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My hands found his chest, then the lapels of his jacket. His arms gathered around my waist and pulled me in.

“Nina!” The hiss came from behind me, and it sounded dreadfully like Aunt Francis.

I turned to find her looking down her nose in fury at Theo, who now stood with his hands clasped behind his back. “Hello, Ms. Leisel,” he said, a casual grin affixed.

“Back to yourplace, Mr. Shop,” she said sharply. She watched Theo as he left, his hand resting a second longer than necessary on my shoulder before he went.

Aunt Francis closed the distance between us, her severe expression exaggerated in the dim light. “That boy,” she said tersely, her fingers rising to tease loose curls behind my ear, “has his claws in you.”

I shook my head. “Not anymore.”

“Good,” she uttered dryly. “Boys are fond of treating hearts like toys. Particularly the boys of Lords. I’ve told you this.”

The reminder was not so much to point out the importance of the title, but to point out the illegitimacy of my own. Fake parentage. Fake name. “I know.”

“Right, then,” Aunt Francis said, the words slipping past her teeth in a tumble. “That’s that. The boy will be shipped to Thornton, and you’ll be expected in the House of Lords as they… prepare.”

This, after she’d blanketed me in reassurances that sounded like lies.

Those so-called renegades in the brink haven’t a hope, she’d told me.What could they accomplish against those of our ability? They would be fools to try.

I grimaced. I knew those in the brink to be fools, and they had little to lose.

Aunt Francis saw my expression and sighed. “There is no turning back now, Nina. This is your side.” She did not smile. “You are an exceptional talent—you’ve surprised even me. There is nothing to fear.”

It was only then that I saw the sheen on her forehead, the ropes of tension peeking out beneath her lace collar.

Suddenly, projected all around us were the words of Professor Dumley, speaking of loyalty and serving one’s countrymen.

“Come,” she said, swallowing thickly. “They’ll call on you any moment.”

I nodded, though the dread returned, churning slowly from my center into an all-engulfing spiral. “Aunt Francis—”

“We’ve no time,” she said, and she marched me around the corner.

The queue trickled closer to the curtain openings as the boys were called, then the girls. I grew sicker with every inch gained.

“Nina Clarke. Charmer; Earth. Fellowship of High Order.” It boomed in my ears.

Light applause sounded, followed by a hushed curiosity. I took a seismic breath, pushed the curtains aside, and was transported into the light.

The stage was wide and oval-shaped, cascading onto pearly steps already filled with graduates. They waited with their heads turned to watch me. The spotlights glared down, golden and blinding. They warmed my skin and made the audience nothing but a dark abyss.

The clapping died as I moved across the stage, eyes pinched as I tried to see past the glare to the podium where Professor Dumley stood. He smiled kindly, his eyes glinting with a spark of pride. He proffered his hand as I came near and looked back out at the audience as though he were presenting an art piece.Look, he seemed to say.Look what I have created.

I shook his hot hand and took the scroll. I bowed my head as I was told to do, and felt sheer panic. The audience applauded once more, unaware that I was an epicenter.

And as though the feeling had leaked from my pores and burrowed into the varnished wood beneath me, the stage trembled.

At first, I thought I only imagined it. But the quaking persisted. Grew. The building was humming. A quick, muted crescendo into a monstrous roar. The audience stood and screamed. They barreled over one another down the aisles.

Then, the earth beneath us concussed.

Like houses of cards, we fell. The ground seemed to rise beneath them, swelling like the belly of a giant and then caving, the sound pitched to the point of pain. I screamed as I saw the graduates on the steps tumbling, and Theo looked back at me with his hands over his ears, his eyes bulging in terror. The curtains and lights and rigs splintered and dropped, one by one.

Attacks on Belavere City imminent.

The Miners Union had come.