I still can’t quite believe Paige is siding with the remnants. I knew everything wasn’t perfect. She wasn’t telling me the whole and complete truth, but I never thought she’d run off like this. I thought I’d have more time to ask her about the remnants and to tell her about the rebels. I mean, I should have had more time. I’ve been shadow-reading for the fae for ten years. She’s known they’ve existed for, what? Maybe ten days? And she’s just going to choose her allegiance without consulting me?
I can’t help but be angry.
And I can’t help but feel like a fool for letting Tylan steal her away. Never mind that it’s not plausible for me to recognize every single fae who supports Lena, but I should have been suspicious. I should have picked up a clue when Paige interrupted Lee, telling him he could stay the night with her. It’s not like Paige to forgive a guy without making him grovel a little.
I sag against the wall next to Trev. The betrayals hurt, Paige’s and Kavok’s both. I keep trying to make excuses for them. Maybe Paige was under the influence of some magic I’ve never heard of. Maybe the remnants found some way to blackmail Kavok.
“Maybe I’m just the world’s biggest idiot,” I mutter.
Beside me, Trev snorts. I throw a glare his way, a glare that doesn’t faze him one bit. He’s leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his jaedric-armored chest. His sword is loose in its scabbard, not clicked more securely into place, and no less than three knives are within easy reach in their pockets in his belt. He might agree with my statement, but he’s here to keep me safe. He’ll be coming with us to Boulder, too. We’re leaving for Nakano’s compound sooner than we planned in hopes of beating the remnants there.
I tighten my grip on the strap of my sketchbook. If the remnants do make it to Boulder before us, there’s a chance I might need to map their shadows. There’s a chance Paige and Lee might be with them. There’s a chance the rebels might have to kill them.
We haven’t talked about that, Aren and I, but I know it’s a possibility. This is a war. The remnants are our enemies, and it doesn’t matter that I don’t understand her decision—Paige has chosen her side. There are consequences to that. There are consequences to everything.
A lump forms in my throat. I swallow it down as Aren approaches. Nalst and the illusionist, Brenth, are with him. If we need reinforcements, one of them will fissure back for help. We don’t want to leave Corrist vulnerable while we’re gone. With Shane still missing and Naito and me going to Boulder, Lena’s already short three humans, and even if everything goes perfectly at Nakano’s compound, it will take Naito and me a while to get back to the Realm. Boulder doesn’t have a gate, so we’re going to rent a car—rent, I insisted, not steal—and drive to a small town called Wiggins. The nearest gate is on a reservoir near there.
“Are you sure you’re okay to do this?” Aren asks, stopping in front of me. Whether he’s asking if I’m willing to be involved in the death of my friend or if I’m physically okay and ready to go to Boulder, I don’t know, but the answer is the same either way. I’m going to do what I have to do to help Lena secure the throne.
“I’m ready,” I tell him.
“You don’t have to go,” he says. “Naito will help us get the serum and the documents.”
I focus on Naito, who’s still staring at the ground with his hands shoved into his pockets a few paces away. Neither of us knows how dependable he will be in Boulder. When Lena ordered him to go with us, he didn’t respond at all; he just showed up when Trev and I left the palace.
“I’m going,” I tell Aren. “And I’m sorry about earlier. I’m sorry I hesitated. I wanted…”
“I know,” he interrupts. “I want Naito to be happy, too.”
Aren wasn’t able to capture or kill Tylan and Kavok because I hesitated. The fae double-fissured with Paige and Lee. It didn’t surprise me to learn that. I was pretty sure the maps led to the gate in Coen. When fae are running from a shadow-reader, they try not to go to their final destination. Most fae have to wait a few minutes to recover from their first fissure, but some of them have conditioned themselves to be able to fissure quickly two or three times in a row. That’s what Aren did when he abducted me from my campus. He didn’t wait more than a few seconds before pulling me into another gated-fissure. Even Kyol can’t pop in and out of worlds that quickly.
Aren never saw Tylan and Paige, but he saw Kavok. The archivist had to wait to recover before fissuring out with Lee. If my map hadn’t been such an inaccurate mess, Aren would have spotted the fae sooner. He would have killed him, preventing the remnants from getting Lee back. Lee, who can lead the remnants to his father’s compound just as easily—maybe even more easily—than Naito.
“We should hurry,” I say.
Aren draws in a slow breath, nods, then turns to Naito. Naito and I are wearing normal, human clothes. We’re hoping the vigilantes have all left the compound by now, but if they haven’t, we don’t want to show up wearing fae garb. That’ll just invite Nakano’s people to kill us.
Naito doesn’t look up when Aren stops in front of him. I don’t know what he’s thinking; I just know that he hasn’t been thinking since Kelia died. He’s been trying to find a way to bring her back, not trying to find a way to deal with his grief. He’s the one who helped Tylan escape. He kept me from accurately reading the shadows, first by trying to convince Aren and me that Kyol had ordered me elsewhere, then by physically interfering with my drawing. He has a lot to account for.
Softly, he says, “Kelia wouldn’t want me to be like this.”
“No,” Aren agrees. “She wouldn’t.”
Naito’s mouth tightens. He nods. Another silence stretches out.
“I’ve been to my father’s compound before. That’s where he…” He clears his throat. “He’s held fae there before. He does research there.”
He doesn’t have to say more than that.
The fae take up position around us, and we leave the Inner City, walking beneath the silver wall, then crossing the plateau to the gate that Paige and Lee were taken through less than an hour ago. I wonder if that will be the last time I see Paige. How far will she go to help the remnants defeat us? Will she try to return to her normal life back in Houston? Will the fae let her?
King Atroth is dead. So is his lord general, but there are other Court fae who are as brutal as they were—the slaughtered humans in London prove that. Paige doesn’t know what she’s gotten herself into.
We stop by the blur on the river. After Aren opens a gated-fissure, he holds out his hand toward me. I hesitate. I want that opportunity to talk to Paige. If she’s in Boulder using her newly acquired Sight to see through Brenth’s illusions, Aren might be the one who’s forced to kill her. There’s already a long list of things I have to forgive Aren for. Can I forgive him if he takes my friend’s life?
“McKenzie,” Aren says gently. I think he knows the direction my thoughts have gone. I have to bottle them up and push them aside to think about later. No matter what happens between us, we have to get to that serum before the remnants do.