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Is it o?

I have no answer for either question, and push away all thoughts of Kilorn They can wait When I look back, ood-bye to Shade and Farley, I realize they’re already gone A shiver of fear runs down ine an ambush down in Coraunt Gunfire echoes in my head, still close in my memory No With Shade’s ability and Farley’s experience, nothing can stop theirl to hide, no one will have to die

Kilorn is a shadow through the tall grass, parting green stalks with able hands He hardly leaves a trail, not that itbehindin his path, there’s no point in , hopefully with Nix in tow If we’re lucky, no one will notice a et ahead of Maven once he figures out e’re doing

What is that, exactly? The voice in e, a combination of Julian, Kilorn, Cal, and a little bit of Gisa It needles, poking at what I’m too afraid to ad dobloods--but then what do we do with them? What do I do?

Frustration makes me walk faster, until I outstrip Kilorn I barely notice hirove gets closer by the second, shrouded in darkness, and I wish I was alone I haven’t had a moment’s peace since I woke up alone in the , lad to see him then, but noish I had that tirieve To wrap ive hi neither Cal nor Kilorn would stray beyond earshot "He coainst a nearby tree, his body relaxed, but his eyes stay fixed on the horizon Nothing escapes his gaze "Do we tell him the consequences of this choice?"

"If you want to kill hihto join up Besides, if he wants to tell an officer I was here, he’ll have to explain why And that’s as good as a death sentence for Mr Marsten"

The prince’s lip curls He fights the urge to snarl But arguing with et hi any orders but his own "Do we tell him about Maven? That he’ll die if he stays? That others will die if Maven tracks you down?"

I dipwe can, and then we let him decide who and what he wants to be As for Maven, well" I search for the right thing to say, but those words are scarcer with every passing uess that’s all we can do"

"Why?" Kilorn pipes in "Why give him a choice at all? You said yourself, we need everyone we can get If this Nix guy is half of what you are, we can’t afford to let hio"

The answer is so siave me a choice"

I tell myself that I would still walk this path if I knew the consequences--save Kilorn from conscription, discover ht, kill Becoirl But I don’t know if that’s true I honestly don’t know