Page 50 of To Cage a Wild Bird (Divided Fates #1)

The morning buzzer was still blaring when Yara flopped onto my bed, nearly crushing me beneath my blankets.

“Good morning,” she sang out, snatching my pillow away from my eyes, exposing me to the harsh fluorescent lights and a cloud

of expensive floral perfume.

“You are insufferably cheerful in the mornings.” I groaned, draping an arm over my eyes to block out the light.

“Not just the mornings. I’m always insufferably cheerful.”

I sat up, squinting against the glare, suddenly suspicious. “No. You’re always in a good mood. But this is something else

entirely. You’re practically vibrating.”

“Well, you know I love a good bit of gossip, and...” She leaned in until her face was inches from mine. “Word on the street

is you slept with a guard .”

My mouth flapped open, and I forced it shut, my teeth clicking together audibly. “What are you talking about?”

She sat back on her elbows, looking up at the ceiling. “Let’s see—a guard grabbed you from your shift in the workshop yesterday.”

She began ticking off on her fingers. “Vale looked anxious for the rest of the shift and sprinted out of there as soon as

the alarm rang, presumably to check on you. And ever since, the two of you have been glowing so brightly that I miss my designer

sunglasses.”

My cheeks blazed, and Yara smiled impossibly wider. I pushed myself up, leaning against the wall with my arms folded across

my chest. “I didn’t expect it to happen.”

Yara grinned at my admission. “Maybe, but the rest of us did.”

“The rest of you?”

“We’ve been taking bets on when it would happen,” she admitted, then laughed. “Well, except for Jed. He covers his ears every

time we bring it up.”

“For strike’s sake.” I groaned, covering my reddening face. The last thing I needed was for Jed to be involved in gossip about

my sex life. I looked at Yara again. “Why are you acting like this is so normal? For me to be doing... whatever I’m doing

with Vale.”

She shrugged. “Nothing here’s normal. I have to pay off the guards just to get enough privacy to have sex with my girlfriend.

My father was horrible, but at least he was rich. Otherwise, Kit and I would never get a moment alone.”

I laughed. “It is hard to find privacy around here.”

“Tell me about it,” she whined, then sobered, watching me intently. “You like him, then? Vale?”

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. Or as honest as I was willing to be with myself. “I like being around him. But I don’t

like getting close to people, especially those I’m not sure I can trust.”

Yara nodded. “You do have a ‘fuck off, I’m not here to make friends’ kind of energy.”

I rolled my eyes. “And with Vale,” I continued, my words muffled by the sounds of slamming cell doors and boots slapping against

cement as the other inmates made their way to breakfast. “I know he’s keeping things from me.”

Something flashed in Yara’s eyes but vanished before I could examine it further. She looked down at her hands, picking at

her cuticles and avoiding my gaze. “He’s a good guy. If he is hiding something, he’ll tell you when he’s ready.”

“Yeah. I’m sure you’re right.”

“If he doesn’t, I can always poison him,” Yara whispered, trying to hold a straight face.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” My lips twitched, and then I grew serious again as I thought over her words. “That’s how you killed

your father, isn’t it? Poison.”

When Yara didn’t immediately answer, I tried to take the words back. “I’m sorry I asked. It’s none of my business, and you don’t have to t—”

“Yeah. It was poison,” she blurted, without looking at me.

I blew out a breath. Yara had told me her father had deserved to die, and I believed her. But killing him herself? It had

to have taken a toll.

“Why?” I asked, needing confirmation. “Because he worked at Endlock?”

She shook her head. “He had put his hands on my mother and me all my life. But one day, he hit my little sister. After that...

well. I killed him three days later.”

I processed the rest of her words. “I’m sorry you had to do that,” I eventually managed. I couldn’t fathom it. Having to live

in fear of the people who raised you. The people who were supposed to love you unconditionally and keep you safe. Maybe that

was part of why Endlock didn’t seem to faze Yara as much as some of the other inmates—she’d grown up terrified of being in

her own home, continually fearing she’d be hurt. At least the hunters were upfront about their intentions.

“Don’t be.” She shrugged. “I wish I could relive it. The fucker deserved worse, and I should’ve killed him long before that.

His work at Endlock should’ve been enough to make me do it.”

“He was your dad,” I whispered. “I’m sure you hoped he’d change.”

