Page 14

After several hours of lying like a stone in a riverbed, listening for any sign that Tristan might still be awake, I finally crawl out of bed, more resolved than ever to leave tonight.

Because I read the papers I stole from Farron’s office.

As if the weight of returning to unite the clans weren’t enough, now there’s the urgency of needing to warn the Saraf of what Kingsland is preparing. I can’t believe how much they’ve studied us. Those papers were so detailed. They’ve recorded our numbers, studied the design of our arrowheads, and even know the range of our smaller bows—all so they can outmatch us with long bows and plates of armor we can’t penetrate. They know we train only our men in combat, so they’ve stockpiled crossbows to enable anyone without skill to be armed against us, even children. And, most critically, there’s one page with the exact offensive positions they would take should it come to war.

This information could mean our survival.

I just have to get past Kingsland’s supposed fence. A fence I’m now almost certain doesn’t exist. Yes, Enola and Tristan have both mentioned it, but the Saraf, my brother, even my betrothed have never spoken of it. Surely Liam, out of all of them, would have told me if such a barrier existed.

As far as I’m concerned, Enola and Tristan are just foxes trying to play me. So I need to be smarter.

My pulse is thunder in my ears as I pad along the hallway and rush down the stairs. I stumble as my weak muscles give underneath me, and it’s only my grip on the railing that saves me from tumbling over the last step. For long seconds, I lie on my back, trying to catch my breath and calm my fear. There’s no denying how dangerous this is. How getting caught, especially with the papers I stole, will mean imprisonment—if I’m not shot on the spot for looking like an intruder.

Don’t get caught.

Those words become my chant as I sneak out the front door and into the cool night air, walking around the house in the direction of the trees. After watching the sunset from my room, I think I need to head southwest to get home. The boots I found on my way out scuff the grass noisily. Already, my meager supplies—a jam jar of water, pain pills, and pages and pages of stolen Kingsland secrets—weigh too much, causing me to limp.

I wasn’t sure if I could or should steal a horse because it would make me conspicuous and louder. But between my pain, slow progress, and finding the horse barn unlocked, my decision is made.

Luckily, the horse I painstakingly saddle in the dark is not afraid of the night, and I let his better eyesight be our guide through grass and around the brush and trees. It doesn’t take long before I spot a bright light searching in the dark—soldiers guarding the perimeter. I jerk the stallion to a stop as the light flicks in my direction.

This is the edge of Kingsland.

My horse whinnies, stopping my heart. I push us on slowly. The light does another sweep, this time going wide, then comes directly at me. This blasted technology. I try to move us out of the way, but it seems to chase us, as if sensing we’re here. I stop, hoping it will pass by, but it doesn’t. When it’s only feet away, I give up and snap the reins. “Eeeya,”

I say quietly. We break into a gallop, finally getting away, but the hoofbeats are so loud they sound like boulders crashing to the ground. We just have to get past their—

The horse’s momentum halts, and I’m sent flying through the air. I land hard on my hip in the grass with my arms shielding my face. The light crosses in front of me before sweeping the other way. That’s when I see why my horse stopped.

A tall metal fence stretches out in front of me.

I stare into the darkness, then crawl closer. An unfamiliar buzzing sound emanates from it as I reach out. I assume it’s electricity, but how bad can it—?

Every one of my nerve endings explodes with pain, and I crumple back to the ground. I can’t move my body. Can’t catch my breath.

I can’t leave Kingsland.

Tears fill my eyes, blurring the night sky as my new reality sinks in.

I don’t understand. Why didn’t Liam tell me there was a fence?

The air smells like home. Like trees and rain and pollen with a hint of smoke. It hurts to be so close, yet so far away. But then I blink, and the blurred stars above me clear. And with that clarity comes a new idea—one I can’t believe I didn’t think of before.

It’s time to talk with someone who wants me gone as much as I want to leave.

Annette.

After returning Tristan’s horse, I stare into Annette’s first-floor window, watching her sleep for a long time. Three things keep me from knocking on the glass. One, I might keel over. Genuinely. Just as Tristan said, Annette does live only two houses over in the direction that he pointed. But for obvious reasons, my weak body is about to give out.

Two, I’m stunned by the abundance I see. From the grand furniture and mysteriously glowing clock, illuminating both Annette’s sleeping face and her bedroom, to the enormous closet that’s filled with enough clothes to dress an entire family, I’ve never seen such prosperity and riches. She’s clearly not one of the women I thought was a slave.

The third thing is a question I can’t stop asking myself: Am I really going to knock on the window of the girl who tried to starve me by locking me in a room? Wouldn’t she just turn me in?

