Page 68 of First Offense

“I’m speaking in general terms—why reform a weak Noir?”

“Is that the point of your cullings?” I wondered out loud. Was that how he justified this madness? That it was a way to weed out the weak whom he didn’t find worthy of his brand of reform?

“It’s a reasonable training exercise,” he replied.

Training exercise?“For what?”

“Reform,” he answered simply.

And has it ever worked before?I wanted to demand. In all my years, I couldn’t recall ever actually meeting a reformed Nora. Instead, I said nothing because I had no idea how to reply to that. All I knew at this point was that I needed to get Layla as far away from him and his antics as possible.

“I think you’re focusing on the wrong aspects of our conversation, Auric,” he continued. “And by doing so, you’ve completely missed the point.”

“Have I?” I wondered out loud, glancing at the window again.What the fuck is that?I thought, my eyes threatening to widen at the black cloud we were flying into.

“How a Nora Falls,” Sayir murmured. “Why Layla Fell. How to fix her. It’s like you’ve not been listening at all.”

My stomach protested as the black cloud swallowed us whole, painting the windows in an ebony shade. “What’s going on?” I demanded.

Sayir followed my gaze, then shrugged. “Going through a portal, I imagine.”

“A portal?In the sky?”

“It’s the quickest way to travel,” he explained.

“Where is this new reformatory?”

“Does it matter?” he countered as the sky reappeared outside the windows. “We already know that the only way out of here is through reform, right?”

Or one of those portals, I thought, trying to better understand the technology. Those didn’t really exist in our realm. They were created with another form of magic, one I was very interested in learning more about.

“Of course,” I said out loud, keeping my ponderings to myself. Not that I would confide in the Reformer.

But maybe in Novak.

I glanced at him just in time to see Clyde slip into his pocket.

If Sayir saw it, he didn’t comment. But then, his eyes weren’t on Novak. They were on my hand, watching as my fingers stroked through Layla’s hair.

I considered stopping but couldn’t. For whatever reason, I needed her to know I was here, offering comfort where I could. So unlike our first flight, where I’d essentially refused to look at her, let alone touch her. But my anger had morphed into something else. Confusion. Annoyance.Longing.

Fury still existed as a thin layer on the top, eager to act out. However, beneath it were a myriad of emotions all battling for purchase.

Had Layla truly Fallen because she disagreed with her father on something? I would have to ask her if she recalled anything in particular.

And Novak.

Was I truly the reason he Fell? Because he’d disobeyed my order? I’d spent a century assuming it was the aftermath of that incident that had earned his Fall—not the singular act of defying me, but its consequences. The very notion of it churned my stomach, a sense of wrongness settling on my shoulders.

None of this was right.

Sayir was fucking with me.

No,distractingme.

Clyde had wanted me to see the portal, to know we weren’t just hopping over to another island but perhaps leaving the realm entirely for a new one.

To where?I wondered, glancing out at the too-blue sky.