But I wasn’t an automaton. Just because I knew in my head that going to Parabas first was the right thing to do, didn’t mean I felt as certain about that in my heart. I was conflicted, torn between the desire to do two things that were, in their own ways, equally important to me.

An urgent knock at the door woke me, and I shot upright, my heart pounding. Who was at the door? Was it a message from Fenris? Had something happened?

“I’ll get it,” Iannis murmured, placing a hand on my upper arm. “Lie back down.”

I did as he asked, burrowing beneath the bedclothes while he donned a robe and answered the door. Under different circumstances, I would have balked, but we couldn’t let an unknown servant see the two of us in bed together. So, instead, I hid and waited, listening to the messenger tell Iannis that he had received an urgent message from Solantha Palace.

“It’s from Fenris,” Iannis said, sitting down on the bed and unfolding the single sheet of paper. His violet eyes narrowed as he scanned the words. “He says that Annia is in trouble, and Elnos has lost contact with her.”

“What?” I shot upright again, my fists clenching in the bed sheets as fear coursed through my veins. “What kind of trouble? How did they get separated?”

“The message doesn’t say,” Iannis said, his brow creasing. “Comenius received an ether pigeon from Elnos, and the information contained was rather brief. Apparently, Elnos and Annia tracked Noria to Nika, Osero, and Elnos awaits reinforcements at the local inn.”

“Nika!” I exclaimed. “Do you think that Noria is in the very same plant that we’re about to destroy?”

“I’m afraid it would be too coincidental for that not to be the case. She’s an inventor, after all. I could see why the Resistance would find her useful there.”

“Well then we can’t just go in and blow it up.” I threw off the sheets and began pacing next to the bed. “If Noria is in there, we have to get her out.”

“As I said, we will do what we can, but remember that Noria is a traitor,” Iannis warned. “She chose her side, and is assisting the Resistance in committing genocide.”

“I can’t believe she would willingly participate in that. Who knows what they have her doing, and what she’s been told.” Groaning, I shoved my hands into my mass of curly hair and tugged, hard. Why was everything going to hell right now? “Annia could very well be in there with her, and she certainly doesn’t deserve to die. All she wanted was to save her little sister.”