It would make so much sense. Either that or it’s a million coincidences. She’d said the man she loved died. She must have meant the man she fell in love with… before he became the mass-murdering, power-hungry dictator he is now. It’s him, I know it.

How much did he tell her about what he was doing? How much did he let her see? Did he become someone else after they were already an item or…? I try to swallow, but my throat is dry. I can’t wrap my head around all these people talking out of both sides of their mouths.

“Th-there’s no way she helped the Chancellor though, right? She’s been so kind to me. Like she wants to help me, our people. And he abandoned her, so she has to hate him, right?”

Her words echo in my head. Part of her still loves him, she said. I feel sick. Is she playing me too? I’ve put everyone at risk, keeping the person deceiving us around. I’m failing at this leading thing… all over again.

“Why would she help me if she was in league with him forever ago?”

“Sounds like a guilty conscience to me,” Julius says.

Bri is chewing a hole in her lip. We meet eyes and hers dart away.

“Why are you so quiet?”

“I… I… nothing.”

“What do you know, Bri?”

“Nothing, really!”

“What, are you gonna betray me too, now?” I regret the words as soon as they leave my lips, but I watch for her reaction. Because I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t giving side-eyes to everyone but Jue at this point.

“Rue, are you serious?” Bri’s face twists in frustration.

“Rue, come on, fam,” Jue says. “Walk it off. We got shit to handle.”

“I just can’t believe it,” I say. “She’s Totsi’s mother. Totsi, who…” Oh, shit. “H-he had his own daughter killed?”

Pieces of the puzzle click into place. The Seer can’t be on his side. She told me I’d be betrayed. Unless… that’s because she knew firsthand? I slide down the wall and plant on the ground, raking hands through my hair.

“I looked in that woman’s eyes,” I say. “She is enslaved to the pain she’s carrying. There’s no way.”

“Well, she at least knew what the Chancellor did,” Julius says. “You said yourself. Don’t unconvince yourself now because you don’t like it.” He extends a hand for me to get up and I take it. “Either way, now’s not the time to dwell.”

It’s true. Her knowing makes sense, I can’t deny that. “Maybe she knew but did nothing?” I ask, dusting the dirt from my pants.

“Still, though, being passively aware of something and doing nothing don’t make you innocent,” Julius says.