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Chapter 1

WE RUN, ater in our shoes and the sh, and Gabriel looks at me like I’m crazy, and we’re both out of breath, but I’m able to say, "We ulls circle over us i it ablaze I look back once, long enough to seepassengers, but all they’ll find are the eed sweets we ate from the boat owner’s stash We abandoned ship before we reached the shore, and we felt for each other in the water and held our breath and hurried away froe fro the beach I like that We are the ghosts of sunken countries We were once explorers when the world was full, in a past life, and noe’re back from the dead

We come to a mound of rocks that forms a natural barrier between the beach and the city, and we collapse in its shadows Fro commands to one another

"There ot close to shore," I say I should have known that stealing the boat had been too easy I’ve set enough traps in my own home to know that people like to protect what’s theirs

"What happens if they catch us?" Gabriel says

"They don’t care about us," I say "Someone paid a lot of money to make sure that boat is returned to them, I bet"

My parents used to tell me stories about people ore uniforms and kept order in the world I barely believed those stories How can a few uniforms possibly keep a whole world in order? Now there are only the private detectives who are employed by the wealthy to locate stolen property, and security guards who keep the wives trapped at luxurious parties And the Gatherers, of course, who patrol the streets for girls to sell

I collapse against the sand, faceup Gabriel takes ," he says

"Look" I cant h"

He looks; the setting sun lights up his face, hter than I’ve ever seen, but he still looks worried Growing up in the mansion has left him permanently burdened "It’s okay," I tell him, and pull him down beside me "Just lie with ," he insists His botto

"I’ll live"

He holds updown our wrists in bizarre little river lines I must have sliced my palm on a rock as we crawled to shore I roll up my sleeve so that the blood doesn’t ruin the white cabled sweater that Deirdre knitted for me The yarn is inlaid with diamonds and pearls--the very last of

A breeze rolls up from the water, and I realize at once how numb the cold air and wet clothes have made me We should find someplace to stay, but where? I sit up and take in our surroundings There’s sand and rocks for several s A lone freight truck lumbers down a faraway road, and I think soon it’ll be dark enough for Gatherer vans to start patrolling the area with their lights off This would be the perfect place for thehts, and the alleyways between those buildings could be full of scarlet district girls

Gabriel, of course, isto wrapthe wound I just need a minute to take this all in, and then I’ll worry about the cut This time yesterday I was a House Governor’s bride I had sister wives At the end of my life, my body would have ended up with the wives who’d died beforecart in my father-in-law’s basement, for him to do only he knohat

But now there’s the s its way up a sand dune And so else, too My brother, Rowan, is so hoht the freedom would excite me, and it does, but there’s terror, too A steady h all of my deliciously attainable hopes

What if he’s not there?

What if sohn finds you?

What if

"What are those lights?" Gabriel asks I look where he’s pointing and see it too, a giant wheel of lights spinning lazily in the distance

"I’ve never seen anything like it," I say