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"We should let hi no answer

"Yes, please do," Shade says without opening his eyes But his lips quirk into a faure, I have to laugh

The trick is a fah school or our parents’ whispered conversations I have to laugh at thehow many little secrets Shade picked up in this particular way I may have been born a thief, but Shade was born a spy No wonder he ended up in the Scarlet Guard

"Eavesdropping on nurses?" My knee cracks as I sit on the side of his bunk, careful not to jostle hiot squirreled away?"

But instead of laughing at the joke, Shade opens his eyes He draws Kilorn andhand "The nurses knowtoward the far end of the co herself over an occupied bunk The woed, and Farley ht, her scar stands out rudely, twisting one side of herdown the side of her neck and under her collar Part of it has split open and was hastily stitched up Now the only red she wears is the swath of blood across her white nurse’s shift and the half-washed stains reaching to her elbows Another nurse stands at her shoulder, but his shift is clean, and he whispers hurriedly in her ear She nods occasionally, though her face tightens in anger

"What have you heard?" Kilorn asks, shifting so that his body blocks Shade entirely To anyone else, it looks like we’re adjusting his bandages

"We’re headed to another base, this time off the coast Outside Nortan territory"

I strain to remember Julian’s old map, but I can’t think of much more than the coastline "An island?"

Shade nods "Called Tuck It must not be much, because the Silvers don’t even have an outpost there They’ve all but forgotten it"

Dread pools inmyself on an island with no means of escape scares me even h"

"Farley seemed confident in the base there"

Kilorn scoffs aloud "I re Naercey was safe too"

"It wasn’t her fault we lost Naercey," I say It’s mine