“Shiloh!” Broderick and I say her name as one, and nearly smack our heads into each other in our effort to help her sit up. We ease her against the seat between us. She’s pale, and the black marks on her throat are still fading, but her eyes are open, and she’s breathing deeper now.

She lifts a hand and touches a trembling finger to my cheek. It comes away wet, which is when I realize I’m crying. “That close?” she murmurs.

“Yes.” I won’t lie to her. Not even about this.

She leans back and closes her eyes. “Damn.”

Broderick clears his throat. “We need to get back across the river to Raider territory.”

It’s the smart thing to do, and it makes sense why he’d want to get Shiloh back to safety. I even agree with the plan…with one caveat. “Drop me off at the main tower.”

He shakes his head. “You know I can’t do that.”

“You don’t have a choice.” I don’t want to speak the next bit, but we’ve come too far and if I trust them. “There is absolutely no way a Mystic assassin would make it to this point without getting tagged by one of our patrols.” I hold up a hand before Broderick can argue. “We have precautions against exactly this sort of thing, the same way you do. We know how they work, and we guard against it.”

“What are you saying?”

I don’t want to say it. I truly don’t. But with both of them looking at me, I can do nothing but tell the truth. “Someone gave him permission.”

Shiloh closes her eyes, but not before I see the truth there in their hazel depths. The very thing I was beginning to suspect but didn’t want to face. I take a slow breath. “I thought you were irritated because of the longer days in the office guarding me, but that’s not it, is it?”

She doesn’t say anything, but she doesn’t need to. Not with all the puzzle pieces clicking into place, faster and faster. “I know who your parents were to my mother. Not close, exactly, but close enough that she preferred me to be the one to deliver their punishment. I thought it was the first offense, but she also neglected to mention they had a child at one point.” An intentional omission in hindsight. Revealing that knowledge after their abuse became public would open my mother up to uncomfortable questions.

Questions I now want answers to.