Chapters (48)
- Cover
- Dedication
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Copyright
Silence met his pronouncement. I risked glancing at the others. Rune closed her eyes and clenched her hands at her sides. Imani and Reed looked somewhat sympathetic, and even Alexei, Jasper, and Mia’s hostility deflated a bit. I examined Cage again, torn between admiration and fear. I’d noticed on Sanctuary how easily he manipulated a crowd. It was only recently that it had occurred to me to wonder if he did the same to me.
But he gave me a tired smile, and all the artifice I’d seen in him slid away, leaving only the boy who’d fought by my side against the aliens. “Hate me if you must,” he said. “But leave Kenzie out of it. You don’t know what she’s put herself through since she pulled that trigger, how many times she’s tried to convince me we should tell you the truth. This is on me.”
Alexei laughed humorlessly. “But that’s the problem,” he said, his accent a bit thicker than usual. “Do you not understand that? The lying is the problem.”
“Lex,” I pleaded, “I wanted to tell you the truth. I did. But I couldn’t know how you’d react.”
“You mean you didn’t trust me.” He gave me a sad smile and I opened my mouth to argue, but then shut it again. Because he was right. I hadn’t trusted them. Cage had started the lie, and I’d tried to convince him to tell the truth a few times. But had I really wanted to succeed? Or did I just want Cage to talk me out of it? The reality was, I hadn’t trusted the others. I thought I knew what was best for them. But now, staring at Alexei, I realized what a high-handed and presumptuous choice that had been.
Alexei heaved a sigh. “Cage,” he said quietly. “Three years together in that cell, and you still lied to me.”
“Yes, I did.” Cage glanced at each of us in turn. “Maybe I underestimated you. Maybe the stress of the situation got to me. I just knew we couldn’t afford any more conflict, not when we’d barely escaped Sanctuary. I made the best decision I could at the time, and I won’t apologize for it.”
Rune drew close to the bars, slumped in sadness. “You always do this, gege,” she said, not at all unkindly. “You take the weight of the world on your shoulders and make decisions for everyone else. Don’t you think it’s time you trusted all of us, trusted Kenzie, a little bit more? We can make our own choices. We don’t need you to do it for us.”
Cage’s eyes flew open in surprise. I didn’t think his sister had ever spoken to him like that before. For once, he was at a loss for words.
And before he could find them, alarms rocked the ship.
TWENTY-EIGHT
WE SHOT TO THE FRONTS of our cells, arguments forgotten. The alarm was deafening for the thirty seconds it echoed through the enclosed space. When it finally stilled, I didn’t know whether I should be terrified or relieved. “Did something go wrong?” I asked.