challenged him. “Guards in the compound knew about the escape; prisoners overheard them talking about it. You have the name of every person involved in that escape. Veniche have been killed for less.”
Her eyes narrowed.
“Landon Cartwright was killed for less!”
“I don’t know what you want me to tell you.”
“Tell me why you did nothing!”
Edtroka shook his head.
“You have already admitted to not wanting him arrested, so what does it matter?”
“Because I have to know if he’s the one who told you about the escape,” she cried desperately. “He’s gone. No one has seen him in days.”
He stepped away from her then. Running his fingers through his short hair, he took a tentative seat on the sofa. The nod he gave was noncommittal and he picked up a book from the table, opening it to a random page. Georgianna waited. She watched him and waited for him to give her an answer.
“Well?”
He looked up innocently. She wanted to punch him.
“Well what?”
“Suns! Why didn’t you arrest him? Is he giving information to the Adveni?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me!”
“Didn’t you just say that he’s gone?”
“Yes, but…”
Georgianna paused. He was brushing this off too easily.
“Do you… do you know where Keiran is?” she asked. “Is he in the compound? Is that why you’re not answering me, because you did arrest him?”
“Georgianna, we should not be talking about this.”
“No. This is not a topic you can just shut off because you say so!” she snapped back. “Where is he?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“Vtensu!”
Edtroka jumped up, his hand reaching for her throat. Just before he grabbed her, however, he faltered and pulled back.
“Tell me.”
He chewed the inside of his cheek. He turned on his heel and came around again. He opened his mouth to speak three times before sound emerged.
“Fine, yes, he’s gone.”
“To the compound?”
“No, no, I didn’t mean that.”
“Then where?”
Georgianna placed her hand against his arm and he looked down at her in exasperation.
“He left the city on my orders.”
“Your orders? Why?”
“It was the deal,” Edtroka said as he returned to the sofa. He slumped onto it. “I buy you out of the compound and he makes this trip.”
“And you kept him from being arrested?”
“Yes.”
Georgianna slid down onto the chair opposite him and buried her face in her hands. This was it. It was all she still needed to know. The fact that an Adveni had prevented Keiran’s arrest and let him go free said everything she’d been trying to deny to herself. She wondered if Edtroka had found out who was involved after the escape, or if Keiran had lied. No, the Adveni, or at least Edtroka, had known that he was involved and had protected him.
“He betrayed them, betrayed me.”
“Georgianna, you don’t know the full story.”
“What I know is enough. Keiran’s a traitor. How long has he been selling information?”
She could feel him watching her, even as she stared at her feet. Her hair fell in a wavy curtain over her face, but through the strands, she could feel his gaze, resigned and steady.
<
br /> “I can explain everything in time but, for the moment, I need you to trust me on this.”
She lifted her head and swept her hair from her eyes. Edtroka had his hands clasped between his knees.
“It’s too late for that.”
His eyes narrowed and anger flashed across his face.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing,” she murmured, “but the others, they already suspect him.”
“You need to convince them.”
Edtroka got to his feet and moved around the table in a fluid movement. Sliding down onto the arm of the chair, he grasped her shoulder and turned her to look at him.
“Even if I tried, I don’t know if I could. He left without a word. He deserted and…”
The grasp on her shoulder became painfully tight. Georgianna winced and tried to pull back but he held her still.
“You need to convince the Belsa of his innocence. Tell them anything, but make sure they believe it!”
“But…”
“That’s an order!” he snapped, shoving her backwards.
Georgianna hit the side of the chair with a thump, covering her face with her hands to shield herself from his anger. She stared back at him between her fingers, feeling the same fear as when he’d found her with the sphere. But no blow came. Edtroka was on his feet again, pacing. She slowly dropped her hands, but he didn’t relax.
“What if they don’t believe me?”
“Then when he returns he will be killed,” Edtroka said coldly. “Are you willing to take that chance? The Adveni are not the only ones who kill on mere suspicion of guilt.”
She longed to disagree and tell him that the Belsa wouldn’t kill someone without absolute certainty. She wanted to ask him further questions, to find out why it was so important to Edtroka that Keiran keep his place in the Belsa. She could only imagine that it was so that the Adveni could continue to receive information, but then, why hadn’t they known about the plan to destroy the pillars? Keiran hadn’t been involved in carrying out the orders but he’d certainly known about it. Why had he told them about the escape of two dreta, but not about a plan that the Belsa thought might cripple Adveni control?
She opened her mouth several times, but always faltered and fell silent. Edtroka seemed oblivious to her presence. It was like he’d completely forgotten that she was even there.