“He was never going to change; the man was a fucking monster ,” Yara hissed. “When Pharil Coates promoted him to chief financial officer, Endlock had only been around for five years,

and citizens were terrified of getting arrested—Dividium had the lowest crime rate in the city’s history.”

I nodded, thinking back on my conversation with Vale. “I remember what it was like then. My parents thought Endlock would

get shut down because it seemed to be failing.” There weren’t enough inmates to hunt, which meant Endlock wasn’t generating

enough income. It’d been a time of hope in the Lower Sector.

Yara swallowed, looking down at her hands twisting in her lap.

“It would have if it wasn’t for my dad. He came up with a strategy to introduce an artificial food shortage to the Lower Sector and presented the plan to Coates and the Council.

Once they saw the financial forecasting numbers and how much his strategy would increase arrests and Endlock’s revenue, they had news streams going out to the Lower Sector within the week, spreading lies about crop failures. ”

I froze. Yara’s father had been the one to come up with the strategy.

“I didn’t know until I killed him. My mother told me everything once he was dead—everything she’d been too afraid to voice

before. I don’t know why I’m telling you about this now, but it’s been eating at me. I guess I just needed you to know.”

She picked at a cuticle, and as casual as she tried to come across, there was tension in the line of her shoulders and a wrinkle

between her brows. When I didn’t answer right away, she looked up at me, and she must have read the thoughts I couldn’t keep

off my face because her mouth dropped open.

“You knew.”

I shook my head. “I only found out recently, but I didn’t know it was your dad who came up with the idea.”

“Vale told you?”

“He did. I guess a reporter dug up the story last year, and Coates got her arrested to cover it up. But—” I frowned. “Vale

didn’t seem to know it was your dad who was behind the food shortage.”

“It’s not something I talk about,” Yara whispered. “But you’re from the Lower Sector. You were directly impacted by his choices,

and it makes me sick. The Lower Sector needs to know, Raven.”

How would the Lower Sector respond? Would the truth finally be enough for everyone to work together to fight back?

For the first time, I thought about what it would be like to help take the Council down.

A strange thrill coursed through me.

I reached out, placing my hand over hers. “Thank you for telling me. When we make it to the North Settlement, we’ll talk to

the Collective. Find a way to make sure everyone knows the truth of what Endlock’s done.”

A small, hopeful smile touched Yara’s lips.

Even as my mind was full of everything she’d just told me, a bubble of warmth formed in my stomach because I wasn’t processing the information alone.

Yara had trusted me enough to tell me what she knew.

Before Endlock, I hadn’t known what it was like to have friends, and despite what Aggie had told me, I didn’t consider them

a weakness. They were the reason I stood a fighting chance of escaping in the first place.

Yara grabbed my hand, yanking me to standing and motioning me to follow her out of the cell.

“Start thinking about what you’re going to bring with you when we leave,” she whispered, completely changing the subject and

angling her head close so none of the inmates on their way to the mess hall would hear. “Vale’s working on getting Kit swapped

into my spot in the workshop so he can send the two of you off to install the diffuser in the ventilation system.”

Smart. It shouldn’t raise too many eyebrows for him to send us off under the guise of a maintenance project.

“And what about hacking into the security system?” I asked. “August said he was trying to find Kit a private space to work.”

Yara cringed. “We already have a private space; we just couldn’t tell you about it until you knew Vale was helping us. She’s

using Vale’s private quarters.”

I stopped short, and an inmate ran into my back. I sheepishly apologized, and he cursed at me as he walked around.

I’d forgotten Vale had mentioned having his own room.

I raced to catch back up with Yara. “That’s perfect.”

She smirked. “Eye on the prize, bounty hunter. Just not the one you’re thinking of.”

My cheeks reddened, and I knocked her shoulder with mine. “I wasn’t thinking about that.”

She stared at me until I grinned. “Fine, I was. But now I’m not. Now I’m one hundred percent focused on the plan like the

mature adult I am.”

“I believe you,” Yara said in a singsong voice.

“But like I said, things are moving quickly now that you found the other section of the tunnel—Vale’s going to start gathering supplies and food.

I left some more stuff from my mom in your dresser, so pick some sturdy clothing that will fit in a small pack, and he’ll smuggle everything into the tunnels before we leave.

Choose wisely, though. The Wastes can be scorching during the day and drop below freezing at night. ”

I nodded, shivering as we stepped into the mess hall. No matter my situation, even at Endlock, I’d always had a roof over

my head. And we were about to spend weeks sleeping outside.