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Cal exhales slowly, rubbing his chin with a hand There’s the beginning of a beard, a dark shadow across his jaw and cheeks "You repaved it"

Farley nods slowly and sht?" I curse at her, wiping the self-iht off her face "You know there’s no extra points for being dra could mean another dead newblood"

"And every second you waste questioningdown to the air you breathe does the sa the distance between us She towers over ed by Lady Blonos and the Silver court, I aze without a hint of a shiver "Give me reason to trust you and I will"

A lie

After a h space to breathe "Nine-Five was a ruin," she explains "And to anyone curious enough to visit, it just looks like a stretch of abandoned road One mile of asphalt that hasn’t broken apart yet"

She starts pointing to other ruined roads on the map "It’s not the only one"

A varied netebs the map, always hidden in the ancient ruins, but close to the ses Protection, she calls them, because Security is minimal, and the Reds of the countryside are more inclined to look the other way Perhaps less so noith the Measures in place, but certainly before the king decided to take away even on are the first jets we’ve stolen, but more will come," she adds with a quiet pride

"I wouldn’t be sure of that," Cal replies He’s not being hostile, just pragmatic "After they were taken froet into a base, let alone a cockpit"

Again, Farley smiles, completely convinced of her own hard-won secrets "In Norta, yes But the airfields of Pieduarded"

"Piedmont?" Cal and I breathe in surprised unison The allied nation to the south is far away, farther even than the Lakelands It should be well beyond the reach of Scarlet Guard operatives Sion is easy to believe, I’ve seen the crates with ht infiltration? It seemsimpossible

Farley doesn’t seem to think so "The Piedmont princes are utterly convinced that the Scarlet Guard is a Nortan problem Fortunately for us, they’re incorrect This snake has asp, and maintain what little remains of my mask The Lakelands, Norta, and now Piede enough and patient enough to infiltrate, not one, but three sovereign nations ruled by Silver kings and princes

This is not the siined

This is a er than anyone thought possible

What have I fallen into?

To keepup in my eyes, I flip open the book of names Julian’s study of artifacts, peppered with the name and location of every newblood in Norta, calms me If I can recruit them, train them, and show the Colonel that we are not Silver, we are not to be feared, then wethe world

And Maven won’t have the chance to kill anyone else in ravestones

Cal leans in next to es Instead, he watches h the list His knee brushes h he says nothing, I understand hisLike me, he knows there’s always in to comprehend