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"Why didn’t you tell me what she was?" Natalie says "Why didn’t she?"

"She was afraid you wouldn’t accept her," Emissary Buchanan says

Natalie flinches "Why? She was my sister! I loved her"

"I know," Emissary Buchanan says "I tried to make Polly feel part of the faifts and affection I did everything I could to make her feel special, beautiful, accepted, but she never did She always felt like an outcast"

"Yeah, well, that tends to happen when you hettos," I ether

"How can you justify what you did to er boiling up inside me

"She wasn’t one of you," Emissary Buchanan says harshly "Polly was irl; she posed no threat to anyone, unlike the Darklings"

I ball ust

"How could you let Purian Rose torture her the night they came for Father?" Natalie says "She must have been heartbroken that you chose me over her and allowed her own father to do that to her"

"I picked Polly because she was physically stronger than you, Natalie," Emissary Buchanan says "Those wounds would have killed you I explained this to her afterward, and she understood She forgave iveness You should have told me what she was I could have been there for her, but you never gave ets up and leaves the roo out the sound of Eht the city has a different sort of beauty, like jewels glittering under dark waters On the digital screens across the city SBN news continues to run reports of the upcorims have already started to enter the city fro to be blessed by Purian Rose himself From up here I can see the outline of Rose Plaza in the distance In a little over a day, we’ll be there for the Cleansing ceremony Nerves bubble inside me, but I push them down I draw Natalie into my arms, and she buries her face in h," Natalie says, her voiceI had her life, wishing I could be her I didn’t kno ine what it must have been like for her, to be tortured by her father and betrayed by her mother? No wonder her mind was never the sa ive my mother after what she did to her?"

"I didn’t know Polly for long, but I could tell she had a good heart," I irl who could hold a grudge against someone"

"She wasn’t," Natalie adht everyone deserved a second chance She was a better person than ize to eline?" I ask

Natalie shrugs a little "I don’t o down to the hospital where Evangeline is recuperating The ward is quiet and all the lights are off, except for the one above Evangeline’s bed She looks very pale but otherwise happy A half-elass of Synth-O-Blood sits on her dresser It shouldn’t take long for her to recover froery, which is lucky since we don’t haveabout in--I check the clock hanging on the wall--fragg, thirty-six hours! She’s wearing a pale green hospital gohich is open at the front, although bandages are wrapped around her chest, preserving herwith each other, laughing Occasionally she touches his arm His cheeks flush, his smile widens

"Hey," I say, and they turn to look at s "It feels like someone’s stuffedto work?"

"Yeah Don’t worry, everything’s going to be okay I prorin "Nah Purian Rose is the one who needs to be afraid, not us"

She bites her lip "Do you think ht activate when I touch Rose?" She looks hopefully at me "Dr Craven wasn’t certain, because it’s a Lupine heart, but Lucinda said Theora felt a spark in her chest when they touched, so"

"Yeah, it’s possible," I say, sed for a heartbeat "I’ll leave you guys to it"

I head to the elevator and jab the button a few ti as the elevator arrives, and I enter The walls are covered in sheets of gildeda sea of gold I sink down onto the floor and bury eline when I said I wasn’t scared I’m terrified

31

EDMUND

Centrum, Dominion State

Today

I STEP ONTO THE BALCONY of the Golden Citadel, which overlooks Rose Plaza, and rest loved hands on the balustrade All aroundskyscrapers the perfect combination of beauty and power Down in the square below, a large platform has been erected in preparation for the public cere into place Thirty years of preparation is finally about to pay off I should be happy But for some reason, I feel e a chill downa fewa pri jacket--the very outfit she wore the night my father murdered her Her snohite mane stirs in the breeze A few strands of hair fall into her silver eyes

"Hello, Edh me I know she can’t really be here--it see voices inherback She looks over the balustrade at the Cleansing pool in the square below

"Are you really going to go ahead with this, Edloved hand next to hers Every part of me aches to touch her, but I know it’s i all of this for you," I say

"Is this really what you think I’d want?" she replies

"It’s what I want You and Grandfather were the only people who accepted h "I miss you"

A sad smile flitters over her lips "So this is your solution? To make everyone like us?"

"If we’re all the sa, Edmund" Theora turns her face up to look at the low "Do you remember when I took you to the Lupine teht," I whisper

"You asked me how I could be so kind to you, after what your father did to my parents," she says "Do you recall what I said?"

"You can’t judge an entire species by the actions of one man"

"And what else?"

I briefly shut my eyes "It’s easy to hate The true test of our hearts is to forgive"

"Precisely," Theora says, turning to iveness is the only way you will ever find peace, Edmund"