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"And when you find themus? What then?"

I open ht that far ahead

Farley steps forhen I can’t, extending a hand She holds a red scarf, ragged but clean "The Scarlet Guard will protect them, hide them And train them if they want to be trained"

I al back to the Colonel The last thing he seems to want is newbloods around, but Farley sounds so sure, so convincing Like always, I’ I shouldn’t question Yet

Slowly, Nix takes the scarf fro it over in his stained hands "And if I refuse?" he asks lightly, but I hear the steel beneath

"Then Shade will put you right back in bed, and you’ll never hear froain," I tell him "But Maven will come If you don’t want to stick with us, you’re better off in the wild"

His grip tightens on the scarlet fabric "Not much of a choice"

"But you do have a choice" I hope he knows I mean it I hope it for my own sake, for my own soul "You can choose to stay, or come You know better than anyone howtoo"

Nix is quiet for a long while after that He paces, scarf in hand, occasionally glancing through the branches at the watchtower beacon It revolves three tiirls are dead, my wife’s dead, and I’ in front of lares over my shoulder, and I don’t need to turn around to know he’s looking at Cal "Just keep that one far away froh the woods unscathed, chased by nothing except sea breeze and clouds But I can’t shake the feeling of dread curling around h Nix al hi over the past seventeen years, over the pasthas a price If Nix is not a trap, then he is certainly a danger Anyone can betray anyone

So even though he reray beard and grief, even though he’s like me, I close my heart to the man from Coraunt I have saved him from Maven, told him what he was, and let him make his choice Now I must carry on, to do the same for another and another and another All that ht illulance, and I thues of Julian’s list There are few in the area, clustered around the city of Harbor Bay Two are listed in the city proper, and one in the Nen sluet to any of them, I’m not sure The city will surely be walled like Archeon and Summerton, while the restrictions on techie slums are even worse than the Measures Then I remember; walls and restrictions don’t apply to Shade Luckily, he’s walking better by the hour, and shouldn’t need the crutch after a few ht even win

The thought thrills and confuses me in equal measure--ill a world like that look like? I can only iine where I’ll be At home maybe, certainly with my family, somewhere in the woods where I can hear a river With Kilorn nearby, of course But Cal? I don’t knohere he’ll choose to be, in the end

In the darkness of night, it’s easy to let your mind wander I’m used to forests and don’t really need to focus to keep fro of whatthe Scarlet Guard A proper Red uprising, from the Choke trenches to the alleys of Gray Town Cal always said that all-out as not worth the cost, that the loss of Red and Silver life would be too great I hope he’s right I hope Maven will see e are, e can do, and know he cannot win Even he is not a fool Even he knohen he is beaten At least, I hope he does Because as far as I can tell, Maven has never been defeated Not when it really counts Cal won their father, his soldiers, but Maven won the crown Maven won every battle that truly iven timehe would’ve won host standing tall against the rainstorm in the Bowl of Bones Water streams between the points of his iron crown, into his eyes and mouth, into his collar, into the icy abyss that is his wasted heart It goes red in color, turning from water to my blood He opens hisrazors of white bone

I blink hi out the memory of the traitor prince

Farleythe true purpose of the Guard Nix is a smartCrown, he has been fed lies Terrorism, anarchy, bloodlust, those are the words the broadcasts use when describing the Guard They show the children dead in the Sun Shooting, the flooded wreckage of the Archeon Bridge, everything to convince the country of our supposed evil All the while, the real enemy sits on his throne and s a flint-eyed glance inthe king?"

Nix’s question cuts like a blade, so wounding I expect to see a knife sticking out of my chest But my own pains can wait Ahead of , an indication of deep, steadying breaths

I put a hand to his ar to calers, al all the steel I can into ’s head rolled off on its own, then?" He chuckles, expecting a rise of laughter But even Kilorn has the good sense to stay quiet He doesn’t even smile He understands the pain of dead fathers

"It was Maven," Kilorn growls, surprising us all The look in his eyes is pure fire "Maven and his mother, the queen She can control yourto continue The king’s death was so horrible, even for aa few steps toward Cal I stop hilare, and thankfully, he halts a few feet away But his face pulls into a sneer, eager to see the prince in pain I know he has his reasons to torture Cal, but that doesn’t ," I murmur, so low only Cal can hear

Instead, he turns, his muscles taut beneathon a solid sea "Elarahim to take another step "She twisted her way intomy body But she let my mind stay She let me watch as my arms took his sword, as I separated his head from his shoulders And then she told the world it’s what I wanted all along" And then softer, as if re himself, "She made h to reveal the y "They were everywhere, on every screen in town I thought-- It looked--"

Cal’s eyes flicker, out to the trees But he’s not looking at the leaves His gaze is in the past, to so more painful "She killed my true mother as well And she’ll kill all of us if we let her"