I hug myself to ward off the chill as my doubts in my plan grow.

Annette’s eyes open. They find my face immediately as if she sensed me staring at her. She blinks in disbelief, then screams as she jerks upright in bed.

Fates. I duck down, then attempt to run.

The window opens behind me. “What the hellfire are you doing?”

she yells. “Help!”

she screams again.

I spin to face her, and the movement drops me to my knees. “Shhhhhh,”

I hush her. “I—”

“Came to kill me? To get your revenge?”

“No, I . . . I want you to help me to . . . leave.”

I keep my voice only slightly above a whisper, but the damage is done. It’ll only be seconds before someone comes running. Desperately, I try and fail to push to my feet.

“Wait,”

she calls.

But then, the light to her room flicks on, and a man’s voice asks if she’s okay.

I drop like a fainting goat, hoping the darkness will hide me. Although it’s probably pointless; Annette’s going to turn me in. Long seconds pass with my heartbeat a booming drum in my ears. What a stupid idea this was.

“Yes,”

Annette finally responds. “It was . . . I dreamed that clan girl came to attack me.”

My eyes flutter closed.

“It was just a dream,”

says a man’s voice. Then, mercifully, he turns off the light.

Both Annette and I remain still for a long while. Honestly, I’m not even sure I can move after all I’ve put myself through tonight. Finally, Annette reaches over, and a smaller light beside her bed blinks on.

“What makes you think I’d help you escape?”

she asks, voice finally at an appropriately quiet volume.

With a grunt, I dig deep and push myself to sit up. “Because . . . I think I’m not the only one who wants this marriage to Tristan to end.”

Annette’s eyes tighten. Her long, dark hair hangs in a mess around her face.

“I want help getting through your electric fence. And I’ll need a horse.”

She makes a sound of disgust. “And how much information will you be taking back to the clans now that you’ve been in Tristan’s head? You’ve had access to every security detail we have.”

Smart girl. “If you’re talking about us connecting—that’s only happened once. When Tristan saved me.”

A spot just under my heart burns at having to admit this to her. “I promise you, I wasn’t in any condition to dig around in his mind.”

Her face twists. “You were healed. You’ve obviously . . . opened the door. That changes things between you and him. He may not even have known you’ve seen something.”

My gaze shifts to the starry sky. Looks like I’m about to make Annette extremely happy. “We didn’t get close enough to open the door. We . . . found a window.”

“Impossible,”

she spits.

“Look, I don’t understand it either. But I was dying, and then he was dying, and I assure you we still have no relationship. We were just strangers—enemies—who needed to find a way to work together to come out of it alive. So we held hands, and he sang a song and—and, I don’t even know, but it worked. Whatever you think you know about the connection, there’s obviously more that you don’t. And . . . I haven’t allowed us to connect like that since.”

The growing look of hope on her face twists my stomach.

“Why not?”

I don’t answer.

“It can’t be about attraction. He’s gorgeous. Don’t deny it.”

“I . . .”

I stop myself from admitting anything to her. But she’s right. Attraction to Tristan would come easily if I let it. I decide to go with the safest answer. The only one that matters. “I’m betrothed to someone else.”

Disbelief flashes on her face before she snorts. “How is that still a thing? Is there anything the clans do that isn’t antiquated?”

I refuse to take it as an insult—possibly because I recall feeling the same way.

“Helping you would be an act of treason, and I could be severely punished,”

she says, lowering her voice even more.

That may be the only thing our people have in common. Although I doubt she’ll be burned to death if she’s caught.

“If you change your mind and fully connect with Tristan, he’ll know what I did. Then everyone will know. Helping you could ruin my life.”

“Or, it could give you the life you’ve always dreamed of. A chance with Tristan.”

I nearly gag on the words, and I don’t know why. But it doesn’t matter. If she needs hope to take on this kind of risk, then I’ll give it to her.

She looks away. “He’s in love with you.”

My stomach flutters with something I struggle to hold back. “I assure you, he’s not.”

Her face turns skeptical. “He’ll come after you. Especially the longer you stay. Okay, give me a day or two to think about it.”

“No, that’s too long.”

“Then feel free to do it all on your own,”

she snaps.

I would if I could. “Listen, the plan is really simple—we only need a border guard to open the gate and look the other way. Do you know one we can trust?”

She goes quiet as she thinks. “Yes.”

I exhale.

“But I’ll need time to talk to him and figure out when would be our best chance to do it.”

“Okay,”

I say, feeling hope return.

“Okay,”

she says back. Then we tentatively grin at each other, and it feels like some of the animosity between us bleeds away.